The Finnish Automobile Sport Federation, AKK-Motorsport, announced a preliminary calender of the 2012 championships series. The series will be driven in 6 rounds. Both FPDA and Radalle.com will stand as organizers. Each will organize 3 events.

12.-13.5. Ahvenisto (FPDA)
26.-27.5. Virtasalmi (Motopark Racing Club/FPDA)
9.-10.6. Kemora (Radalle.com)
14.-15.7. Kuopio (FPDA)
11.-12.8. Ahvenisto (Radalle.com)
1.-2.9. Botniaring (Radalle.com)

Click HERE for more information (only in finnsh)

Drift Garage is preparing for the winter. About two weeks ago we had a small ”season finale” party. We went bowling and had a nice dinner afterwards.

The team will change a bit for the 2012 season. Hopefully the trailer will be done in time. We´ll use the trailer to freight our cars and parts to the events. This will ease our loading when everything fits into one trailer instead of three small car trailes and three vans. Also two out of three race cars will be new for next year. Jonas has sold his Skyline and is currently building a KE70 Toyota Corolla. Follow the project in our forum (swedish only). Also Dennis will be driving a completely new car in 2012. Our mechanics Torolf and Daniel is building a Volvo Amazon for him to drive next season. They signed the contract a few weeks ago. It´ll be interesting to see how the car develops and how it handles on the track, because let’s face it, it’s quite different from Dennis’ old Silvia which from now on will be our teams spare car. Simon’s 200SX is as you can see the only ”old” car which will compete for the team next season. Of course there will be some improvements made to it as well.

As a sport, drifting will take a big leap forward the coming year. For the first time there will be a full Finnish Championships series. This means that the driver who has collected most points during the season will be crowned Finnish Champion of drifting by the end of the season. Hopefully, this will also get our sport more place in the media.

We will post news on our website and on Facebook.  Follow us to and you’ll now what’s going on. We´ll post more info on the 2012 season as soon as possible!

The Finnish national Drifting championships were arranged last weekend at the Motopark track in Virtasalmi. From Drift Garage Simon Vikman participated. The team headed for Virtasalmi on Friday evening and we arrived in Virtasalmi well after midnight. We prepared the pits and everyone found a place to sleep and went to bed.

Saturday morning stated with a drivers meeting. After that time was reserved for practice. For Simon the practice session didn’t start that well. In his second run he snapped a rear drive shaft. Thanks to our skilled mechanics the car was fixed and running before the next practice session. Simon struggled with the track and had difficulties linking everything together. As a result he went off the track. Fortunately this only resulted in cosmetic damage. In the qualification runs Simon managed to get a 57 point run which was enough to qualify for the race. The limit was set to 50 points. Now we could rest for the race on Sunday.

Sunday also started with a drivers meeting. Whwn the meeting was over the drivers had about an hour to practice twindrift. Simon was pulling it of better and better for each run but again after a small mistake he went a little bit wide an off the track. This time too we got away with only cosmetic damage and Simon even had time to do a few pulls at the end of the session. After this it was time for the Top 32 battles. Simon’s first opponent was Janne Veikkanen from Sideways Drift Team. In the first run Simon followed Janne but made a small mistake up on the hill and due to this the points went to Veikkanen 7-3. In the second run Simon lead and made a near perfect run and at the same Veikkanens car broke down. Simon won the run 8-0 and the battle 11-7. His next opponent in the Top 16 battles was Tapio Murtoo from Drift Team Tyrwää. Simon drove well but Murtoo was better with 9-6. In the second rund both drivers made a lot of mistakes and also here the points went to Murtoo 6-5 and he won the battle 15-11. Considering Murtoo later became the Finnish Champion Simon did really well. Overall he was 15^th. Pretty good considering Simon only has driven two shows earlier this season.

Congratulation to all the winners of the first ever National Drifting Championships in the world!

1. Murtoo Tapio, Drift Team Tyrwää
2. Ranne Riku, Toritech Drift Team
3. Kivi Mika, ESV Drift Team

Picture: J. Nieminen

This weekend (Aug. 20-21) will be historical because the first Finnish Drifting Championships is held at the Motopark track in Virtasalmi. Only Simon Vikman will participate from Drift Garage because Dennis' engine broke two weeks ago at Carnia Motorsport Festival at the Botniaring track in Jurva. Jonas cant participate due to other reasons. Simon's car has been set up in the dyno and the result was 628 Hp and a massive 800 Nm of torque. That should be enough to create some smoke. Let's hope the weather will be good and that the car will hold!

On Saturday the FPDA´s fourth race of the season was held in Kuopio. The race was organized on unknown territory for most drivers when it was held at the recently asphalted Heinjoki rallycross track. It showed during the day when several drivers crashed their cars.

Dennis with his Silvia participated from Drift Garage. The qualifying session was run in the morning and here he did well. He had the highest entry speed and ran a little different line than most other drivers. He placed himself in 7th place with 82.5 points.

Just before the race was about to start it started to rain. Not much but it was enough to wet the track. Dennis’ first opponent was Tomi Leinonen. Dennis had a good run and went on to the next round. Here he met Mikko Viitala. After the battle Viitala had one point more than Dennis and thus went thru. Dennis’ final position was a great 5th place. Valuable points and above all, a valuable confidence boost!

