Estey Takes Single-Point Lead Atop DIGP Rankings at Woodward Drift Festival

The second round of Drift Indy Grand Prix followed hot on the heels of DISL at Drift Indy’s Woodward Drift Festival earlier this month, taking the same competition formula and turning it up a notch or two.

Drift competitions are fatiguing, there’s no way around it. Qualifying can drag on, wrecks and mechanical issues need scraped off the track, cones need reset and no matter the level of driving, they take time. DISL is undoubtedly riveting, and increasingly so as the level of driving has increased over the years. Still, when the smoke has cleared after the final battle and a winner declared, the thought of immediately going into DIGP’s Top 16 is daunting.

Then, the first battle kicks off and all that weariness disappears. Such is the effect of the level of driving and quality of cars on display.

Practice on Saturday took place against the backdrop of the Woodward Dream Cruise, complete with circling news helicopters and the Goodyear blimp floating back and forth all day. Maybe I’m biased, but it sure felt like they spent a lot of time above and around the drifting and a little less time shooting the festivities over on Woodward Ave.

DIGP and DISL drivers don’t shy away from getting practice laps in together, despite the occasional power gap. There’s a mutual respect that comes with coming up in the same system and being held to the same standards, even if the level of build or experience is different.

The second morning of each DISL or DIGP weekend always includes the entire field of drivers lining up their cars on track for a photo op. Teams park together, drivers socialize with each other and it’s a great chance to see who’s still standing after the first day of practice.The car gods were kind to both rosters this year, for the most part, and there were few absences. Drift Indy partnered with Vaded Mob and Shift Society for this year’s Woodward Drift Festival, with DI handling the drifting side of things while the other organizations put on a car show Sunday. It drew around 75 cars, a lot of which were very clean, pretty sick builds.

With practice shortened to an hour to avoid inclement weather during the competition, DIGP drivers worked on dialing in their entries just that little bit more. Plenty of them looked very confident and comfortable on the dry track, but the heavy rain that rolled through just in time for qualifying made the course demanding in a very different way. Since DIGP doesn’t use the same pre-seeding system as DISL, every driver has to participate in qualifying at each round to try to earn a spot in the Top 16. No one gets to rest on their laurels after a strong performance earlier in the season.

Qualifying at this round produced a pretty different-looking Top 16 to the first round, with a few notable absences. Roy Outcalt and Justin Medina, the second- and third-place finishers from Round One, both missed out on the main event this time around. For his part, winner of the first round and series points leader Mike Steele took the top qualifying spot.

Mike squared off with Brendon Greaves and his smoke machine of a BMW E92 in the first battle of the evening. It was a fairly close battle, but Mike was in his usual form and stayed tucked in Greaves’ pocket all the way through his chase in the second half of their matchup. As they swung through the shutdown at the end of their lap, though, there was about as much smoke coming out the front, side-dump exhausts of the BMW as was coming from the tires out back. Greaves quickly pulled off and shut it down. Luckily, nothing was on fire and a blown seal was deemed to be at fault. Regardless, Mike got the nod and advanced.

On the other side of the bracket, Fortune Fleet teammates Britt Kaukeinen and Justin Keith found themselves paired up. Any time two dudes who have turned a ton of laps together throw down in a comp, the spectators are in for a treat. From the jump, the two jade green machines were on each other. Keith lead first, putting down a solid lap with Kaukeinen matching him through each zone. With the roles reversed, Kaukeinen managed to open up just a little bit of a gap with his C5 ‘Vette. Keith caught up mid-way through the run, but the judges ruled in the Chevy’s favor.

The Top 8 produced yet more interesting pairings, kicking off with a heater between brothers Mike and Brock Steele in what was reportedly their first-ever battle against each other in a competition. In his chase, Brock mirrored his brother’s lead to near-perfection. Their second lap was going very similarly despite the role reversal, but as they swung through outer zone four and started to transition for five, Mike pushed a little too hard and caught Brock’s rear quarter. It didn’t pull him out of drift, but it did give Brock the edge when it came to judging. That battle would prove to be very important when it came to tallying the season points totals at the conclusion of the round.

Josh Estey, pushing hard after missing out on the podium at Round One, lined it up against Kaukeinen in a rematch from last season’s final round. Unfortunately for the Fortune Fleet driver, their matchup went the same way this time around. Estey put his Ecoboost-swapped S14 in all the right places to advance another step toward his first hardware of the season.

Dylan Lobbestael’s win over Team Smooth Brain’s Sam Cornewell sealed the deal on an all-Michigander semifinals. Evidently they were out for blood after being completely shut out of the podium by Ohio-based drivers at last season’s visit to M1. That result also made Lobbestael the last non-Bobby’s Crew driver left in the competition.

Brock squared off against teammate Chad Anderson to decide who’d advance to the finals from their side of the bracket. Anderson, behind the wheel of his Coyote-swapped BMW E46, had already advanced past two LS-powered cars on his way to the semis. The Ford powerplant prevailed once again when it came to his matchup with Brock, sending the Steele brother to a battle for third place and punching Anderson’s ticket to the finals.

Estey and Lobbestael, both on an absolute heater, threw down on the other side. Behind a very solid lead from Estey, though, Lobbestael over-cooked it slightly coming off the wall and the S14 crossed the finish alone. The bobble was quickly overshadowed by a second run that was one of, if not the, best of the night. Estey was absolutely glued to Lobbestael’s killer lead, and it earned him a trip to the finals.

With an all-Bobby’s Crew podium on the line, Brock dutifully doored Lobbestael in his chase after opening a gap in his lead. With that battle complete, Estey and Anderson set off to see which blue car would win the day. For the second battle in a row, though, Estey crossed the finish line alone in his chase. An uncharacteristic error from Anderson on initiation saw him zero his chase run, and despite slight contact from Estey in a similar spot on their next run, the Ford motor with half as many cylinders triumphed.

“Honestly, this has been the hardest I've ever had to work for a win, ever… I feel like it sounds corny, but after working so hard to make sure I was running the line right, just getting on the box, especially with a teammate, this is the stuff we talk about forever,” said Estey after the podium ceremony.

With Mike Steele’s early exit at the hands of his brother in the Top 8, Estey put himself at the top of the season standings with just a single-point lead. He’s sitting on 40 points to Mike’s 39 as they look toward the final round of the season. Their positions at the top of the rankings are far from guaranteed, though, with everyone down to 11th place having the potential to earn enough points to knock them off.

Whoever ends up on the top step, Round Three promises to be a killer show. It’s being held Saturday, September 19 during No Star Bash, Drift Indy’s biggest event of the season, at Darana Raceway in Xenia, Ohio.

Check out our full Woodward Drift Festival gallery here!