Lexus has clinched the OEM manufacturers championship with the elimination of Vaughn Gittin Jr. in Great 8 and Robbie Nishida and Daigo Saito making it into the Final Four. Lexus was only 9 points behind Ford going into this weekend and made a huge pass with an insane presence this weekend. Here are the results from Round 6 but we will have a full points score tally posted tonight. However, it is official that Lexus is our first ever Formula Drift OEM manufactures champion.
With Daigo Saito beating Chris Forsberg in the Great 8 we now have an official 2013 championship by privateer Michael Essa. Congrats to him and his working team that put together a E46 BMW with Yokohama, Bilstein, and WiseFab to make a championship out of a local Orange County shop. It wasn’t an easy battle with protests in Palm Beach and his victory over Chris Forsberg with a cone that seemed to fall out of thin air and people speculating a team orders type situation for Top 32 at Irwindale Speedway. We will have more on all these stories and the break down of his insane championship run later this month! Congrats again to GSR and Michael Essa!
With two Hankook drivers making it into the Great 8 they have locked in the tire manufacturer championship for 2013. If you reference the points system from Round 6 here you will see that Achilles was 107.5 points away from victory. Falken fell short with failing to get any drivers in the Great 8 eliminating them from championship contention. Achilles brought 4 drivers into the Great 8 but it was just too little to late for the team since Hankook managed to bring drivers into Great 8. While everyone is looking at the championship race at least Hankook has secured one championship for the weekend as we wait to see how things play out! We will do an official points tabulation later tonight to show complete numbers but Hankook are the 2013 winners!
We are told Chris Forsberg has filed a protest using rule 6.7 – Competition Time Out with speculation that Luke Pakula threw the event to allow Michael Essa to move into the Top 16. Luke was staged on the line for over 2 minutes+ while Essa dealt with his blown motor. Luke then did donuts and pulled off the course claiming a broken transmission (after he drove off course and did donuts). He drove back to the pits and refused to run just moments after driving across the line in video and doing donuts. Chris and team have filed a protest claiming “strategy” which is clearly illegal within the rule posted below.
6.7 COMPETITION TIME OUT
To maintain safety in the competition, during tandem competition runs only, teams may call for a Competition Timeout to make any necessary repairs. Competition Timeout’s are not allowed for Practice or Qualifying. Competition Timeout’s are not to be used for strategic purposes. Only the designated team representative will be allowed to request the Competition Timeout, and it must be made through a FORMULA DRIFT OFFICIAL. Only the COMPETITION MANAGER may grant a Competition Timeout. Team will not be granted a Competition Timeout if it is believed to be unwarranted. Competition Timeout’s are allowed for a maximum of five (5) minutes and are to be administered by the COMPETITION MANAGER.Competitors who fail to make the necessary repairs the allotted time limits will be disqualified from the competition and forfeit to the opposing driver.
Teams may only use one (1) Competition Timeout throughout the competition. Additional and concurrent Competition Timeout requests are not allowed unless cited in other sections of these rules.
Competition Timeout repairs must be completed either trackside or in the pre-grid
Victor Moore came out this weekend as a privateer and put on a decent showing until his second qualifying pass which flipped him upside down and took him for quite a ride. He ended up being alright and got out of the car no problem on his own power. I didn’t get a second to talk to him today but I saw him walking around the pits and he seemed alright. Here is a sequence that David Moore caught from the flip below.
Final Fight has kicked off at Irwindale Speedway this weekend and our photographer David Moore tackled some great photographs over the course of practice and qualifying. Some big name drivers had to make a second pass to qualify including Justin Pawlak, Conrad Grunewald, Matt Powers, and Dai Yoshihara. Enjoy his great photos from the big event below.
Check out the Gallery: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=370
By qualifying 15th yesterday at Irwindale, Mats Baribeau has clinched his Rookie of the Year standing. Already taking a substantial 25.5 point lead into Irwindale, Baribeau was one of only two rookies to make it to the final Top 32 tandem round of the season (Luke Pakula qualified 32nd) and has enough points to guarantee his status as the top Rookie of 2013. Ironically, Baribeau was the second-lowest vote getter in our early season poll. Baribeau was one of only two rookies to earn a Top 16 appearance this season (the other being Marc Landreville), with both drivers earning their license via Drift Mania in Canada.
Here are the current points standings among rookies, going into tandem competition and assuming 24 points for a Top 32 appearance. If either Baribeau or Pakula win their tandem matchup, their scores will increase but all other drivers will finish the season at these totals.
| Mats Baribeau | 105 Points |
| Marc Landreville | 54.5 Points |
| Brandon Wicknick | 48.75 Points |
| Will Parsons | 48.75 Points |
| Nate Hamilton | 48.5 Points |
| Chris Jeanneret | 48.5 Points |
| Rob Primozich | 24.5 Points |
| Luke Pakula | 24.25 Points |
After the first 6 qualifying passes were made at Irwindale, it was clear that this would come down to a three-horse race to the championship. Essa outscored the other five championship contenders, guaranteeing he would extend his lead going into Saturday’s competition, but the exact amount of his points lead would depend on how other drivers would score. Vaughn Gittin Jr would finish in Q2 after the first (and only) qualifying pass, giving him the best chance to remain in contention for the championship, but unfortunately, it’s not enough.
