As momentum builds around the ‘coming-out’ of Drift as a professional genre of New Zealand Motorsport, three time NZ title holder and multi-season international Drift competitor Carl Ruiterman put’s another notch in his belt pre-season to kick-start his summer campaign in the 2012/2013 Drift championships.
32 year old Ruiterman from Pukekohe has been Drifting competitively now for 6 years, and in this has helped the sport evolve tremendously – his handy work to thank for many of the high-power and supremely impressive builds competing the large-field of Pro and Pro-Am vehicles in the D1NZ and now, NZ Drift Cross Championship.
After taking a season off in 2011/2012 to complete and launch the latest build in the Ruiterman stable, his 430kw EJ20 Subaru WRX (modelled on the impressively agile and aggressive “Gymkhana” style of exhibition rally-cross builds from Europe and the USA) Carl will compete in the newly announced four-round NZ Drift Cross Championship. On top of this, much to the excitement of NZ fans, Ruiterman also intends to enter his internationally campaigned 400kw SR22DET Nissan S14 (achieving a qualifying result of 2nd place in this year’s World Drift Series) in this season’s D1NZ Series, staking a claim on his intention to fight for both championships tooth-and-nail this season.
Ruiterman has kept this intention under-wraps for some time, however with all ‘ducks now back in a row,’ the Nissan returning from winter competition at World Drift Series in China and the Subaru now built to an internationally competitive level Ruiterman is ready to bring back that iconic magic to the track in battle.
Ruiterman, normally one of the more quiet and reserved competitors in the field is known for his supreme level of consistency and technical skill. “I’ll be keeping that in my back pocket this year, but I’m also ready to show some aggression and personality in my racing which people wouldn’t have seen before from me before” says Ruiterman.
The Ruiterman name and growing campaign not being limited to New Zealand shores any longer recently caught the attention of rapidly emerging US based fashion sunglass brand STUNglasses. After learning more about Carl, his personality and skill in Drift STUN wanted to be a part of the team.
Speaking from the US, STUNglasses Sales Manager Ryan Puddy said “Although Drift is huge here in the States, its Carl in little old New Zealand that caught our eye. We wanted to be a part of his campaign in both the Subaru and Nissan this season. Carl is the type of guy who represents our brand perfectly, he’s a maniac (in a fantastic way) behind the wheel – what he does with a car is mind-blowing and we want to help him achieve his dreams of taking that global by showing him STUN’s support”.
When quizzed on the new and exciting partnership Ruiterman said “it’s pretty damn-awesome to be noticed up by a US based brand, especially one with the kind of international following and demand STUN has. It’s assurance for us that our team is heading in the right direction commercially, and it’s an awesome brand to be involved with. We’re looking forward to adding the flavour and individuality of STUN to our racing this year – it feels like it’s going to be a good one.”
More partnership announcements are expected from Ruiterman in the coming weeks leading up to the start of the NZ Drift season. Ruiterman returns to the track with support from major sponsors Gull New Zealand, ENZED, Motul Lubricants, E&H Motors, and MPBManagement backing the Nissan and Subaru campaigns this summer.
