THE HITS keep on coming for New Zealand Motorsport lately, don’t they, and I mean that in a good way.
Scott Dixon, of course, famously sealed a fifth IndyCar Championship in the United States and Jaxon Evans, who comes from several generations of local motorsport heritage, won the Carrera Cup Australia championship not long after.
Earl Bamber continues to be one of the brightest exponents of long-distance racing and despite his challenges, Brendan Hartley has been impressive in an otherwise tough season in a minnow F1 team this year.
Next weekend the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship will go down to the wire – again between two Kiwi drivers in Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen. Hell, there have even been sessions where every New Zealander in the championship has either been on the podium or in a shootout. It’s domination.
Perhaps the most unheralded of them all, however, was the recent victory by Chris van der Drift in the 2018 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Championship.
Van der Drift sealed the prestigious series last weekend at the Shanghai Formula One circuit after a tough 12-round campaign across Asia and in a championship that has proved difficult to win in the past.
In the 15th anniversary season of the Asian region’s top one make series, he also made some history by not only going back-to-back but becoming the first driver to win the championship three times.
And don’t think for a moment that the pathway to victory was easy just because he was racing in Asia and not Australia or Europe.
To win the title, Chris had to beat out the vastly experienced and aggressive Austrian Martin Ragginger, highly rated young German Philip Hamphrecht, rising Asian stars Cui Yuey and Daniel Lu and promising Thai driver Tanart Sathienthirakul, amongst others.
Oh – and he had to beat fellow New Zealander Will Bamber, the younger brother of Le Mans winner Earl, as well.
The hallmark of Chris’ recent title was consistency; across the first twelve rounds he finished off the podium just three times and on those occasions, he was fifth in each race.
Finishing every race in the top five is a sure fire way to claim a championship, that’s for sure.
If he didn’t have the speed to win – as was the case in Sydney earlier this year – he would conserve and score points. And as his rivals tripped up or struck mechanical issues, the 32 year old continued to accumulate.
Van der Drift is no full-time professional either; along with his brother and wife he runs Drift Bros. Automotive in Hamilton, a successful car retailer and tuning business that continues to grow and expand alongside his racing commitments.
Van der Drift remains relatively unheralded outside of those who know of his supreme talent.
He’s had some chances in Supercars racing and was good in open wheelers as well.
And yet because the Asian Porsche championship doesn’t carry the same status on these shores as the Aussie title, it feels like his efforts have gone somewhat under the radar.
The fact remains, however, that it is a fiercely competitive championship and tough to win.
Not only are there fewer races than other series, some events supporting F1 feature just one each of practice, qualifying and a race; putting immense pressure on consistency and meaning dropping one race can be the difference between winning or losing.
And now Chris has done it three times and could do it again next year should he return as well.
Finally, a third one-make championship puts him into some esteemed company in the context of one-make Porsche racing, full stop.
Across more than 30 seasons of racing around the world there have been more than 190 champions – 60 in Germany and France combined alone.
Just 38 of those drivers have won two titles.
Of those 38, just 14 had won more than two – at least, it was 14 before the weekend.
Van der Drift was the 15th which puts him in truly elite company that is routinely heralded by the Weissach head office of Porsche motorsport – up there with names like Christoph Bouchet, Patrick Huisman and Rene’ Rast, among others.
Of course it’s worth noting the nationality of the man who leads the all-time Porsche one make list, too.
His name is Craig Baird and, last time I looked, he was a Kiwi too..
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