At just 19 years of age, New Zealander drifter Kase Pullen-Burry is already a history maker, and in Sydney this weekend for the Drifting Cup as part of the World Time Attack, he plans on making ever more history.
After becoming the youngest-ever winner of the New Zealander’s fiercely competitive Repco D1NZ Championship this year, Pullen-Burry is heading to Sydney to take on an international field of Drifting champions.
Based in Tuakau, South Auckland, Pullen-Burry started his journey to drifting success in motocross, racing over jumps and on dirt from the tender age of seven.
A serious shoulder injury at the age of 12 saw his two-wheel career come to a quick end, and it was around that time that his older brother started to get into drifting.
Kase had his first drive of a drifting car at 14, and since then, has never looked back.
In 2023, he won D1NZ’s the stepping stone class ‘Pro Sport’ before making the leap to the big league, and duly won that at his first attempt.
While he already has a cabinet full of drifting trophies, Pullen-Burry admits that his entry in this weekend’s Drifting Cup at the World Time Attack will be a whole new challenge.
“Sydney is definitely bigger than anything we’ve done yet, in terms of sheer size of the event,” said Pullen-Burry, who has brought his Nissan Silva S15 from NZ to Australia to compete.
“There’s a lot of international drivers there, so it will be cool to line up against a few new names and see where we match up.
“There’s 24 cars that we’re up against, and the competition here will be the most well rounded and competitive that I’ve ever raced against.
“There’s a lot of good guys here. It’s a very stacked field.
“I’ve had a look at the course that we’ll be on, and it’s cool. It’s a bit different to what we’re used to. It has quite a bit of flow to it. There’s only a few corners, so it should make for some good close battles.”
While Pullen-Burry has his eyes set on winning in Sydney this weekend, he says that his ultimate aim is to compete overseas.
“The pinnacle is to make out to Europe or Japan,” he said.
“Drift Masters is a very strong competition, and that would be an end goal for us, but competing in Australia would probably be a good first step.”
The Garrett Advancing Motion International Drifting Cup starts at Sydney Motorsport Park today (Thursday) for the first of three nights of competition.
This year, the Cup will be decided by using the “Cup” format with four pools of six pre-seeded drivers.
Pullen-Burry will compete in Pool A against the likes of defending Sydney champion Luke Veersma, Saxon Moyes, Roger I’anson, Ben Meir and Angus Kidd.
Other entrants are a mix of Australians, New Zealanders, Japan star Masashi Yokoi and Daigo Saito, a multiple champion in international competition and regarded as a global benchmark for all drifters.
Tickets for the event can be pre-purchased or fans at home and abroad can watch the live stream.
