Australia’s national drifting championship, the Hi-Tec Drift Allstars Series, will join the circuit racing Super Series from next year.
The Drift Allstars has been confirmed to run with the circuit racers at four rounds, Queensland Raceway, Calder Park, Sydney Motorsport Park and Winton.
Drift Allstars is contested by names like Scott Schembri, Chris Sadler, Roger I’Anson (who also has circuit racing experience) and Ben Odger under AASA sanctioning.
It is a natural fit on the similarly run Super Series program, according to Benalla Auto Club General Manager, Stephen Whyte.
“We’ve already had a taste of drifting at our rounds – there were some drift demonstrations in our first round at Winton, and we ran a round of the Top End Drift Series at Hidden Valley,” Whyte said.
“Having a mixture of drifting and circuit racing will benefit the competitors in both groups, as we will get fans of both circuit racing and drifting attending our events and tuning into the live stream and television coverage.
“We will look to run our events with the potential of circuit racing during the day and drifting into the night under lights, perhaps even alternating depending on the circuit.
“We also believe there could be opportunities for some competitor crossover – we might see some circuit racing drivers deciding to have a go at drifting and vice versa. It will strengthen the overall product.”
The second round of the 2023 Drift Allstars was completed at a wet Calder Park in Victoria on the weekend, with Patrick Barlee taking the overall Pro Class round win in his C6 Chevrolet Corvette ahead of Jordan Sanderson’s Holden Commodore VE Ute.
Sam Mudge competed in both classes and was knocked out of the Pro Class by Barlee after a run was thwarted when electrical issues left his RB20-powered S13 Nissan Silvia stranded on the start line. There was some redemption with Mudge taking out the Pro-Am Class winner after defeating Kieren Racklyeft in his R33 Nissan Skyline.
Round 3 of the 2023 Super Series takes place at Queensland Raceway on June 2-4, with the next Drift Allstars round the same weekend at Winton before heading to QR in August with the grand final at Symmons Plains, Tasmania, in October.
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