All you need to know about the Gymkhana GRiD

By Farzana Chaumoo

Gymkhana GRiD has been running for six years now. For this year’s season ending of Gymkhana GRiD, drivers and cars were lifted off European shores and brought to Africa.

In tow for the event was the Hoonigan Racing Division with professional rally driver, Ken Block and his pro team mate, rallycross driver, Andreas Bakkerud. While this team has been the most emphasized for the event, there were around 23 other incredible international drivers. Local racers/drifters were also invited to join the event with the likes of Jason Webb, Victor Pardal, Clare Vale, Joey Govender and others.

What is Gymkhana GRiD?

It was first launched at the 2013 X Games in Los Angeles, California. The competition is open to all who ‘dare to compete’. The name of the game is speed and precision and every driver uses his/her own specially modified car.

The competition has a very distinctive setup that allows lower-powered cars to take on the big guys. There are two categories: one for All-Wheel Drive (AWD) and one for Rear-Wheel Drive (RWD) cars. On the custom-designed course, drivers face off against each other for the best time.

Each round consists of two runs whereby one side/set of the track is right-focused and the other set is left-focused. The slower driver then gets eliminated and the winner progresses to the next round. The final winner in each class then gets to take on the head Hoonigan, Ken Block – who participates in the AWD category.

Depending on who the sponsors are, obstacles to feature them are inserted on the course. Things such as giant tyres, a race seat, cones etc. On the South African set-up there were also planes. The course also features doughnut boxes, barrels and clipping points. Drivers have to manoeuver around these with minimal mistakes. Penalties are also taken into account and add to the drivers’ final times.

Gymkhana GRiD drivers:

Ken Block

The head honcho of the show was Ken Block. He’s one of the co-owners of Hoonigan Industries. He’s also a professional rally and stunt driver. Block, 49, competes in other action sports that include motocross, skateboarding and snowboarding. He participated in the AWD category with a Ford Fiesta ST RX43.

Andreas Bakkerud

Bakkerud, 26, is a rallycross driver from Norway. He has collected 8 wins in the FIA Rallycross Supercar class. Bakkerud is the first ever driver to win all four qualifying sessions in the FIA World Rallycross Championship in one weekend. He participated in the AWD class with a Ford Focus RS RX.

Petter Solberg

Solberg, 43, is a professional rallycross driver from Norway. Solberg made his first appearance in the World Rally Championship at the age of 24. He was than signed by the Ford Factory team a year later (1995). Solberg was the first Norwegian to win the World Rally Championship. For the Gymkhana GRiD Solberg competed in the AWD class with a PSRX Volkswagen Polo GTI.

Johan Kristoffersson

Kristoffersson, 28, is a racecar driver from Sweden. He won the first ever World RX event in Africa. Kristoffersson competed in the AWD class with a PSRX Volkswagen Polo GTI.

Oliver Solberg

Solberg, 16, is the son of Petter Solberg. He was the youngest driver to race a top-level Supercar when he made his debut at the opening round of the Scandinavian Series in Norway earlier this year. He was to compete in this years Gymkhana GRiD with a Nissan Skyline R34 but encountered some problems. He than made use of Terry Grant’s Jaguar F-Type to compete.

Jason Webb

Webb, 23, is South Africa’s first ever national drift champion. He won in 2013 at the age of 19. He competed in the RWD class with his custom built 700bhp supercharged 5.0 V8 ‘Monstang’ (Ford Mustang).

Luke Woodham

Woodham, 29, was a motorcycle mechanic before becoming a professional driver. Originally from the United Kingdom, he competes in the RWD class. He drives a Nissan 200SX (S14) which he built himself in his driveway at home. Woodham has grabbed the title of European Gymkhana GRiD champion in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He also carries the title of British Drift Championship Pro class driver.

Dmitriy Illyuk

Illyuk, 36, is a Ukrainian drift champion that competes regularly in European events. He competes in the RWD class with his custom built 1000bhp Nissan S14.

Shane Lynch

Lynch, 41, is an internationally awarded singer and songwriter who got his first motorsport deal in 1998. He got this by beating Alister McRae at a celebrity event. He competed in the RWD class with a Nissan V8 Supercharged 370Z.

