THIS IS why he is known as the 'Prince of Drift' in Malaysia.

Tengku Djan erased painful memories of his heartbreaking loss to Japanese Ryuji Miki at the inaugural Formula Drift Singapore last year by claiming top spot in this year's event on Sunday.

The 32-year-old Malaysian wowed the judges and the 4,000-strong crowd with his sharp manoeuvres and daredevil moves at the Changi Exhibition Centre to pip 36 drivers from Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand to the title.

Djan, who is also known as the 'Tandem Assassin' on the United States drifting circuit, led a 1-2-3 finish for Malaysia with fellow countrymen Johan Norman Azam and Ariff Johanis finishing second and third respectively.

'I came here to win. The three of us from Bridgestone Drift Team Malaysia (with Tan Tat Wei and Ivan Lau) finished among the top five last year, so we were aiming to top that,' Djan told The New Paper on Sunday.

It wasn't all smooth-sailing for Djan though.

During the first of two single-judged runs in qualifying, he spun out in his Toyota AE86 and scored zero points. He nearly botched up in the second run when he kissed the wall in a narrow escape.

But the highly-skilled driver finished the second qualifying round strongly with a score of 82 points, placing him second out of the top 16 qualifiers.

In the nail-biting final tandem battle with Johan, both drivers put on their best performance until the pressure got to Johan whose car spun out, paving the way to victory for Djan.

Local professional drifter Ivan Lim, Singapore's biggest hope, crashed out of the competition when he spun out in his Toyota Chaser and scored zero points for both qualifying runs.

'My target was to finish within the top five, but I failed to qualify instead,' said Lim, who finished as the top local driver last year - 10th out of 38 drivers.

The 28-year-old also made it to Round 7 of Formula Drift USA at the Irwindale Speedway in Los Angeles earlier this year.

He added: 'I feel bad for letting myself, the judges, my sponsors and most importantly, the fans down. I will continue to work hard and I would like to thank everyone who cheered me on.'

Bright future

Andy Yen, 29, one of the two American Formula Drift judges, feels that Lim has a bright future ahead of him despite his disappointing showing.

'Ivan looked good during practice and he stood a good chance of finishing among the top,' Yen told The New Paper.

'It was just too bad for him, but these things happen. He has the potential to go far. My advice to him is to learn from this experience and move on.'

Indeed, drifting is a harsh sport which leaves little margin for errors.

Take Thailand's Jatuphon Manputtrapong for instance.

The only guy in the competition who drifts in a convertible and with the top down, Jatuphon was unable to repair his Mazda MX-5 in time for his turn at qualifying and was forced to sit out the competition.

He was later seen ferrying around a group of Hot Stuff magazine girls on the back of his car.

Besides breathtaking action, the crowd was also treated to spectacular crashes at the two-day event.

The most dramatic crash involved two Malaysians.

Lim Zee King's Nissan 180SX and Ivan Lau's Toyota AE86 crashed during the quarter-finals, leaving both drivers out of the running.

Crashes are part and parcel of drifting but Jarod DeAnda, the official commentator for this year's event, prefers to see them in a lighter manner.

'Crashes are normal. I've seen too many in my years of commentating. One of the most spectacular crashes I have seen happened here at last year's event,' said DeAnda.

'In skateboard terms, the guy actually did a 360-degree kick-flip. It was totally awesome.'

The writer is a freelancer.