After the unveiling of the 2021 Prodrift Academy Esports Drift Team, all eyes were on the Virtual Drift Championship where the best of international sim drifters gathered to do battle for Round 1 in Road Atlanta. The team would make their competitive debut with Rhys Tatterson joining Alan Hynes on a very talented grid of drivers. With Rhys showing great pace all week in practice, it was now time to see how he would fair in his new race colours.

Qualifying was a close affair with a packed grid and a very high level of drifting. Drivers required a high 80’s score to have any chance of making the top 32. Rhys was first up and scored 89.3 points in his first run and improving with 90 points in his second, putting him in 14th place overall. Alan with his first run scored 92.3 points and 96 points in his second with a big flick on initiation, enough to qualify him in 2nd place overall.

The top 32 started with Alan against S13 drifter Markus Lundqvist, with Alan having a strong lead and an aggressive chase which was enough to take the win and advance to top 16.

Rhys was up against Pontus Jacobson and after a clean lead run, a mistake from Pontus in the chase was enough to hand Rhys the win.

The top 16 would see Prodrift Academy vs Brazil, with Alan paired up against Victor Alves and Rhys taking on Caio Fonseca. In Alans lead run, Victor would make a slight mistake in the transition, tapping Alan and adjusting his lead line. In the chase run, Alan would mirror Victors lead which was enough for Alan to advance to the top 8.

Caio Fonseca, the third highest qualifier, would have a clean lead run with Rhys mirroring his every move. In the second run, Rhys would open a gap for the first half of the battle with Fonseca only catching him after the horseshow. The judges went with Rhys and he would advance to the top 8

In the great 8, Alan would come up against FormulaD pro drifter Tyler Nelson and Rhys would compete against another professional drifter in Conor Shanahan, After a clean lead run, Alan would make a mistake on initiation when following Tyler which was enough for the judges to vote for a one more time. In the second battle, Alan would have a clean lead run, and in the chase, Tyler would cut the second inner clip which bounced his car across the track and saw him go all 4 wheels off. Alan advancing to the top 4.

In Rhys top 8 battle, Conor laid down a very good lead run with Rhys mirroring his every move. With Rhys in the lead, Conor gave him a slight tap on the first transition which effected Rhys line and caused Conor to lose some ground before catching up in the second half of the run. That one mistake was enough to see Conor eliminated and Rhys to progress to the top 4.

The second semi-final was an all Prodrift Academy affair, with Alan and Rhys prepared to do battle for a place in the final. After a week of practicing together in preparation of the event, it was now time to battle for a place in the final. Alan, the higher qualifier, put in an excellent lead run with Rhys consistently in chase on his door. In the second run, Rhy put in an awesome lead run until he over angled after the horseshoe allowing Alan to close in. A simple mistake which would hand Alan the win and advance to the final.

In the 3rd place playoff Rhys would go up against top Lithuanian qualifier Erikas Jurkas. Rhys would match Erikas every move in what was a very good chase run. In the second run Erikas lost Rhys in the first half of the run until closing in at the horseshoe. Rhys takes 3rd place overall.

In the final, Alan would compete against long-term rival Tikhon Polessky. Alan the higher qualifier was chased down by Tikhon throughout the whole track, mirroring his every move. In the second run, an over aggressive initiation from Alan put him at odds behind Tekhon and he lost ground to the horseshoe. That small mistake from Alan was enough to hand Tikhon the win and the lead of the 2021 VDC championship.

Overall a great event for the Prodrift Academy Esports Drift Team, with a memorable debut for Rhys in 3rd and 2nd place for Alan. Next up, VDC round 2 on December 19th.

Full Top 32 livestream can be seen below.