Pictures from the event will be uploaded later!

This weekend Drift Garage participated in its first races of this season. On Saturday Dennis took part in Miljoona Drifting in Tuuri, Finland. Unfortunately the day started with problems. The car wouldn’t run properly and lacked a lot of power. The reason was a faulty temperature sensor. With the sensor disabled the car ran much better, although a little bit rich. Because of the problems, Dennis didn’t have time to practice, and his first clean run was the warm-up lap for the qualification. This led to him not getting enough points (67,7) to qualify for Top 16. Fortunately the weather was great and we enjoyed the race in the audience.

On Sunday Radalle.com arranged a race at the Kemora track in Veteli, Finland. Both Dennis and Jonas took part in this race. At Kemora Dennis’ bad luck continued. In his first practice lap the timing belt came off. At this point we still don’t how much damage it did to the engine. Jonas’ car however worked fine. He qualified in on a 3^rd place. In Top 8 he met Mika Kivi. At this point he encountered some wastegate problems and because of this he fell out from the competition. His final result was a 5^th place.

The exhibition is behind us and we are an experience richer. Many people showed an interest in our sport and wanted to now more about drifting and how the sport is judged. We showed people slideshows with pics from passed seasons and also videos from the driftshow last summer. Almost all the posters were handed out to children of all ages. We didn't maybe sell as many t-shirts as we had hoped for but inspite of that we are very happy with the weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped with the preparations and a big thanks to all who visited us att the expo!

Drift Garage will be in place at Activexpo 2011. The exhibition, which is the biggest sports- and leisure exhibition in Osthrobothnia, is organized for the first time on April 1st - 2nd 2011. We will exhibit one of our cars and show pictures and slideshows of past events and races. Naturally we will also spread the message about our sport and our team. Also, for the first time at the expo, you will have the opportunity to buy t-shirts with our new logo printed on it!!! Come in time, there is only a limited amount of these t-shirts available! We will be placed right next to the stage. WELCOME.

Click on the image to visit Activespo's homepage.

Drift Garage is happy to present a new logo for our team. The old one has already been around for 3 years so it's definitely time for renewal. The colors will vary depending on where we use it. Those colors however will be revealed later. Hope you enjoy it!

This weekend Dennis tested his car on the icetrack just outside the coastline of Jakobstad. Everything unecessary was stripped from the car, eg. the bodykit and front fenders. The car was also equipped with heavily studded iceracing tires.

The first month of the year 2011 has passed by, and spring is already near! Drift Garage has moved to new facilities during the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011. The new garage is a lot more practical than the old one and logistically the site is more convenient. We now have a proper break
room, better working areas and a lot more storage room.

We have renewed our sponsorship deal with Fristads who will continue to provide us with clothing and accessories. Byggtech Ab Mäenpää, City Car Wash and Hitachi Powertools Finland will also support our team in the 2011 season. We hope to be able to reveal news about sponsors as soon as possible!

A new logo will be presented during the spring. The old one is far too anonymous and blends in too much with the background and the logos of our sponsors.

From now on our website will be updated more frequently than it has been in the past. We will also add a gallery for pics from competitions, training days and other events we participate in.

STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES!!!

Team Drift Garage wishes to thank all its fans, sponsors and partners for the past season. We wish everyone a nice autumn. News regarding the team will be posted here so make sure to visit our site regularly!

The season of 2010 is coming to its end. The end results from the race in Kemora which were changed after the race have now been cancelled. This means that Simon keeps the 2nd place of the race and finishes in a bronze position in the series! Jonas finished in 7th place and Dennis in 8th place.

Coming up is still an All Star race before the end of the season. It will be ran on the Motopark Circuit in Pieksämäki on October 2nd. The race is arranged as a collaboration between Radalle.com and ESV. The main price is a Nissan Skyline V-Spec R32 so there will be a lot to fight for!

The finals of this years X-treme Pro Drifting Trophy was run at the Kemora track in Veteli on august 21^st. Team Drift Garage arrived in the morning. Many of us were tired because Simon car leaked oil during the night between Friday and Saturday due to too high oil pressure.

A couple of rain showers just before the qualifications wet the track and made it very slippery. It has rained at least a little in every race this season! The results of the qualification surprised everybody. Dennis and Leif Häuselmann from Team Falken both missed the finals. Jonas and Simon managed to qualify with high points from the judges. This time the finals were ran in a Top-8. In his first run Jonas met Teemu Peltola. Unfortunately Jonas fell out. Due to a broken fuel pump Jonas’ car lacked a lot of power. Simon on the other hand drove well. In his first run he beat Mikko Aalto from AMA Racing and then Marko Kivimäki from Joker Drift Team. In the final he met Teemu Peltola who was unbeatable in this race. Teemu won the whole competition, Simon thus finishing second. After the race the results were altered because of human error. Simon and Marko Hyvönen who finished third switched positions. This means that Simon looses his third place in the series and is now fifth. We consider this very unfair! We’ll see…

With big expectations Team Drift Garage went to this weekends race at the Alastaro Circuit in Virtaa, Finland. Already in the first training session, however, Simon had big trouble with his engine.  At the moment, unfortunately, it looks like Simon's season is over. It doesn’t look to good for Jonas either. Compression measurement showed that the third cylinder has very little compression. It seems that the season is over also for him. Dennis got thru’ with a slipping clutch. We should be able to fix it by tomorrow. Dennis qualified for both the Top 8 in Pro Drifting Trophy and Nordic Drifting Series Top 16 so we hope for a good race for him on Saturday.