With all drivers earning at least 24 points in tandem for a top 32 finish, only 76 points remain in play. Adding in the points from qualifying, here is how the standings add up:
| Name | Points | Pts Behind |
| 1. Mike Essa | 501.5 Points | |
| 2. Chris Forsberg | 477 Points | - 24.5 |
| 3. Fredric Aasbo | 426.5 Points | - 75 |
| 4. Vaughn Gittin Jr | 420 Points | - 81.5 |
| 5. Daigo Saito | 410.5 Points | - 91 |
| 6. Justin Pawlak | 401 Points | - 100.5 |
With only 76 points possible, Gittin Jr, Saito, and Pawlak are now eliminated from championship contention. Should Essa win his tandem battle (the first one of the top-32 tandems which start at 4:30pm PST tomorrow), Aasbo will be statistically eliminated before he even gets a chance to drive in his tandem competition. If Essa does lose that tandem battle, Aasbo will need Forsberg to lose his Top 32 matchup and go on to win the event. A second place finish from Aasbo or a top-16 appearance from Forsberg will statistically eliminate Aasbo.
From there, the 24.5 point difference between Forsberg and Essa is fairly substantial. Should Essa lose in top 32, Forsberg will take the championship with a top-32 round win, regardless of how Aasbo finishes. If Essa finishes in the top-16, Forsberg needs to finish on the podium to take the title. With the brackets setup as they are, Essa and Forsberg could potentially meet in the top 8 to setup an amazing battle for the championship. Should Essa win that battle, he will guarantee himself the 2013 Formula D Championship. However, if he were to lose, he would still have a shot at the championship if Forsberg does NOT finish in first or second. A third place finish from Forsberg would net him 78 points, while a top-8 loss from Essa would net him 61 points, a difference of 17 points which is not enough to overcome the current gap.
SUMMARY: Essa loses in Top 32 and Forsberg wins in top 32, Forsberg wins championship.
Essa loses in Top 16 and Forsberg finishes on the podium, Forsberg wins championship.
Essa loses to Forsberg in Top 8 and Forsberg finishes in 1st or 2nd, Forsberg wins championship.
Essa loses in top 32, Forsberg loses in top 32, Aasbo wins the event, Aasbo wins championship.
In all other scenarios, Essa wins championship.
Mike Essa picked up right where he left off in Texas, earning the top qualifying position on the first qualifying run of the day. We’ll have an update on the championship shortly. Until then, here’s the full list of who made the top 32:
| 1. | Mike Essa |
| 2. | Vaughn Gittin Jr. |
| 3. | Ryan Tuerck |
| 4. | Dean Kearney |
| 5. | Robbie Nishida |
| 6. | Tyler McQuarrie |
| 7. | Matt Field |
| 8. | Chris Forsberg |
| 9. | Odi Bakchis |
| 10. | Forrest Wang |
| 11. | Pat Goodin |
| 12. | Darren McNamara |
| 13. | Ken Gushi |
| 14. | Frederic Aasbo |
| 15. | Mats Baribeau |
| 16. | Daigo Saito |
| 17. | Justin Pawlak |
| 18. | Ryan Kado |
| 19. | Conrad Grunewald |
| 20. | Chelsea Denofa |
| 21. | Tony Angelo |
| 22. | Matt Powers |
| 23. | Toshiki Yoshioka |
| 24. | Dave Briggs |
| 25. | Dai Yoshihara |
| 26. | Kyle Mohan |
| 27. | Taka Aono |
| 28. | Danny George |
| 29. | Pat Mordaunt |
| 30. | Jhonnattan Castro |
| 31. | Carl Rydquist |
| 32. | Luke Pakula |
Here are the tandem battles, in the order they will appear:
Essa vs Pakula
Saito vs Pawlak
Forsberg vs Yoshihara
Bakchis vs Briggs
Kearney vs Mordaunt
Gushi vs Denofa
Nishida vs George
McNamara vs Angelo
Gittin Jr vs Rydquist
Baribeau vs Kado
Field vs Mohan
Wang vs Yoshioka
Tuerck vs Castro
Aasbo vs Grunewald
McQuarrie vs Aono
Goodin vs Powers
Kenneth Moen borrowed the Bridges Racing S13.5 (the one formerly run by Robbie Nishida in Formula Drift back in 2011) and was prepped by the awesome guys at DDS Performance in Las Vegas. After some further testing with his MKIV Toyota Supra it just looks like we will have to wait until Long Beach to see it officially in action.
