Drift Indy’s headed to the Motor City this weekend with a killer roster of Drift Indy Street League and Drift Indy Grand Prix drivers for this season’s second round of competition. Both series are set to have a super competitive round, and it’s all going down right next door to the legendary Woodward Dream Cruise.
It’s been a decent-sized chunk of time since Round One back in April, but this round promises to pick back up right where the first round left off, with a super tight battle at the top of the DISL table and a roster of absolute killers putting it all on the line in DIGP. Visiting a new track promises to shake up the standings in both series.
The top seven drivers on the DISL leaderboard are all within five points of each other, with Rodney Blankenship sitting in first place with a single-point lead over Round One winner Paul Tuttle. Despite being knocked out by Tuttle in the Top Eight, Blankenship’s preliminary qualifying position gave him the points he needed to come out on top overall. None of the leaderboard’s top 16 competitors will be able to rely on earning qualifying points this round, though, as they’ll come into the event as seeded drivers. The rest of the pack will complete prelim runs to fill the other 16 spots in the bracket, and will have their own opportunity to earn some extra points.
Those un-seeded drivers include a few new faces to the series, including Formula Drift judge and Drift School Evergreen instructor Reese Marin. He’s a master behind the wheel, and has a really good chance to come into the series and plant himself up high in the rankings. He’ll have his work cut out for him, though, with a roster chock-full of some of the best driving talent in the midwest.
One of the biggest stories to come out of the gap between Rounds One and Two is the very unfortunate loss of Kyle Antonovich’s car and trailer to a fire. Antonovich, the current DIGP points leader, was on his way to another event when something ignited a blaze in the back of his trailer, completely engulfing it. That was back in June, and he and his team have been working hard to get another car put together in time. If everything comes together, he’ll be piloting an SR-powered S14.
The DIGP field will also include several drivers that were unable to make it to the first round, including the always-competitive Michigan locals Dylan Lobbestael and Justin Medina. They’re among several drivers on the roster who have driven at M1 before, and there’s always something to be said for a good ol’ home field advantage.
With only 16 spots total in the DIGP main event (there are no seeded spots), all 20+ drivers will have to give it their all in their two judged qualifying runs. If Round One’s impressive performance is anything to go by, the judges will have their work cut out for them when it comes to finding faults in this roster’s runs.
Round Two will be taking place against the backdrop of the celebration of muscle car culture that is the Woodward Dream Cruise. This is the cruise’s 30th year, and, per their website, it’s expected to draw nearly a million people and around 40,000 cars to the area. Classic cars from around the world will be cruising up and down the legendary Woodward Avenue throughout the weekend, but the official cruise will be held Saturday. It’s all set to be a kick-ass couple of days of two sides of automotive culture.
DISL and DIGP practice will kick off Saturday, Aug. 16 at 10:30 AM, with DISL qualifying set to start Sunday at 1:00 PM. The event schedule and parking map are available here. To learn more about our roster of DIGP drivers, click here.