Motorsport: Brothers both aces at art of drifting

Joe, 21, (left) and Tom Marshall, 23, from Haruru Falls. Photo/Peter de Graaf

After a successful debut season contesting the D1NZ National Drifting Championship, Waipapa brothers Tom and Joe Marshall are keen to return next season and have a crack at the premier D1 Pro class.

"Definitely," says Joe, at 21 the younger of the two.

"It's been awesome, a really good year."

The pair, who live in Kerikeri and work in the family business, ATJ International and ATJ Autoparts in nearby Waipapa, were not only new to the Cody's series when they arrived at the opening round at Hampton Downs motor racing circuit south of Auckland in November last year, they were also new to the sideways sport - having only done a handful of grassroots practice days.

Both proved immediately successful, however, with 23-year-old Tom coming out as the best qualifier in the Pro-Am class at the round while Joe finished third overall.

The pair found the going a little tougher at their home round at Whangarei's Toll "Concrete Jungle" course in early December.

After the Whangarei round, Tom claimed his first Pro-Am class win at the next round on a similar concrete wall-lined course at Mount Maunganui's Baypark stadium with Joe third in January. That gave Tom a lead in the Pro-Am class points standings which he held until the penultimate round in Christchurch.

Then young Auckland drifter Vincent Langhorn - who went on to claim the 2013/14 Pro-Am class title - got into his winning stride.

Tom qualified seventh and Joe 12th in the final round, held under lights at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium on May 24, the brothers sharing Tom's car after Joe found the new throttle body he had installed in his car was sticking.

Tom then went on to finish second overall to class round winner Sam Smith from Pukekohe after multiple re-runs in which the judges couldn't separate the battling drivers.

The result was that Tom ended up third overall in the Pro-Am class points standings while Joe finished fifth.

Not bad for a couple of rookies from the Far North.

"Yeah," says Joe, "this season was all about seeing if we enjoyed it, and I think we are both surprised at how well we've gone.

"We've also had a lot of fun travelling around and seeing different parts of New Zealand, plus we've met some awesome people and made a lot of new friends," he said.