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Invercargill driver Joshua La Rosa has made a successful start to his motorsport career.
Up-and-coming drifting star, Joshua La Rosa, made heads turn bywinning the 2022/2023 Drift South Development Series.
The 25-year-old, a member of Southland Sports Car Club, won the club’s Special Recognition Award for his debut achievement in the series which finished in late April.
The win came as a surprise to La Rosa who said he wasn’t “expecting to get a win overall”, but it was “pretty unreal” to have achieved it.
Originally from Auckland, La Rosa had always been a motorsport fan, and it was working on drift cars and attending test drives at Teretonga Park Raceway for Evolution Motorsport, owned by Southland motorsport legends Rick and Fiona Michels, that gave him the urge to compete.
“Getting into motorsport was in my head, but I don’t think I would have got into it without working in the sport,” he said.
At the beginning of the 2022/23 season, La Rosa bought his first race car, a Toyota Chaser JZX90.
The chaser was a “really basic car”, La Rosa said, and along with Rick Michels, they “tidied it and sorted some safety stuff” before he started competition.
La Rosa had one test day at Teretonga Park and one in Christchurch before he took part in the opening round of the Drift Series at Euromarque Motorsport Park where he finished in first place.
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La Rosa racing in his Toyota Chaser.
“I won first time out.”
From there he had four more rounds of the series to complete, the first three were in Christchurch and the final was at Timaru International Motor Raceway.
From the second round onwards, La Rosa said he knew he had a chance of winning the whole thing, and it wasn’t just a “fluke” any more.
For the final round, La Rosa said the layout of the track did not suit the chaser at all due to the car’s low horsepower, so all he could do was try and get some points to “clinch” the win.
And he did just that, getting enough points to comfortably win the championship despite finishing in sixth place in the final round.
La Rosa’s results for the last fourth rounds were second, fourth, second and sixth.
Drifting competitors showed their skills by completing a section of the course formed by a combination of corners.
Competitors were judged on their ability to complete that part of the course while sustaining a loss of traction, which enables the vehicle to achieve the greatest angle while moving in a forward direction, without losing control of the car.
La Rosa had already begun preparations for the 2023/2024 Drift Development series with a brand-new Nissan RB25 Skyline, and he hoped to move into the Pro Series mid-season when he got comfortable with his new car.
With two test drives for the upcoming season already behind him, La Rosa had one more booked before the competition started again in Canterbury on September 23.
