Posts Tagged "2012 Formula D"

Part 2 in our series showcasing the drivers still in the chase for the 2012 Formula D Championship leads us to profile Nordic sensation Freddy Aasbo. The 2010 Formula Drift rookie of the year has taken out the big boys during demos at Yas Marina and Texas Motor Speedway,  and internationally at BDC Silverstone, but is still looking for his first Formula D series win.

Current standings:

Once again, unofficial FD Statistician Jacob Leveton gave us the breakdown on the points.

While Aasbo has just 12 more points than Tuerck, his chances are substantially increased due to the fact that he will not be statistically eliminated should JR qualify for Top 32. Should JR qualify for top 32, a win by Aasbo (495.5 pts + qualifying pts) would put him ahead of JR’s top 32 point total (473 points + 24 points for top 32 = 497 points not including qualifying) as long as Aasbo can qualify in the top 8 or better and JR qualifies in the lower half of the bracket. Various other qualifying scenarios would still give Aasbo the win, so long as he earns more than 2 points more than JR. If JR were to make top 16 (473 points + 54 points for a top 16 appearance = 527 points), Aasbo becomes statistically eliminated from the championship. Aasbo qualifying 1st and earning second place would not be enough to surpass JR if JR earns top 16 points, only the win would be good enough.

If JR were to be eliminated in top 32, Aasbo will still need Saito to exit no later than top 16. A top 16 appearance by Saito (447.5 points + 54 points for a top 16 finish + minimum .25 points for qualifying = 501.75 points) would require Aasbo to win and qualify first, second, or third  (12 / 10 / 8 qualifying points) for a total of 507.5 / 505.5 / 503.5 points respectively), and Daigo would need to qualify 13th or worse (1 point or less for qualifying). Additionally, Millen would need to finish off the podium. There’s a crazy scenario where Millen could take 4th and Aasbo could take the event win where Millen would claim the championship, but we’ll go over that scenario in Millen’s profile later this week.

Should JR fail to qualify and Saito either fail to qualify or lose in top 32, Aasbo would still need a podium finish to have his best chance at winning the championship (473.5 / 483.5 / 495.5 + qualifying points). A fourth place finish and a 1st or 2nd place qualifying effort would also narrowly give him the championship (395.5 points + 69 tandem points + 12 or 10 qualifying points = 474.5 / 476.5 points) presuming Millen doesn’t overtake him with a top-8 or better finish.

For Aasbo, the season has to be considered a success overall with a first place qualifying effort in Vegas and a pair of podiums in Vegas and Atlanta. Aasbo finished 13th overall in his rookie 2010 privateer effort on a partial schedule and 12th overall last season including his first FD podium in Seattle, so this season is a marked improvement.

Summary: Aasbo Win + JR Top 32 exit + Aasbo qualifies better by 2 points + Saito out in top 32 or top 16 + Millen off the podium… or Aasbo podium + JR not qualify + Saito out in top 32 or not qualify + Millen out in top 16 or worse

Posted in Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Major Announcements, Standings | 1 Comment »

Formula Drift has opened up voting for its end of year awards banquet letting the fans pick which drivers they want to vote for. Through the poll you can vote for your favorite driver and your favorite car. You should take a minute to get behind your favorite drivers/cars so they can make a run at the fan voted awards.

Rock the Vote: https://www.research.net/s/P3YTRZW

Posted in Daigo Saito, Formula D, Lifestyle, Major Announcements | 3 Comments »

Formula Drift Las Vegas as far as controversy goes was pretty light if you compare it against other rounds this season like Wall Speedway. Tony Brakohiapa doesn’t agree with this lack luster of controversy if you read his eBay motors blog post on the weekend. Most of my personal memories of this car/the team this weekend is the engine laying all over the pits and I couldn’t even recall a single run the car actually made through the race weekend. Apparently he did attempt to qualify and failed to make the Top 32. Below in the block quote is what Tony reported on the race and his results. Read his review of the race and let us know what you think!

My last practice run would prove be near fatal (for the car, not me). As I’m finishing my run I notice an immediate loss in power. I look at all my gauges. Everything reads normal. I fear it’s the supercharger cog belt, yet again. I limp the eBay Motors Mustang back to our pit. The cog belt is intact and still attached! It’s in fact the cog pulley at the bottom of the engine that’s bolted to the crank pulley that has broken all six studs off! We were all scratching our heads on this one! No one had ever seen a break like this before! Certainly a result of pushing 1,000 HP and eventually finding a weakness on the engine. The good thing was the internals of the engine were fine. With some time and hardware, a short-term fix could get me through qualifying.

My crew finds new bolts for the crank pulley. Though we can only use three bolts instead of the six due to some broken studs being difficult to extract. The guys feel it’s just strong enough to get me one, maybe two qualifying runs. We were already making preparations for a more permanent fix once qualifying was over.

I line up for my first run. I enter in 4th gear, come in with good speed and angle, hit my clipping points, and put off some good smoke on the infield. Just as I’m about to finish my run, I notice something let go on the engine. My power is reduced, but enough to let me finish off the last corner. I score a surprisingly low 68.

The short-term fix was extremely short-term. I don’t think anyone even noticed I broke on my run because it was near the very end. I jump on my radio and tell the guys we have a problem and meet at the pit! I pull in the pit, the crew has “that look” on their face as they see the temporary bolts did not hold. The question now was, will it get fixed in time for a second qualifying run. The short answer…no! The damage was too great this time around, but we did have time to fix it through the night and next morning…if I qualified.

Nonetheless, The crew pushes to fix the car to try and get me a second qualifying run. I would undoubtedly score better with a second qual run helping secure my place for Top 32. While they are doing that, I am watching the other drivers qualify. I’m keeping tabs on scores and how good the runs are to see where I will end up. My second run is about to come up but I’m still standing in the spotters stand. I gesture to Jarod the M.C. that my crew is working on my car, that it’s still broken and I won’t make a second run.

