Three-Time Ukraine Drift King Aleksandr Grinchuk Continues his Rule in 2012

14 Dec 2012

Exhibition drift shows in Kyiv and Baku, Azerbaijan were greeted by 50,000 fans

It’s good to be King – although the unyielding demands and pressures can at times become a real buzzkill.

“For three years I was the holder of the Ukrainian Drift King title", reminisced Aleksandr Grinchuk. “It was not easy to defend this title in 2010 and 2011. But this season this title became the main goal for every drift pilot in Ukraine. I managed to get four podiums during the year. Unfortunately some technical problems with my transmission in the final round made my fourth time championship impossible.”

Grinchuk was immediately able to highlight the positive aspect of not entering next season as the defending champion. “This is a good experience and a relief. In the beginning of the 2013 racing season the target won’t be on my back this time,” he adds with a smile.

The reason why this coveted drift title sits atop of every Ukrainian driver’s must-have list is because of Aleksandr Grinchuk. Grinchuk is simply the most successful driver in the history of Ukrainian drifting. In fact without him, drifting in this corner of the world would not be what it is today, seeing that he literally put drifting on the Ukrainian motorsports map. He won the Ukrainian title in 2009, 2010, and in 2011 he was awarded the ultimate crown – the “Absolute Drift Champion of Ukraine.” To earn that title requires winning all three of the Ukrainian drift championships, the TuningFest Drift Edition Championship, Vinnitza Grand Prix Championship and the most prestigious, the Ukrainian Drift Championship (UDC).

Aleksandr Grinchuk is the ironman of Ukrainian drifting

Accordingly, that makes Grinchuk the dude, the baddest man around, and when you’re the top-gun everyone is out to take you down and make a name for themselves. Which is what makes Grinchuk’s three titles in a row all the more impressive. Although Grinchuk came up a tad short of notching that fourth title on his holster in 2012, he continued to be the primary figure for advancing the popularity of drifting not only in the Ukraine, but throughout all of Eastern Europe.

"The 2012 Drift Racing season in Ukraine was very interesting and intense,” Grinchuk remarked. “With three different national championships at the start of the season, only one showed consistency in their plans, schedules and rules during the season. That is why my team and I had to change our race plan several times this year.”

However the confusion didn’t deter any of the drivers’ efforts, in fact quite the contrary according to Grinchuk, because the overall level of drifting continued to take several strides forward once again, as illustrated by even better results coming not only from the top drivers, but the results of novice drivers improved significantly as well.

Grinchuk came up a little short this year in claiming his fourth straight drift title

“This season was awesome with some great drift battles all over the Ukraine in the usual places and several new cities like Lviv and Poltava,” commented the K&N sponsored driver. “Also, we took a very good step forward with ‘show-runs’ made by Red Bull. The main event of the year was called ‘Parade of the Champions’ and it gathered more than 50,000 people at the Main Street of the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. At this event three cars made up the show, the F1 Red Bull Racing car, NASCAR Red Bull car, and my drift car.”

Much to the delight of the passionate fans, Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo not only paraded his F1 car, but he also sped up Main Street in the Red Bull NASCAR racer.

“It was an honor to be part of this show equally with the world’s best race cars,” said Grinchuk. “We made a lot of smoke, speed and some very good drifting on the closed central street of Kyiv for several hours. This show was a large success. Three weeks later we were invited to take part in the same show-run in Baku, Azerbaijan where we doubled our success, this time with F1 legend David Coulthard.”

The K&N supported driver continued to advance the popularity of drifting throughout Eastern Europe in 2012

For the 2013 season Grinchuk and his team have plans to upgrade his car to a lighter chassis and to add some additional power. Results from this season clearly indicated that the lightest cars with hugest amounts of horsepower were having a serious advantage.

“Using the new car I plan to start the chase for more championships,” Grinchuk adds. “This time for the Ukrainian Drift Championship and the East European Drift Championship.”

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