Chanatpon Kerdpiam of Thailand wins his maiden Formula Drift title in Malaysia

It was an intense battle and a day of major upsets at Speed City, Kuala Lumpur, on the 2^nd of September. Yet with fierce and adept determination on the track, Chanatpon Kerdpiam, from Thailand of Team Westlake managed to beat Australian, Tom Monkhouse, of the Achilles Drift Team to be crowned the winner of the Malaysian leg of the Achilles Formula Drift Asia series. Ken Gushi from USA, representing the Dunlop Binter Drift Team secured the third position on the podium.

Ryan Sage, Vice President and Co-Founder of Formula Drift USA, said, "I would like to extend my congratulations to Chanatpon on his maiden win for the Achilles Formula Drift Malaysia this year, and to Tom and Ken on their achievements as well. It was an exciting race and we are always very impressed with the technical expertise and dexterity that each driver brings to the track each year."

After an exciting qualifying session in which all 33 drivers competed in a single run to determine their position for the Top 16, Daigo Saito (Japan) at 86.5 scored the most points, with star drivers, Mai (Thailand), Masao Suenaga (Japan) and Tengku Djan Ley (Malaysia) trailing closely behind, with 83, 82.8, 82.1 points respectively, as they advanced to the quarter finals.

The battle for the final spot began as, Tom Monkhouse, went up against Tengku Djan Ley, who had the home turf advantage in which Tom displayed expertise which impressed the judges, allowing him to advance through to the final. While there were challenges such as repeated stints of light drizzle which resulted in wet track later in the race, Chanatpon Kerdpiam, defeated American favourite, Ken Gushi, securing his spot to meet, Tom Monkhouse, for the final race to win the champion title.

In a surprising turn of events, international favourites Daigo Saito, Fredric Aasbo and Robbie Nishida failed to reach the Top 8.

In response to his achievement, "It is indeed extraordinary as this is my first time winning the Achilles Formula Drift Malaysia 2013 championship, and it just feels superb to have done so well. My experience racing on wet tracks back in Thailand has definitely helped, and even though the Speed City Kuala Lumpur track’s changes in elevation proved to be a challenge, I’m glad to have pulled through in the end."

Complementing the Achilles Formula Drift Malaysia 2013 race day were entertaining performances by Indonesian group, KOTAK, and female singer Shae in between the drifting events.

Photo credits: Mr Larry Chen