Falken Motorsports reviews 2022 endurance and drifting action

Falken Motorsports’ Nürburgring-based GT programme and drifting action resulted in another memorable season for the brand in 2022. The endurance racing team claimed two memorable victories, while Cork-based Falken drifter James Deane augmented pan-European competition with a return to the mainstream automotive media, with a Top Gear Magazine video feature.

One of the Falken Porsches at the 50th Nürburgring 24 Hours (Photo: Jan Brucke/Falken)

Falken Motorsports capped its NLS endurance series with two stand-out results. In July, Sven Müller and Joel Eriksson steered Falken to its first victory in the annual NLS six-hour race, completing 43 laps and dominating the second half of the race in the outfit’s SP9-class #3 Porsche 911 GT3 R, finishing more than a minute clear of the chasing pack. Then, two months later the team added to its successes by claiming a historic victory in the inaugural NLS 12-hour race, which was held over two days with the race split into two parts. Joel Eriksson, Jaxon Evans, Sven Müller and Alessio Picariello battled through tricky conditions throughout the weekend and won the race by just 15 seconds after 12 hours, 79 laps and almost 2,000km of racing.

These two victories followed Falken’s appearance at the 50^th running of the Nürburgring 24 Hours in June, also held on the gruelling 170-corner Nordschleife circuit. Falken secured a top-10 finish as part of the hotly-contested SP9 category against 31 other GT3 teams, competing on rival tyre brands’ rubber. Its #33 Porsche driven by Jaxon Evans, Sven Müller, Marco Seefried and Patrick Pilet would come home the highest-placed Porsche in the overall classification with a ninth-place finish.

Falken’s eye-catching performances with Porsche, in its 12^th season racing with the German marque, also resulted in a chance to become the first customer team to compete with the brand new 911 GT3 R (Gen 992) at NLS8 in October. Falken’s time spent with the car during the weekend formed part of Porsche’s developmental programme with the car, which will compete globally in GT3 competition next year.

Falken also supplied tyres to Max Kruse Racing, which competes in the SP3T category of the NLS and Nürburgring 24 Hours with VW Golf VIIs. The German outfit enjoyed a highly successful campaign, winning five of the eight races during the season, finishing 1-2 in all five victories. The team also earned a double podium finish at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, finishing second and third in the SP3T division.

The Falken Motorsports team enjoyed endurance racing victories in NLS (Photo: Gruppe C Photography/Falken)

Falken drifting season

James Deane at Goodwood (Photo: Falken)

In drifting, James Deane competed in the Drift Masters European Championship, making a number of appearances at other events such as at April’s Goodwood Members’ Meeting, where he represented drifting in his in his custom Falken Tyre E92 Eurofighter. Deane was a front-runner in the championship, just missing out on a podium with an overall fourth-place. He claimed three podiums in total, with a third place on home soil in Ireland, a second place in Latvia and another podium in the finale in Poland.

Deane was also involved in several other events throughout the year. In May, Deane took part in the annual Falken Drift Show held ahead of the 24 hours, putting on an exciting drift demonstration for the passionate fans trackside. In June his Eurofighter was in action once again on the iconic Goodwood Hill Climb at the 2022 Festival of Speed. Over the bumper four-day event hundreds of thousands of motorsport fans saw his skills up close and watched him secure the victory in a timed ‘Driftkhana’ competition measuring speed, skill and driving flair.

Later in the year, Deane would also appear again on home soil at Mondello Park for the inaugural LZ Festival. There he emerged victorious in the Top 32 drift competition which saw some of Europe’s best drifters and YouTube automotive celebrities compete.

This year also saw Deane make a return to mainstream automotive media, as part of a feature video from BBC’s Top Gear Magazine. For the film, Deane was tasked with teaching journalist Ollie Marriage how to drift his Falken Tyres E92 Eurofighter.

Falken Motorsports is spending the off-season preparing for another season of competition in Europe, with an overall victory at the Nürburgring 24 Hours its ultimate goal. Falken says its competitive GT3 action on the Nordschleife gives it a unique opportunity to showcase its tyre technology against multiple other rival brands and develop high-performance tyres on a circuit that pushes man and machine to the limit. James Deane’s plans for 2023 are also beginning to take shape, with a rebuild on his S14.9 targeting competitive improvements in 2023.