Let's see, where do we start... the above photo shows the last battle of the night between Fredric Aasbo in the Need For Speed Scion TC and JTP Justin Pawlak in the Falken Tire Ford Mustang. Aasbo was on fire after taking out crowd favorite Daigo Saito but it was still not enough to beat out winner of round 1, JTP. Justin won the event with Aasbo coming in second and Daigo Saito in third. But let's back track a little bit to some of our favorite battles of the night!
Another ATL crowd favorite, Joon Maeng was on FIRE and crazy aggressive throughout the event. After taking out Toshiki Yoshioka in the RS-R Nissan S15, he was put against Walker Wilkerson in the Fatlace S13.
After having superb runs, Joon had a tough time keeping the Mazda RX8 on course against Walker. First, dipping a few tires into the dirt and eventually ramming into Walker's S13. That ended Joon's night and advanced Walker to Top 8.
Another great "one more time" battle was a rookie vs veteran one. Rookie Ryan Kado in his 350Z showed Rhys Millen he didn't come to lay down. Even though Rhys' Hyundai Genesis has been known to push close to 700HP, Kado gave a tough fight but came up a bit short. About 300HP short. Rhys Millen advanced to face Aasbo in the Great 8.
With Michael Essa qualifying first the night before, we were excited to see what he had in store for the main event. Essa took out Matt Field in Top 32 then was put against Pawlak in Top 16.
Essa is part of the Garrett V8 Hunters but the ASD V8 was too much for the turbo charged Z4. Essa was knocked out and Pawlak moved on to Great 8.
As always, the Great 8 was full of tough battles. Including this too close for comfort run between Rhys Millen and Aasbo. Rhys gave Aasbo a run for his money but was not enough to advance to the Final 4.
Once the Great 8 battles were wrapped up, it was Daigo Saito against Fredric Aasbo going at it for at least a guaranteed second place finish. It was a close battle and the crowd disagreed but Aasbo moved on to battle JTP for the top of the podium.
This left Daigo Saito and Walker Wilkerson to fight it out for third. Daigo, also part of the Garrett V8 Hunter team had a close battle with Walker and ended up taking home the Third Place trophy.
Which takes us back to the beginning of the post. JTP beating Aasbo for the number one spot. This was JTP's second win in a row this season. Congrats to JTP, Aasbo and Daigo for their wins!!
Had a great time horsing around at Road Atlanta! ; ) Thanks for the awesome experience and we will see you next year for the Formula Drift 10 year anniversary!
