Vaughn Gittin holds off late charge by Aasbo and Forsberg to take Formula DRIFT event in Atlanta

Not only was his Monster Energy/Nitto Ford Mustang hitting on all cylinders, so too was Vaughn Gittin and his team as Gittin held on to win Formula Drift’s Round 2: Road to the Championship event Saturday at Road Atlanta.

“Tonight my team and I were truly one,” Gittin said. “We communicated and worked super hard. These were some of the most hard fought battles that I remember ever having and it says a lot about our sport, where we are going and what we are doing. And I’m just super proud to be standing on the top step.”

Gittin held off runner-up Fredric Aasbo in the Hankook Tire Scion Racing tC in the finals. Chris Forsberg, who won the season-opening event three weeks ago at Long Beach, finished third in his Hankook Tire Nissan 370Z.

The win also pushes Gittin up to second place in the overall Formula DRIFT points standings, while Forsberg remains in first place.

“It’s wonderful to see the growth in attendance each year at Road Atlanta, where we held our first Formula DRIFT event eleven years ago,” said Formula DRIFT president Jim Liaw. “The fans of the South are so passionate for the sport and we love coming to this venue.”

Round 3 of the Formula DRIFT series takes place May 30–31 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in south Florida. For more information visit:www.formuladrift.com and find Formula DRIFT on Instagram @formulad, Facebook www.facebook.com/formuladrift and Twitter @FormulaD.

Formula DRIFT Round 2: Road to the Championship Event Results
1. Gittin Jr., Vaughn	Monster Energy / Nitto Tire Ford Mustang RTR	Winner
2. Aasbo, Fredric	Hankook Tire Scion Racing tC	2nd Place
3. Forsberg, Chris	Hankook Tire Nissan 370Z	3rd Place

Formula DRIFT Professional Championship Presented by GoPro 2014 Standings After 2 Rounds

1. Forsberg, Chris

Hankook Tire Nissan 370Z

173.00 Points

2. Gittin Jr., Vaughn

Monster Energy / Nitto Tire Ford Mustang RTR

145.50 Points

3. Aasbo, Fredric

Hankook Tire Scion Racing tC

137.00 Points

4. Moen, Kenneth

Bridges Racing Nissan 240SX

135.50 Points

5. Pawlak, Justin

Falken Tire Ford Mustang

103.50 Points

6. Bakchis, Aurimas

Feal Suspension / Nitto Tire Nissan 240SX

102.00 Points

7. Wang, Forrest

Get Nuts Lab / Hankook Tire / STR Racing Nissan S14

93.00 Points

8. Essa, Michael

Essa Autosport / Yokohama BMW M3

91.50 Points

9. McNamara, Darren

Falken Tire Nissan S14

84.50 Points

10. Nishida, Robbie

Achilles Radial / Bridges Racing Lexus SC300

83.00 Points

11. Gushi, Ken

GReddy Performance X Scion Racing Drift FR-S V2

70.00 Points

12. Grunewald, Conrad

Megan Racing / Top 1 Oil / BRE Chevrolet Camaro

70.00 Points

13. Saito, Daigo

Achilles Radial Lexus SC430

68.50 Points

14. McQuarrie, Tyler

GoPro Mobil 1Chevrolet Camaro

61.50 Points

15. DeNofa, Chelsea

BC Racing Nitto Tire BMW 3-Series

57.00 Points

16. Tuerck, Ryan

Retaks Maxxis Tires Air Force PSI Scion FR-S

55.50 Points

Manufacturers Championship Standings After Two Rounds

1. Ford

249.00 Points

2. Scion

224.50 Points

3. Nissan

209.50 Points

4. Lexus

151.50 Points

5. BMW

148.50 Points

Tire Championship Standings After Two Rounds

1. Hankook

310.00 Points

2. Nitto

247.50 Points

3. Achilles

218.50 Points

4. Falken

188.00 Points

5. Yokohama

109.00 Points

Not even one year after returning to the IndyCar ranks, Vasser-Sullivan Racing is taking AIM at the IMSA world, you might say.

While team co-owners Jimmy Vasser and James “Sulli” Sullivan will continue to partner with Dale Coyne Racing on the IndyCar side, they expanded their holdings Tuesday, announcing a partnership with AIM Autosport to campaign a new two-car Lexus-backed RC F GT3 effort in IMSA’s GT Daytona class.

The new team – named AIM Vasser-Sullivan – will replace 3GT Racing, which was part of Lexus’ sports car program launch in 2016. It will announce its two drivers in the coming weeks, the team said.

“Sulli and I are excited and looking forward to entering a new chapter in our racing careers,” Vasser said in a media release. “I have driven sports cars before, but my career was pretty much limited to the 24 Hours of Daytona, including a ‘class’ win in 1992 and second overall in 2008.

“The AIM Vasser Sullivan team, with the support of Lexus and our sponsors, has the tools to get the job done and we are looking forward to this new challenge.”

Lexus has made significant progress in its first two seasons in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition, having earned a combined two race wins, five poles and finished third in the 2018 GTD Manufacturer point standings.

Vasser and Sullivan were part of the ownership group of KVSH Racing in IndyCar from 2011 through 2016 before the organization folded.

They also owned Tony Kanaan’s 2013 Indianapolis 500-winning car.

After sitting out the 2017 season, Vasser, a former CART champion, and Sullivan rejoined forces this past February, just before the start of the 2018 IndyCar season, partnering with Coyne to form a satellite team led by driver Sebastien Bourdais, who previously drove for KVSH.

Bourdais kicked off the new team’s effort with a win in the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. He finished seventh in the overall season standings.

AIM Vasser Sullivan will have two home bases for its IMSA program: AIM’s current facility in Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada, as well as a new U.S. shop in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Follow @JerryBonkowski