Photos by Jeremy Glover
On Sunday, June 8, 2014, history was made in Canadian drifting. The first ever official Formula Drift Canada took place at Autodrome St-Eustache, QC, just north of Montreal. Formula Drift Canada is broken down into two rounds – Qualification (June 8, 2014) and Challenge (August 31 – September 1, 2014). At this (Qualification) round, drivers participated and qualified to compete in this year’s Formula Drift Canada – Challenge Round. The Top 8 drivers automatically qualify for the big Labour Day event where some of the big teams from Formula Drift (USA) will travel North to compete with and against Canadian drivers.
It was a perfect sunny day for this qualification event. In the morning, the paddock area started to fill with drivers, over 30 came out to try to secure one of the Top 8 spots. At the first drivers meeting of the day, the 3 judges – DMCC judge Haig Kanadjian, Slide judge Kevin Grenier and Formula Drift USA judge Ryan Lanteigne – went over what they were going to be looking for during the day’s event.
Throughout practice, the drivers were putting down some crazy runs, smoking-out the increasingly packed crowd. The drivers looks solid. Taking the top qualifying spot was Marc Landreville, who is currently competing in this season’s Formula Drift USA. Qualifying second was Francis Tasse in his crazy 1000hp wide-body Mazda FD RX-7, and coming in a solid third was Brad Carlton