The Monster Energy King of Europe Drift ProSeries has returned to Valencia at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. Using the exact same layout as 2014, drivers started rolling out for practice early in the morning, with just a few hours of seat time before the start of the qualifying session. The lineup for today had a good mix of local top Spanish drivers and some of the finest pro drifters in Europe and around, coming from countries like Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom , Israel and even Argentina.
It came as no surprise that Adam Kerenyi was once again the top qualifier, with a total of 92,92 points, as Calin Ciortan followed closely behind with 91.03 points. Norbert Kovacik was 3rd overall, with Adam Frank and 4th, and a surprising P5 by French driver Eddy Laissue. Surprisingly enough, Arnau Gomez was the only Spanish driver inside the Top10, in 6th to be more precise, as Baggsy took 7th , Monteverde took 8th, Mota in 9th and Eli Hountondji in 10th. Drivers were all fired up even in the Top32, and everyone was giving it all they had out on the track, with the Spanish fans also getting very enthusiastic after each and every run. Top ranking ProSeries driver Szilveszter Gyorgy was knocked out by Nicolas Maunoir, which came as a huge surprise to everyone.
Adam Kerenyi navigated his way through to the Top8, where Amerigo Monteverde claimed his revenge after the final battle in Hungary. Amerigo later made his way up the final battle, where he defeatedNorbert Kovacik, thus winning his first ever Monster Energy King of Europe Drift ProSeries event. Adam Frank went past Nicolas Maunoir in the Top16, and then proceeded to take out the very strong Joe Hountondji in the Top8, only to be stopped by Amerigo Monteverde in the semifinals. Adam Frank would proceed to finishing 3rd overall, after winning the Small Final against Eli Hountondji, who had beaten both Steve Biagioni and Calin Ciortan earlier in the battles.
Going into round 7 of the Monster Energy King of Europe Drift ProSeries, Adam Frank is still in the lead, with a total of 519 points, while Norbert Kovacik is in 2nd with 497 points, with Adam Kerenyi in 3rd with 440 points. Szilveszter is down in 4th overall, and Amerigo Monteverde is closing in on him just 13 points behind.
The 2015 season of the Monster Energy King of Europe Drift ProSeries is now even closer to crowning a new champion. Round 7 saw the drivers attack a slightly different layout on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, all eager to work up as many points as possible going into the final round of Slovakiaring. The race started off badly for Round 6 winner Amerigo Monteverde, as he noticed a strange noise coming from within his engine. After a more careful inspection of the situation, Amerigo decided not to risk a total engine failure , and thus risk his race in Slovakiaring, so he called it a day. After a good few hours of practice with the new layout, the qualifying session was underway. Szilveszter Gyorgy was once again in top form, and took 1st place with a total of 95.63 points!
Team DriftBrothers stormed their way into 2nd and 3rd, as they were still pumped from their previous team victory at Round 6. Calin Ciortan took 4th, with Norbert Kovacik just behind him. Argentinian driver Rodrigo Gallo got 6th place overall, just 0.46 points ahead of Steve Biagioni. Local Spanish favorite, Joan Gaballer, had a very good qualifying session in his 600+ horsepower Nissan RPS13, and he took 8th place, with a total of almost 3 points ahead of Adam Frank and Vitor Mota who were 9th and 10th.
Progressing to the Top8, nobody really could tell what the outcome of the battle between Szilveszter Gyorgy and Joan Gaballer would be. They went into a One More Time after two first amazing runs, but then Szilveszter went off track, putting an end to his weekend in Spain. Absolutely mind blowing performance by Rick Van Goethem once again, as he knocked out his 3rd King of Europe veteran of the day, in the person of Norbert Kovacik. Massimo Checchin held his head up high in the battle against Joe Hountondji, but the Italian driven Subaru Impreza was no match the sheer madness of the Frankenstein RPS13. In the last battle of the Top8, Eli Hountondji was equally as impressive as his brother, as he won against Steve Biagioni in the Monster Energy RPS13. Joan Gaballer seemed extremely determined to offer the Spanish fans a Spanish Victory, and so he put an end to Rick Van Goethem’s winning strike, thus progressing into the final battle. Team Driftbrothers drivers Joe and Eli were now about to go up against each-other, as their family, friends, and fans watched from aside. Both of them put on an amazing show, but in the end, it was Eli who won the fight, and advanced to the final battle.
While Joe managed to grab 3rd place after defeating Rick Van Goethem in the small final, Eli automatically became the winner of Round 7 after serious mechanical failure of Joan Gaballer’s RPS13. This meant that not only did Team DriftBrothers once again claim the Team Victory, but they were also on the podium at the same time. Going into the final round of the 2015 season of Monster Energy King of Europe Drift ProSeries, there is a mathematical chance for 9 drivers to still claim the European Title by the end of the year, making it one of the most exciting and mindblowing seasons of the past few years.
Norbert Kovacik is now in the lead of the championship, with a total of 572 points, with Adam Frank just 2 points behind. Szilveszter Gyorgy is down in 3rd place, at 514 points, while Adam Kerenyi is 4th with 481 points, with Amerigo Monteverde being the last driver with more than 400 points so far.
Photo EydeaMedia