Qualifying was over and I’d been bumped from Top 32 After seeing a fair amount of drivers struggle to put in good qualifying runs, I’m confused as to their scores being noticeable higher then mine given all their corrections. Now, I’m not saying my run was perfect. I could have been a bit closer to the last outer clipping point and my line was a little shallow entering the infield portion. It felt (as other people watching remarked and after looking at the video replay) like a mid-to high 70’s run. More than enough to qualify for Top 32.

The team and myself approach the judges as to their justification of my score relative to other drivers. We ask to compare my run with other drivers via video playback. The judges said they would be happy to review my score with us, but they couldn’t change my score since it was already locked in.

We select a particular drivers’ run that we felt was similar to my run, but actually made more corrections, but still scored 12 points higher. After looking at both runs over and over and getting some commentary from one judge as to my line being a bit off, there was no discernable difference that warranted a 12 point advantage to the other driver. There was a remark from another judge about a “major correction” during my run. After video playback, no judge could point out said major correction.

After the “review” was over we thanked the judges for their time and walked back to our pit. There wasn’t anything else we could do, but our point had been made. We felt the score was low given other drivers very similar yet higher scored runs.

We hope the professional and diplomatic process in which we approached the judges and reviewed the qualifying runs will somehow improve their “in the moment” judging. Although time intensive, one suggestion could be using the instant replay resources they have to warrant a more comprehensive review of qualifying runs before final scores are given.

Source: http://www.ebaymotorsblog.com/looking-for-lady-luck-at-formula-drift-las-vegas/

Posted in Formula D, Major Announcements, Rumors/Gossip, Tony Brakohiapa | 45 Comments »

One thing we can all be sure of is that Justin Pawlak ran into and practically over Tyler McQuarrie in Top 32 this weekend putting just about the final nail in the coffin of his championship hopes which looked so promising after three rounds this season. While this confrontation lacked Formula Drift Insider and a gaggle of media outlets like the PBIR one with Daigo Saito we managed to capture some of the conversation with images and then talk to Tyler McQuarrie later about it.

The approach was done just after Tyler got knocked out of the Top 8 and JTP wanted to know why he couldn’t keep drifting after he “tapped” Tyler. Talking to his crew (Mobil 1 / Chevrolet team) just after Top 32 the car was hit so hard they had to pull out the transmission and bang the chassis back into submission by the door where Justin made contact completely bending the chassis by the door.

Tyler took him over to the car and showed him the damage according to Tyler and after a few minutes of back and forth the conversation ended cordially. Apparently no one is safe once they are on track as Justin Pawlak beats himself just like in Palm Beach with Daigo Saito.

Posted in Formula D, Justin Pawlak, Tyler McQuarrie, Wrecks | 24 Comments »

The new track layout was revealed when we found a memo for the Formula Drift drivers for the coming up event this weekend. The track is drifting in a backward formation from the last few seasons. It would appear the track will be slower but I have a feeling they will push the entry further back than noted on this piece of paper if the speeds are down.

Best thing I see about this track layout is they have moved the Formula Drift pits to the front of the track so you don’t have to walk around lame drag racing paddock to get to the good stuff. The diagram shows six grandstands in total and a great view from the Formula Drift team pits. This looks like a very interesting layout and I cannot wait until we get to see cars on it for Thursday practice. What do you think of this new setup?

Posted in Formula D, Major Announcements | 7 Comments »

Here is a comprehensive list of drivers that will be in action at Round 2 Road Atlanta. Get ready for what will be one of the best round of the 2012 Formula Drift season. Enjoy the drives list below. With 50 drivers signed up this is most likely the largest grid in Formula Drift Road Atlanta history.

1. Fredric Aasbo
2. Jeff Abbott
3. Emmanuel Amandio
4. Tony Angelo
5. Taka Aono
6. Odi Bakchis
7. Tony Brakohiapa
8. Dave Briggs
9. Jhonnattan Castro
10. Andrew Coomes
11. Nick D’Alessio
12. Chelsea DeNofa
13. Michael Essa
14. Matt Field
15. Chris Forsberg
16. Danny George
17. Vaughn Gittin Jr.
18. Patrick Goodin
19. Conrad Grunewald
20. Ken Gushi
21. Zoltan Hadju
22. Brad Hettinger
23. Corey Hosford
24. Jeff Jones
25. Ryan Kado
26. Alex Lee
27. Luke Lonberger
28. Jeremy Lowe
29. Joon Maeng
30. George Marstanovic
31. Darren McNamara
32. Enrique Mendoza Jr.
33. Dennis Mertzanis
34. Rhys Millen
35. Kenneth Moen
36. Patrick Mordaunt
37. Robbie Nishida
38. Maurico Omelas Jr.
39. Miroslav Ovcharik
40. Justin Pawlak
41. Matt Powers
42. Daigo Saito
43. Mike Skudlarek
44. Gabe Stone
45. Nick Thomas
46. Ryan Tuerck
47. Chris Ward
48. Walker Wilkerson
49. Daijiro Yoshihara
50. Toshiki Yoshioka

Posted in Chris Forsberg, Conrad Grunewald, Daijiro Yoshihara, Darren McNamara, Dave Briggs, Dennis Mertzanis, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Jeff Jones, Jhonnattan Castro, Joon Maeng, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Kyle Mohan, Matt Powers, Michael Essa, Miro Ovcharik, Odi Bakchis, Patrick Mordaunt, Rhys Millen, Robbie Nishida, Ryan Tuerck, Tony Angelo, Tyler McQuarrie, Walker Wilkerson | 15 Comments »