,
The last battle of the Final Four would not only determine who would face off against Aasbo in the finals, but also who would take third place. Since we no longer have a consolation run for third, it is now determined by qualification position. If Robbie Nishida won, Vaughn Gittin, Jr would win third as he qualified in fourth place over Forsberg’s fifth place seeding. If Gittin won, Forsberg would win third place since Nishida qualified in 31st.
However, it wouldn’t be Nishida’s run as Gittin would beat out Nishida. Vaughn’s lead run held a consistent gap while his follow placed constant pressure against Robbie. While that was amazing, the part that had most people shocked was at the end. It looked like Robbie had shut down his run just before the end of the course, which was indicated by the rumble strips at driver’s left after turn 10A during their return from the Keyhole. In doing so, Vaughn narrowly missed Robbie much like Gushi missed Kearney. There was no damage to Vaughn’s car and he would move on to face Aasbo. This result meant that Chris Forsberg would be awarded third place.
For the first time in a very long time the finals were determined by a One More Time. During the first run by Vaughn and Fredric, each driver was able to gap the other in their lead runs. The judges couldn’t determine who was better so the One More Time was used.
However, in the One More Time Aasbo wasn’t able to make up the gap created by Vaughn Gittin, Jr in his lead run. In Vaughn’s follow run, Gittin stayed right on the door of the Hankook Tires/Motegi Racing Scion tC. Thanks to Vaughn’s amazing runs, he was able to conquer the Norwegian and bring home first place and his first win as a driver/owner.
Current Top 5 in Driver Points:
1. Chris Forsberg – 173 points
2. Vaughn Gittin, Jr. – 145.5 points
3. Fredric Aasbo – 137 points
4. Kenneth Moen – 135.5 points
5. Justin Pawlak – 103.5 points
Current Top 5 in Manufacturer Points:
1. Ford – 249 points
2. Scion – 224.5 points
3. Nissan – 209.5 points
4. Lexus – 151.5 points
5. BMW – 148.5 points
Current Top 5 in Tire Manufacturer Points:
1. Hankook Tire – 310 Points
2. Nitto Tire – 247.5 Points
3. Achilles Tire – 218.5 Points
4. Falken Tire – 188 Points
5. Yokohama Tire – 110.5 Points
