Formula DRIFT Round 7: Showdown Result
Formula DRIFT Round 7: Showdown Results;
Matt Field Earns His First Career Victory
Long Beach, Calif. – September 10, 2016 – Formula DRIFT presented by BlackVue returned to Texas for Round 7: Autozone Showdown presented by Black Magic. Matt Field in the Falken Tire / Driftcave Motorsports Nissan 240 takes his first ever victory.
Texas Motor Speedway played host for the action packed event. With only one event until the final event of the season the drivers put it all on the line in their chase for the championship. Heading into the event only 15 points separated the Top 3 drivers.
“The competition tonight showcased the diversity and talent of the driver pool,” said Jim Liaw, President of Formula DRIFT. “We had a mix of past champions and young guns drive their hearts out at a very high level on a challenging and competitive course.”
The event was highly competitive with many battles often too close to call for the judges leading to several “one more time” calls. In the Great 8, returning champion Fredric Aasbo in the Rockstar Energy / Nexen Tire SR by Toyota tC, who entered the event second in points by only five points faced the 2-time champion and point leader, Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy Drink / Hankook Nissan 370Z. This battle was significant for the championship chase. An over correction by Aasbo opened the door for Forsberg to enter the semi-finals.
Forsberg met the young gun, Alec Hohnadell in the Enjuku / Get Nuts Lab / Nexen Tire Nissan 240, in the semi-finals. Hohnadell had car issues throughout the competition, which got the best of him helping to advance Forsberg into the Finals. Matt Field faced Kristaps Bluss in the HGK / Mast / Motul / Achilles BMW M3. A major mistake by Bluss on his chase run took him off course to give Field the win. Forsberg and Field met in the Finals. Forsberg drove aggressive, but that lead to him running into Field and that ultimately gave Field his first Formula DRIFT victory. This marks Forsberg’s sixth consecutive podium and he now leads the chase for the championship by 36 points with one event remaining.
“I knew we could do it, it took a little while, but we are there,” said Matt Field, winner of Round 7: Showdown. “We did it. We got the “W.” Thank you to everybody.”
The 2016 Formula DRIFT Pro Championship will continue to Round 8: O’Reilly Auto Parts Title Fight sponsored by Gumout on October 7-8, 2016 at Irwindale Speedway. For more information visit,www.formulad.com and find Formula DRIFT on Instagram @formulad, Facebook www.facebook.com/formuladrift, Twitter @FormulaD, and Snapchat – formula_drift. Tune into Formula DRIFT on CBS Sports and check your local listings for airtimes.
Images: Larry Chen