Let's pick up from where we left off from Round 2 of the Castrol Edge D1NZ National Drifting Championship. The second round saw New Zealand's drift series converge on the high speed Pukekohe circuit. As mentioned in yesterday's instalment, the track had very strict noise restrictions on the cars. Many of the drivers had used up their one warning during practice, so were on their last chance heading into the competition. 
Justin Rood and the other judges went over their revised lines for the drivers.
This is the man who had the uneasy task of ensuring the cars were quiet enough. Dan Teeboon is the head scrutineer and marshall for all D1NZ events. During the briefing he reiterated that no additional warnings would be given: if your car was too loud, it was going home.
Mad Mike's team had been very busy the night before working to get MADBUL as quiet as possible. If you've ever heard this RX-7 in person, you'll understand that this can be quite a challenge.
Believe it or not, MADBUL's induction noise was also reading at well over 95db so the team made up this little box to try and control that end of the car too. The text on the side says it all.
What do you guys think of Curt Whittaker's all-black 2JZ powered Nissan Skyline? It looked pretty menacing!
Unfortunately Jason Sellers suffered a mechanical failure when the alternator snapped off the front of the 2JZ powering his Nissan C33 Laurel. This meant he was unable to qualify.
Nico Reid was getting used to his new Nissan S15 Silvia but still managed to claim 20th spot.
Despite this pretty big crash, Randal Luipihi qualified in 18th.
Bruce Tannock seemed to have the sweeper dialed in perfectly in the Achilles Radial Nissan S13 Silvia. He qualified 15th. Look at that squat!
Matt Jackson in his Mazda FC3S RX-7 laid down some impressive runs with huge angle, and took out the 12th spot.
All the crazy modifications Mike's team made to the car overnight to surpress the noise paid off, with the RX-7 coming under the 95dB requirement. Mike drove well and qualified 7th.
Chris Trundle's Mazda FC3S RX7 is one of only four cars in D1NZ that is still powered by a rotary engine. He did the rotor fans proud by snatching 6th!
Rounding out the top four we had veteran Fanga Dan Woolhouse take 4th…
Three time D1NZ champion Gaz Whiter in 3rd…
Cole Armstrong in his 4 door Nissan R34 Skyline in 2nd..
And newcomer Darren Benjamin in 1st. This was an amazing achievement from Darren as this is only his second round in the D1NZ Pro series. His Nissan Laurel is powered by a 2JZ motor.
On Gaz Whiter's last qualifying run he had an unfortunate incident with the barriers coming into the sweeper. To make matters worse, BK, a D1NZ official, was struck by debris and was taken to Auckland Hospital with fractures to his eye socket and skull. Everyone here at Speedhunters wishes him a speedy recovery.
Back in the pits we spotted Gaz being interviewed about the crash. He was devastated to hear what had happened to BK.
His team were hard at work repairing the damage. The whole rear of the car had crumpled in from the impact and needed to be straightened out. So they strapped the car...
...To a nearby pole and ratcheted it straight.
They did a decent job considering the time and tools they had. The car was ready just in time for the upcoming battles.
The pits were very busy as fans were allowed to wander through during the lunch break. Here we see Andrew Redward signing autographs.
A lot of drivers had huge crowds around their cars.
After lunch we headed straight into the battles. Unfortunately Mad Mike blew his diff on the Top 16 parade lap and was unable to compete in any of the subsequent battles. This was a big blow to Mike and the team after taking the Round 1 win.
Earlier in the day Andrew Redward's Nissan Silvia suffered a blown piston, forcing him to borrow Pro-Am driver Cam Vernon's Nissan Skyline. With no practice in it, he lost to Nico Reid.
It was a battle of the newcomers as Mark Burling and Bradley Lauder went head to head. Bradley and his bright blue and yellow Nissan Silvia proved too much for Mark and moved through to the great eight.
Two of the top contenders for this round met in the top eight and it was a very close battle. Curt Whittaker came out on top and was on his way to the top four.
Cole Armstrong's V Energy powered Nissan R34 Skyline was too much for Daynom Templeman, and pulled a significant gap on his lead run. Cole progressed through to the top four.
Steven Sole and his Toyota Chaser were responsible for giving triple D1NZ champion Gaz Whiter an early exit in Round One. The two met again in the top eight, with Whiter exacting revenge.
Darren Benjamin continued his qualifying form by making it into the top four. Unfortunately Darren dirt dropped on his chase run, giving the win to opponent Curt Whittaker. In spite of the loss, Darren beat Gaz Whiter to third place.
The final saw Curt Whittaker and Cole Armstrong go head to head. It was an extremely close encounter that ended up going one more time.
Again they battled very closely and it was difficult to tell who had the advantage.
After the judges deliberated, the win was given to Curt Whittaker.
It was then time to celebrate in style! Round 3 heads south to Taupo Motorsport Park in just a few short weeks. Catch you then!
Photos and words by Roo Wills
D1NZ stories on Speedhunters
Drifting stories on Speedhunters
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