High Stakes and Big Crashes at Formula Drift Las Vegas

After two strong rookie outings in Formula Drift, Fredric and Team Japan Auto FSR went all in at Formula Drift Las Vegas on August 20th-21st!

Running crucial suspension upgrades from KW suspensions and Griffin Thermal Products, the team were charging hard from the get-go. However, the planned take on Formula Drift Las Vegas did not go down as planned, Fredric explains.

- I wanted to learn the track fast, and started off hard. A little too hard, as during Thursday night’s practice I hit the concrete wall at a backwards angle, nearly totaling the car. Concrete walls usually don’t move, but this hit was so hard I moved the wall a couple of inches!

The Japan Auto and FSR pit crew jumped on the car, miraculously getting it ready for the next day. However, new issues quickly arose with both ignition coils and fuel pumps going out just before Friday’s qualification session. Loosing one qualification run due to the intense time constraints, Fredric had only one shot on qualifying for Saturday’s main event. Putting down a strong but safe run the team got through to Saturday’s main competition, and Fredric was set to battle Asian touring car driver and fellow Formula Drift rookie Charles NG.

- Charles is a great driver and I really looked forward to the battle. I knew he had slightly slower entry speeds than me, but he is very consistant on his line and I really wanted to stick close to him and put on a good show. Unfortunately, I charged a little too hard yet again. I catched up too much on his Mazda RX7, hit him in the side and sent us both off the course. Second run had me initiate the way I wanted and I put up a thick smoke screen against the wall, but I missed a gear and straightened out in the latter part of the course. This was simply not our time, and congratulations to Charles Ng for moving on!

The team is now back at FSR Motorsport Creations in Los Angeles, California, working out a way to get the car back out for the remaining 2010 Formula Drift Rounds.

- Prior to this event we got over 1600 votes on Speedhunters “Most Impressive Formula Drift Driver” poll (check it out here: http://speedhunters.com/archive/2010/08/20/poll-gt–impressive-formula-drift-driver.aspx) and I was so focused on giving back to all the people supporting us. I simply wanted too much. This being our third event in our rookie Formula Drift season, we have to remember we are here to learn and have fun and this all came down to a hard core learning experience for us. The car was brought back from the dead twice, and this event clearly proved that the FSR Motorsport Creations and Japan Auto backing we have is second to none.

- As a driver I have a lot of experience to gain, and we are all focused on keeping the momentum we have built up this far. Let’s leave the gambling in Las Vegas for now, get the car back together and go out there again! Thanks to everybody that has rooted for us and helped us out along the way – we wouldn’t have been here without you!

Feel free to check out Speedhunters (http://www.speedhunters.com) over the next week to read Fredric’s driver blog from Formula Drift Round 5: Las Vegas.

Next up on the Formula Drift schedule is Round 6: Point of Impact, held at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California on September 10th-11th. As the team is set to compete at the Formula Drift finals at Irwindale Speedway in Los Angeles in October, the Japan Auto FSR Supra and Fredric Aasbo is not yet confirmed for Round 6 in Sonoma. Please stay tuned on http://www.fredricaasbo.com for further announcements from Team Japan Auto FSR.

Fredric Aasbo is a two time Nordic Drifting Series Champion representing Japan Auto, FSR Motorsport Creations, Toyota, PBC Auto, KRB Trading, Comp Turbo, Turbosmart Performance Products, Falken Tire, Biltema, CRC, Panvulk, BS Bildeler, Kimmit Sport Racing, Agip, Speed Max Performance, EBC Brakes, Brakes Norge, Nuke Performance, Auto-Sign, BlackBox Media and SWR in Formula Drift – the World’s premier drifting series.

Pictures courtesy of Larry Chen (http://www.driftfotos.com) and OMG Drift (http://www.omgdrift.com). For high resolution pictures, please visit http://www.flickr.com/fredricaasbo.

2010 Formula Drift – Versus Show Open from Formula DRIFT on Vimeo.