Steve ‘Baggsy’ Biagioni

Baggsy, 30, is a regular driving consultant in the driving industry from the United Kingdom. He has taught actor Idris Elba to drift for the movie King of Speed, as well as Richard Hammond for an episode of Amazon’s Grand Tour. He competes in the RWD class with a Mazda RX7. He also has taken multiple King of Europe Drift Championship podiums.

Riku Tahko

Tahko, 33, is a driver from Finland. He is also a volunteer in the Finnish Army. Tahko competes in the AWD class with his BMW Suomi Mini.

Terry Grant

Grant is an international stunt driver from the United Kingdom. He is a 26-time World Record holder. His only competitive motorsport event is the Gymkhana GRiD. He competed in the RWD class with a Suzuki Swift.

Adam Elder

Elder, 30, is fairly recent in the motorsport world having only competed in the last three years and taking podium positions. He’s biggest rival is Luke Woodham. He competes in the RWD class with a Nissan 200SX S14.

Jonathan Buck

Buck, 35, is competing in the Gymkhana GRiD for the third year. He competes in the AWD class with a SCR Scoobyclinic Subaru Impreza. Buck always makes his way into the top 8.

Dmitrij Sribnyj

Sribnyj, 36, can be seen as the most successful driver in Gymkhana GRiD’s AWD class. This is due to the fact that Russian born Sribnyj has taken 60 podiums and has over 40 wins from various motorsport events. He competes with a Subaru Impreza.

James Stephen

Stephen, 28, is a driving coach from Scotland. He placed fourth in the RWD class for the 2017 British Gymkhana open. For this event he competed in the AWD class with a Flitspeed Subaru Impreza WRX STI.

Danny Cross

Cross, 37, labels himself as a self-made racer from the United Kingdom. He competes in the RWD class with a Nissan 200SX S14. His car is completely street legal and he self-funded his trip to South Africa to compete at Gymkhana GRiD.

Nikolett Szántó

Szántó, 37, is a female drifter from Hungary. The last time she competed in Gymkhana GRiD was in 2013 and finished in second position. She had beaten series regulars by a significant margin. She competed in the RWD class with a BMW E46. Szántó has also taken multiple podiums in Hungarian drift and Gymkhana championships.

What happened at the event?

There were several qualifying sessions that occurred between Friday and Saturday. Drivers had the opportunity to practice and make it into the top sixteen. On Saturday, qualifying went into the night with about the same support and enthusiasm from fans as during the day. The set up was incredible and in the evenings a track reset included lights to liven up the course. After the qualifying sessions on Saturday evening a Monster Energy Smoke Show took place followed by a smoke show by Ken Block and Andreas Bakkerud. The Hoonigans were exceptionally fast, having completed one side of the course in one minute, flat. 

During the time when cars were in the pits being worked on fans could occupy themselves in the food court or walk around the AutoCIRCUS. This was organized and sponsored by AutoTrader and included a display of classic cars, jet cars and some exhibitors. There was also a remote-control car competition set up on its own track. People could also experience drifting done by a professional for an additional fee. 

On Sunday the show began with the top sixteen of each category. Followed by the GREAT 8 races which took place for each of the two categories. We then went into semi-finals and then finals. The crowds were really hyped on Sunday as it was the most important day of the event. All the grand-stands were full and people surrounded the arena with great excitement to see who would be crowned the 2017 Gymkhana GRiD winner.

Finals

Making it into the top eight (semi-finals) we had Block take on Solberg, Bakkerud vs Kristoffersson, Elder vs. Cross, and Otto Graven against Woodham.

The first race in the finals took place between Woodham and Elder for the RWD class.

There was a 1.39 second difference between the times with Woodham taking the win. The AWD final race was between Kristoffersson and Solberg making it the closest finish with a 0.16 second difference and Kristoffersson taking the win.

Luke Woodham won his fourth consecutive Gymkhana GRiD Rear-Wheel Drive title, ahead of UK drivers Adam Elder and Danny Cross.

In the All-Wheel Drive category, Johan Kristoffersson took first place beating Petter Solberg and Andreas Bakkerud.

Finals got really tense and the venue was buzzing. Many of the international drivers didn’t expect this much of motorsport enthusiasm in South Africa and I think were overwhelmed by it. Local drivers were also very excited to have been invited to join the international event. It was a unique experience and a hugely successful event enjoyed by everyone in attendance. We certainly hope that an event like this will return to South Africa in the future.

And if you missed this event, head to AutoTrader’s YouTube and social media channels to catch all the highlights!