King of Europe 2016: DOTZ teamrider Pamper leads

The five times Austrian champion drives for the DOTZ team since 2015 and plays a tremendous role in the series this year after he finished last year at his home race in Greinbach at 3rd place. The outsider with its 700hp BMW M3 E36 with supercharger conversion has blossomed after two races to one of the favorites: Pamper is top of the list after two races.

It all started in Polish Kielce in early May. In perfect conditions on the first day, the masters of the subject showed their skills for the first time this year.

On the second day, however, a downpour followed and the conditions changed dramatically. However, the professionals were unimpressed and were pushing the cars to the limit, proved by entry speeds of up to 155km/h.

As always, the local heroes were dominant in Poland. Nine of the top ten in qualifying were locals. Only Alois Pamper at 4th place could penetrate the Polish phalanx. That was surprising for himself, Pamper said in an interview: "I did not know the track and did not expect much, but the car was reliable all weekend, I made no mistakes and of course I could capitalize of the rain."

While Pamper knew the wet conditions from Austrian Drift races, many pros were not particularly fine with the conditions. 2015 ProSeries champion Robert Kovacik had to throw in the towel in the first knockout-stage.

The DOTZ teamrider however eliminated each opponent on his way to the final to the last showdown with local hero Marek Wartalowicz. After an extremely tight race, there was a re-run, in which an error of the Polisch driver was critical. DOTZ teamrider Alois Pamper claimed his first victory in a King of Europe-race.

The podium in Poland: Second-placed Marek Wartalowicz, winner Alois Pamper and third-placed Pawel Trela.

On June 11th and 12th, the drift elite met at one of the most spectacular racetracks in L'Anneau du Rhin, France. A total of 64 King of Europe-drivers took part in the elimination.

Drift-legend and Touge-champion Keiichi Tsuchiya also came to France, on the one hand to give away private drift-details and on the other to act as a juror at the King of Europe race.

In contrast to the race in 2015 and also the season-opener in Poland it remained mainly dry in France this time. DOTZ teamrider Adam Kerenyi shined a light in qualifying with his new car and won with 94.93 points, the best day rating.

In addition to driftbrothers Eli and Joe Hountondji...

...Alois Pamper – again – caused a sensation in France. The DOTZ teamrider was able to prevail against top favorites Benjamin Boulbès and Adam Frank and met DOTZ teammate Adam Kerenyi in the quarterfinals. After a 6: 4 for the Hungarian in the first run, an error of the 3-time champion made sure Pamper further remained in the race. 10:0 was the score in the second run.

In the semifinal Alois Pamper went against Joe Hountondji – the race was one of the highlights of the entire weekend. With changing conditions between sun and rain, there was a total of five runs. In Sudden Death Hountondji had ultimately the better end with a narrow 6:4. And while Pamper took third place in the small final,...

...Hountondji prevailed against Dutchman Remmo Niezen in the grand final by 5:5 and 6:4.

The podium in France: third-placed Alois Pamper, winner Joe Hountondji and second-placed Remmo Niezen. The King of Europe continues on July 23rd and 24th in Austrian Greinbach, when DOTZ teamrider Alois Pamper will try to defend his overall lead. The expectations on Pamper have grown with the results of the first two races of course. "If I have steady nerves and the car is still as reliable as recently, a podium-place is possible," the DOTZ teamrider is confident for the home race.