,
Candian driver Mats Baribeau in the Gold in the Net Toyota Mark II would take on Miro Ovcharik in the MT Tuning Nissan 240SX. Miro would come on too aggressive in the sweeper following Mats and would slide off course. It also caused contact against Mats as he spun around and fault was given to Miro. With the disadvantage of a zero, Miro would have only moved on if Mats made a similar mistake. That mistake would not happen and Mats Baribeau would move on to his first Top 16 in Formula Drift. The Canadian Rookies have really made their impressions in Formula Drift in 2013 as Mats joins Marc Landreville in making their first Top 16 in their rookie season.
Mike Essa in the GSR Autosport BMW E46 M3 would lead the Lucas Oil/Nexen Tires Nissan 240SX of Joon Maeng in the next battle. Even as he followed, Mike Essa leaded would set his pace for the rest of the night with big angle and explosive down shifting into the sweeper. He would move on to the Top 16.
Rob Primo in the Garage Auto Hero Nissan 240SX would look to try and get past the GT Net/Tomei Powered Subaru BRZ of Toshiki Yoshioka. Primo would run off course before the “touch and go” with too much aggression. Then Yoshioka would drive with too much aggression and try to make an illegal pass on Primo, resulting in a zero.
In the one more time, both drivers would once again get zeros on each run. Toshiki would require a competition time out to fix his car this time. In the second and final one more time, Toshiki was judged the winner when Primo went straight in the sweeper. However, it should be made clear that Yoshioka’s car was not in 100 percent health when it went out and never stayed in a straight line as the right rear wheel would move in and out from a control arm still being damaged.
Next would be Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy Nissan 370Z and Jeremy Lowe in the Enjuku Racing Mazda RX7. This battle would also go one more time after Jeremy would spin off course in the “touch and go” as he made contact with Forsberg. After giving both drivers time to inspect and repair their cars, the final run was made. Without a zero run from Forsberg, Jeremy Lowe’s day was done.
