21 Jun 2015 2015 Red Bull Drift Battle: Naoto Suenaga sadly finishes second

On 20 June, the 2015 Red Bull Drifting Battle is held on Zhuhai International Circuit. 11 drivers from different countries and regions gather for battle in front of a grandstand full of cheering fans. Female drifter Saori Ishikawa is back to challenge the likes of Federico Sceriffo, Suenaga Naoto, Jake Jones, James Tang...etc. After a series of exciting battles, Australian Jake Jones beat his master Suenaga Naoto by the narrow margin of 0.291 sec to take the win. Suenaga Naoto, who won the qualifying round on Friday with full marks, sadly only finishes second today. Red Bull's Italian drifter Federico Sceriffo takes third place with 22.576 seconds.

Compared with previous years, this year's steeple chase is even harder than before. Although the course is set on the main straight of the circuit, but the drivers will have to navigate a series of corners from 0.65m to 2m in diameter.

After the race, winner Jake Jones said, "I am delighted to win. This is what I have always wanted. This race is very different from the steeple chase in the past. It is very entertaining but requires drivers to be very skillful. I could not take anything lightly at all. the 360 degree turn and half circle turn are my favourite moves. The spectators are superb, I owe much of my performance to them."

2nd runner's up Federico Sceriffo says, "Due to the tyre pressure problem, my performance was affected. The characteristics of the steeple chase is that it requires a good combination of spectacular action and speed. For this I am very satisfied. This year the participants have very clear skill characteristics and are great drifters. Red Bull Drifting Battle is becoming more and more attractive, in the future even more foreign drivers will come and increase the competition level."

The steeple chase is judged on the drifters' precision, smoothness and time taken. Drifters all use intermediate tyres for maximum grip and speed. But the downside is that it requires a machine with high power and torque to break the traction, so it can actually drift. This is not a big problem in high speed moves, because of the momentum, but in low speeds the tyres can grip the tarmac and drag the car to a halt. The driver must maintain the gas so that the rear wheels keep spinning in order to avoid this. All participating cars are high powered, mostly turbocharged, due to the race tyres used.

James Tang, the team boss and driver for Red Bull Team, said, "Red Bull Drifting Battle is getting better year after year. It is at an international level now. Watching Suenaga Naoto and Jake Jones compete against each other is a great pleasure. They are the real masters of drifting."

Suenaga Naoto said, "The reason Jake Jones won was because his speed, line, angle and control were perfect."

During the race, James Tang, Michael Sit, Liu Zhuo, Kumakubo Nobushige performed to very high standards. Although Saori Ishikawa did not finish in the top 3, she did a 23.321 seconds result and was widely praised. She said she hopes the Chinese fans will get to understand drifting better through the Red Bull Drifting Battle and she believe this event will flourish in the future.

2015 Red Bull Drifting Battle's Steeple chase thus ends here. The 11 drifters will be called to battle again on 21 June (Sunday) for the chase!