In the Pro Drifting Trophy finals on Saturday Dennis’ first race was against Juha Rintanen. A minor mistake by Dennis in the first run cost him the victory. Rintanen won 12-8. Dennis got some valuable points with his 7th place! Results: QUALIFYING, FINALS, STANDINGS

The Nordic Drifting Series finals were ran shortly after the Trophy finals ended. Dennis’ first race was against Per Christian Svendsen from Norway. Dennis drove very well and beat out the Norwegian, with a score of 16-4. In the Top 8 Dennis again was put against Juha Rintanen. First two laps were very even and resulted in a One More Time with the score 10-10. In the OMT Dennis had problems running behind Rintanen, because Rintanen was driving so slowly. Dennis had to straighten out a bit and lost some points because of this. The second OMT run ended 5-5 and Dennis fell out with the score 21-19. Really good driving by Dennis though! Dennis finished in eighth place in the NDS. Results: QUALIFYING, FINALS

The team participated in the 3rd X-treme Pro Drifting Trophy race this weekend. The contest was held in Seinäjoki on the Vauhtiajot Festival. On saturday, the qualification round was run. The boys placed themselves throughout the starting field with Jonas on a fine 3rd position. Simon was 8th and Dennis 12th. On sunday the race was run. Since it was run as a Top-16 race and only 13 cars could compete, Jonas got a so called "Free run". Then he won Petri Uusi-Pohjola. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to win Juha Rintanen and therefore drove for the bronze against Leffe Häusellmann.  The bronze final was extremely even, but Jonas came through as the winner with points 11-9. This means that Jonas got his first podium position in Seinäjoki! Simon won Kalle Halonen in Top 16 but fell out to Marko Hyvönen. Dennis lost in his first run against Janne Laakso. Results: QUALIFYING, FINALS, STANDINGS

Team DriftGarage would like to thank everyone who made our show possible. All our sponsors, partners and above all, our fans! More than 1500 spectators says it all! See you again next summer.

Team Drift Garage is for the second consecutive year a doing Drifting Show at Jakobs Dagar! The show is completely renewed for this year. The site is new and Teemu Peltola from Black Smoke Racing will participate. This year we are running the show in the parking lot at Pedersöre Logistic Center in Kållby. The address is Storgårdsgatan 3, 68800 Kållby. Admission is just 5€/person. Children under 10 enter free. Dabba´s driving his motorcycle Stunt Show in the pauses! Robbis Hobby Shop will also demonstrate radio-controlled cars, airplanes and helicopters. A lot to see this year as you can see!

Team Drift Garage drove down to Turku Thursday July 1st. The ferry to Stockholm departed in the evening so we spent the night on board. In the morning we drove down to Östergötland and Mantorp Park. The weather was nice all weekend, on Saturday the temperature climbed all the way up to 36°C in the shade. This of course was hard on the cars but we got through the weekend almost entirely without problems! The event lasted all weekend and although it wasn’t a competition in it’s real sense for our team, we drove in Breisladden, the Norwegian version of drifting on Sunday. Jonas Klemets, Dennis Häggblom and Simon Vikman participated in the contest. Simon reached the finals but unfortunately, a hose came loose and he could not drive his last run. The result was, however, a great 6th place!

Today Team Drift Garage went with two cars to to Kemora in Veteli for a practice session. Simon Vikman and Dennis Häggblom took the opportunity when the track was reserved for drifting practice between 6 pm to 8 pm. We got to have the track to ourselves when no one else showed up. There were no problems whatsoever with the cars and we got a lot of experience for the season finals which is held on august 21st. Click on pictures for larger view!

Team DriftGarage took its very first victory in last weekend's race in Raisio! To cap it all, it was also a double victory. After an eventful day the final was run between Simon Vikman and Dennis Häggblom. Simon won the final with 11-9, so you could say that the boys are pretty equal! When we arrived at the scene and checked out the track, we noticed that the profile of the track was one of the most dangerous we’ve ever driven on. This also came up on the driver's meeting when the majority of the teams pointed this out. Sadly, our fears came true when Janar Kriisa crashed his car into the wall almost immediately after the first training session started, wrecking his car almost totally. Luckily he was not injured. We hope that his team can fix the car until the next race! Because of Kriisas crash Team Falken decided not to participate in the race. An understandable decision when their cars are among the most expensive in the series.

At the moment it’s looking really good in the series for us. Simon is 3rd with 49 points and Dennis is 5th with 42 points. Jonas Klemets unfortunately could not participate in the race in Raisio, however remains in a quite good position with his 11th place with 18 points. The whole table is available here: STANDINGS