LA Lucia resident Sebastian Rich recently came out trumps in the third event of the Supadrift Series at the Dezzi Raceway Track on the south coast. Rich competes in the sport of drifting, where crossing the finish line first does not guarantee you are going to win, unlike other racing events.

The 17-year-old won the event in the Pro 1 class. A remarkable achievement considering it was the Clifton College Grade 11 learner’s first year competing.

Not even speed is the number one priority in the sport. However it does boil down to a number of factors. Drifting competitions are judged based on line, angle, speed, style and show factor. For Rich, the adrenaline and skills factor has been a major attraction to the sport for him.

“It was an awesome feeling and a little surreal too. I finished second in the last race so to come out on top is great. I go into the competition with quite an open mind but the end goal is to win. I’m quite stoked considering the difficulties we had before the race. The car had engine issues on the practice session so we couldn’t really test the car out.

“Having said that when it came to the event, I was mentally prepared and switched on, because the racetrack is quite tricky. They didn’t announce the winner straight away, so I had to wait until all the races to finish before knowing the result which made it that much sweeter,” he said.

His next event is at the end of August and he said his longterm goals is to make it into the Pro division and possibly compete at the Formula Drift Professional series in the USA.

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