Sunny weather greeted the teams for the Top 32 competition heats before the event finished in darkness on a cooling track.
Three-time (2015, 2021, 2022) Formula DRIFT Champion Aasbo claimed his first victory since the 2022 Irwindale Final Round, where he also secured the Championship. He was also victorious in Atlanta the same year.
Aasbo beat fellow Norwegian Olsen in a thrilling Final that went to One More Time after the judges were unable to separate the two drivers’ first runs. Unfortunately, Olsen experienced an electrical problem before the restart, which returned during the third run, causing him to lose power and retire.
With Deane in third and Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) in fourth, Road Atlanta witnessed European domination in the top spots. In fact, The FD ATL result was almost a copy of Round 1, which saw Deane, Olsen and Bakchis claim the top three places, with Aasbo in fifth
Deane has retained the Championship lead by a scant two points from Olsen, while Aasbo catapulted into third ahead of Bakchis.
It was a night of debeaded tires, frequently caused by Road Atlanta’s sawtooth kerbing. There were also a number of mechanical failures, but none as spectacular as Bakchis, whose Feal Suspension / GT Radial Nissan S15 caught fire on the second run, shortly after a loud “pop” echoed around the track. Bakchis avoided a collision before escaping from the car, which was extinguished quickly.
Some big names were knocked out of the Top 32 heats, including double FD PRO Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr (USA), who was eliminated by RTR teammate Deane. We also lost YouTube star Adam LZ in a controversial battle with Matt Field (USA). Kyle Mohan (USA) retired after hitting a concrete barrier hard enough to reposition it. Other eliminations included Ryan Tuerck (USA), double PROSPEC champ Dmitriy Brutskiy, and 14-year-old Hiroya Minowa (Japan).
Although he exited early, Minowa was the top Rookie, placing 18th overall in the Enjuku Racing / Cusco / Jerry Yang Racing Toyota GT86.
