Formula Drift Championships at Irwindale Speedway notes and competition results 25.10.2021: EVENT DETAILS Date: Saturday, October 23, 2021 Location: Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale, CA Event: Formula DRIFT PRO Championship Round 8: Type S Title Fight & Link ECU PROSPEC Championship Round 4

 
EVENT DETAILS

Date: Saturday, October 23, 2021
Location: Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale, CA
Event: Formula DRIFT PRO Championship Round 8: Type S Title Fight & Link ECU PROSPEC Championship Round 4
 


RESULTS FROM FD PRO ROUND 8

1.    Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) – Falken Tire / Feal Suspension Nissan S15
2.    Fredric Aasbo (Norway)  – Rockstar Energy Drink Toyota GR Supra
3.    Vaughn Gittin Jr (USA) – Monster Energy Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D
 


2021 FD PRO FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

1.    Fredric Aasbo (Norway)  – Rockstar Energy Drink Toyota GR Supra
2.    Matt Field (USA) – Falken Tire / Drift Cave Chevrolet Corvette
3.    Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) – Falken Tire / Feal Suspension Nissan S15
 


RESULTS FROM LINK ECU PROSPEC ROUND 4

1.    Daniel Stuke (USA) – MspeK Performance Nissan S14
2.    Dmitriy Brutskiy (Belarus) – Essa Autosport / ISC Suspension BMW E46
3.    Nick Noback (USA) – KoruWorks BMW E46
 


2021 LINK ECU PROSPEC FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

1.    Dmitriy Brutskiy (Belarus) – Essa Autosport / ISC Suspension BMW E46
2.    Nick Noback (USA) – KoruWorks BMW E46
3.    Tommy Lemaire (Canada) – TLO Drift School Nissan S14.5 V8
 



NOTES




•    Irwindale Speedway is known as The House of Drift and is the only track to be included in the series every year since 2004


•    A new walled section had been added to the course for 2021 to better define Outside Zone 3 to the finish line


•    Weather for the competition heats was cloudy, mostly dry, with occasional drizzle


•    The Final round of the 2021 season represents the end of an era, with three pillars of the sport leaving the series: 2011 FD PRO Champion Dai Yoshihara (Japan) is retiring; 2010 and 2020 FD PRO Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr is leaving to focus on other projects; and Formula DRIFT president and co-founder, Jim Liaw, is moving to PRI but will retain a role in the series. All three have been with the series since it began in 2004 and will be missed


•    After six years of narrowly missing the top spot, 2015 FD PRO Champion Aasbo became the 2021 Champion thanks to impeccable driving and the support of Papadakis Racing.


•    Aasbo lost in the Round 8 Final to Bakchis but had already amassed sufficient points to win the title thanks to four second-place finishes and a Round win in St Louis


•    After leading the series earlier in the season, Field finished fourth on the night and second in the Championship


•    DeNofa, who led the series for a significant portion of the season, could only finish seventh at FD IRW, dropping him to fourth in the Championship


•    The beneficiary of DeNofa’s tumble was Bakchis, who won Round 8 with characteristic precision, leapfrogging DeNofa into third in the overall points table


•    Gittin departed the series in style, claiming third on the night and fifth overall behind teammate DeNofa


•    Aasbo’s performance helped both Toyota win the 2021 Formula DRIFT PRO Auto Cup and Nitto claim the Tire Cup


•    Top FD PRO Rookie at FD IRW was Jonathan Hurst (USA) who placed 15th in the Cash Racing Infiniti G37, while Simen Olsen (Norway) driving the Race Supply Toyota GR Supra is the 2021 FD PRO Rookie of the Year


•    History was made in the Link ECU PROSPEC Championship when Brutskiy became the first two-time Champion, and he did it in back-to-back seasons. His perfect weekend was spoiled by a second-place finish in the Final, which he lost to Stuke



•    Stuke had an eventful Round, getting knocked out of the Final 4 by Noback until his team protested Noback’s roof, which detached itself as the drivers initiated into the first turn. In an unusual reversal, the Final 4 win was taken away from Noback and awarded to Stuke, who proceeded to beat Brutskiy in the Final to claim his first Round win



•    Noback finished third on the night and claimed second in the Championship by a narrow 15-point margin behind Brutskiy. And while Brutskiy has yet to commit to the FD PRO Championship in 2022, Noback is looking forward to stepping up to the premier class



•    PROSPEC Rookie Lemaire was knocked out of competition in the Top 16 heats but secured enough points to take a remarkable third in the Link ECU Championship and become PROSPEC Rookie of the Year
 




ROUND 8 FD PRO TOP 16 DRIVER POINTS


POSITION    DRIVER    POINTS

1    Aurimas Bakchis    100
2    Fredric Aasbo     91
3    Vaughn Gittin Jr    80
4    Matt Field    80
5    Kazuya Taguchi    67
6    Chris Forsberg    67
7    Chelsea DeNofa    67
8    Ryan Tuerck    67
9    Michael Essa    52
10    Rome Charpentier    52
11    Justin Pawlak    52
12    Dylan Hughes    52
13    Kyle Mohan    52
14    Jeff Jones    52
15    Jonathan Hurst    52
16    Simen Olsen    52
 



2021 FD PRO CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 16 RESULTS


POSITION    DRIVER    POINTS

1    Fredric Aasbo    648
2    Matt Field    617
3    Aurimas Bakchis    614
4    Chelsea DeNofa    605
5    Vaughn Gittin Jr    554
6    Ryan Tuerck    537
7    Chris Forsberg    479
8    Dylan Hughes    470
9    Kazuya Taguchi    442
10    Michael Essa    427
11    Jeff Jones    408
12    Travis Reeder    395
13    Dean Kearney    393
14    Justin Pawlak    390
15    Simen Olsen    348
16    Alec Robbins    346
 


2021 AUTO CUP TOP FIVE RESULTS

Toyota    1200
Ford    1187
Nissan    619
Chevrolet    617
BMW    427
 


2021 TIRE CUP RESULTS

Nitto Tire     1413
Falken Tire    1248
GT Radial     1118
Nexen Tire    937
Federal Tire    779
 



ROUND 4 FD PROSPEC TOP 16 DRIVER POINTS

POSITION    DRIVER    POINTS

1    Daniel Stuke    100
2    Dmitriy Brutskiy     91
3    Nick Noback     80
4    Adam Knapik    80
5    Amanda Sorensen     67
6    Ricky Hofmann     67
7    Derek Madison     67
8    Ben Hobson     67
9    Tommy Lemaire     52
10    Blake Olsen     52
11    Alex Jagger     52
12    Josiah Fallaise     52
13    Javier Martinez     52
14    Rye O'Connor     52
15    Joshua Love     52
16    Austin Matta     52
 



2021 FD PROSPEC CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 16 RESULTS

POSITION    DRIVER    POINTS

1    Dmitriy Brutskiy    247
2    Nick Noback    232
3    Tommy Lemaire     225
4    Austin Matta    193
5    Mike Power    187
6    Alex Jagger     186
7    Joshua Love    186
8    Rich Whiteman     167
9    Josiah Fallaise     167
10    Evan Bogovich     154
11    Micah Diaz    154
12    Daniel Stuke    154
13    Steve Misko    150
14    Ben Hobson     139
15    Kelsey Rowlings    139
16    Cory Talaska    137






Greg Emmerson - photos FormulaD