A cikk elérhető Magyar nyelven: Kattints IDE!
First of all I would like to congratulate you on your silver medal you won today and on the title of 2014 (Hungarian Drift) Champion.
Thanks! It was an extremely exciting weekend and season for all of us.
Please talk about the Final Fight. It was the last round of the season.
This time we focused on the preparation process more than we used to. We also collected all the available spare parts of the car, and we had it fully checked. However, we had problems with the drive shaft after 4-5 laps when the welding broke on Saturday. Thanks to Zsolt Zahuczki and his team we could solve the problem and could continue the qualification. I finished at the 5th position, so we were glad.
Did you face any problems on Sunday?
We didn’t have any important problems on Sunday, but the clutch sounded strange all along. After an insignificant crash with Bálint Scmidéliusz in the Top 8, we had to push the car to start the engine before all the rounds, which was quite exciting.
I raced with great opponents in good battles. Although I really enjoyed it, I couldn’t reach my own expectations in the final run. However I was very happy to have the 2nd place and the Championship as well.
What are your thoughts about the season?
At the beginning of the year we planned to take part in the Hungarian Championship as well as in the KOE. We did the best to sync the schedules. The first race at Tököl was a good beginning for us with the 3rd place, and the car also worked well. The next race was one of our best; I won the race than I took the lead in the championship. The race at Bélkő wasn't my favorite, but we collected important scores. Now in the Final Fight, I finished at the 2nd place and with this result I won the Championship. We have worked hard for it: 4 races, 3 podiums.
Unfortunately, we weren’t so lucky in the KOE series. We could attend only 6 races from 8 rounds because of the Hungarian schedule. We had technical problems as well. At the first 3 rounds we had several problems with the driveline parts: gearbox in Austria, differencial in Italy, clutch in the UK. With these results we finished at the 12th position in KOE, but we gained so many experiences about the car.
In Hungary we had fewer problems so we were succeeded to make a dream came true.
If I am correct, you are the first woman who won pro drift championship in mixed fields.
You are right; I can’t think of any other woman who did the same. I'm so proud of my team, who believed in me and in our mission throughout the season. I will always be thankful to them and to my family as well. I also hope that I can strengthen women to make their dreams come true, and encourage them not fear from the challenges they face. Impossible is nothing!
You mentioned your family and your team before. Besides them, are there any supporters who helped you?
All of our partners did their best to help us. We’ve got the best lubricants from Motul, Myactioncam supported us with cameras, and the Garage Store was responsible for our clothing.
How do you feel about that you are a Champion?
It is a result of hard work and great experiences, so it isn’t just about the title, but every moment of the season as well.
What are your plans for next year?
We are still working on the schedule. It seems that we will have more opportunities in 2015 than we had in 2014, but I can’t talk about concrete plans. I hope we can inform our fans soon.
Thanks for the support of our partners: Akont Kft, Racing-Shop, Motul, Myactioncam, Garage Store
Congratulations to you again, and all the best for the future.
Thanks.
More information on Official Nikolett Szántó Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/NikolettSzantoDrift
Video about the event:
