Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Formula Drift returned to Palm Beach
International Raceway over the weekend for the second consecutive year in a
row. With a new course design this year, Vaughn and the Monster Energy Falken
Tire Ford Mustang RTR qualified in 1st place, and fought hard to take 5th place
overall at Round Three.
The stands were packed for Saturday’s main event; with an
increase in attendance compared to 2011 and 200,000 viewers tuning in live via
the Driftstream. After beating out Matt Field in his top 32 battle, Vaughn took
full advantage of the hour-long “Half Time” break to chat and snap pictures
with fans over at the Falken Tire pits, have some fun racing the HPI RC replica
of his Monster Energy Falken Tire RTR against other remote control enthusiasts,
as well as toss out swag over at the Exedy Clutches booth.
Back on the track, Vaughn was matched with Michael Essa for
his battle of the Sweet Sixteen. Vaughn led first, blasting through the course
and making use of the entire track as the judges had specified during the
drivers meeting. Essa would take a more shallow line in order to try to pull
closer to the speedy Mustang.
Vaughn gave chase next, remembering
that Essa had been killing it on the entries throughout the weekend, and to be
prepared for anything. Prepared he was as Essa threw it in with crazy angle and
VGJR did not let up and continued chasing hard.
But Essa was unable to hold it and unfortunately resulted in a spin, as Vaughn
eased past his competitor finishing out his run beautifully. Watch the VIDEO of
the battle of Vaughn verses Michael Essa.
Vaughn moved on to face his Falken
Tire/ Autosport Dynamics/ Ford Racing/ Mustang RTR teammate Justin (JTP) Pawlak
in the Great Eight. This was no doubt a highly anticipated battle for both the
two competitors as well as their fans. Being the higher qualifier, Vaughn would
lead first. He had another amazing lead run, with JTP pushing to stay with him
throughout the course. JTP however, was unable to keep it up and lost drift
going into the last clipping point.
When it was Vaughn’s turn to give chase, he followed JTP in
and remained glued to his fellow Mustang RTR competitor throughout the course.
The judges could not come to a decision and decided that a One More Time was
needed. Watch the VIDEO of
VGJR and JTP’s first pair of runs.
For their OMT battle, neither “BroStang” driver was backing
down, as Vaughn led first with an amazing run as JTP aggressively hunted him
down through every turn. When it was Vaughn’s turn to give chase, he pushed
hard at initiation with intense angle behind his competitor and made slight
contact, unfortunately breaking a tie-rod and causing him to spin. Watch the
VIDEO of their OMT battle.
“I am really pumped on the weekend overall,” says Vaughn
Gittin Jr. “We worked hard to get our Mustang dialed and brought home first
place qualifying position and fifth place overall along with some much needed
points. This Championship isn't over and we plan to continue clawing our way
back up to the top where we belong!”
With his respectable 5th place event finish, Vaughn moves up
to 9th place overall in the Formula Drift Championship. Next up for Vaughn on
the FD circuit is Round 4 at Wall Speedway in New Jersey. He plans to continue
pushing hard in hopes of a podium finish and working his way up ladder in the
FD points chase.
No comments:
Post a Comment