Formula Drift 2013 Round 6 at Texas Motor Speedway – Final Results
Amid controversy and protests, Formula Drift at Texas Motor Speedway ends with a first time podium winner, a repeat winner, and a changed championship picture. Texas Motor Speedway will go down as not only the fastest track but also the most exciting and unexpected round debut in Formula Drift history.
Matt Field has been on fire for the past rounds of Formula Drift and really showed what he was made of tonight. In the Final Four, he had to get past controversial winner, Pat Mordaunt in the Diamond Lighting Lexus SC430.
Controversial as Pat was able to move on against Vaughn Gittin, Jr. after a protest by his team. In the round that he initially lost against the Monster Energy/Nitto Tires Ford Mustang, Pat had been determined to have lost from lack of performance.
The Diamond Lighting team had viewed a replay and saw that Vaughn had actually neutral steered into the “touch and go” section. They lodged the protest and the judges, in a first in Formula Drift history, changed the outcome without a re-run of the battle. Pat moved on to the Final Four. Vaughn was obviously frustrated and we'll have more in our full coverage.
It would not be the only protest the judges would uphold that night as the Nexen Tire/US Air Force team also filed a protest after they viewed a replay of their runs. At first, Odi had lost this round after he had put two tires off and Robbie was moving on to Top 16. Odi's team filed a protest and the judges viewed the replay.
The Judges ruled the protest valid after seeing proof that Robbie had also made two errors to result in a zero, thus the Top 16 would actually be a Top 17 as Robbie in the Achilles Radial Lexus SC400 would face Odi one more time. The protest win would be in vain as Odi made a major error and gave Robbie the win. However, Robbie would be eliminated in his Great 8 run.
Matt would then face Mike Essa in the GSR Autoworks BMW M3 and no matter the result, it would be the best result in Matt's career with his first ever podium.
However, it would be the second win for Mike Essa in 2013 and an increase in his points lead as a result.
Your podium results are Chris Forsberg in Third, Matt Field in Second, and your Winner for the initial round at Texas Motor Speedway, Mike Essa!
Mike Essa now takes a 15.50 point lead over Chris Forsberg and a 64.00 points over third place Fredric Aasbo.
