,
McNamara has apparently gotten very used to his new ride, the left-hand-drive Nissan 350Z. After a near textbook-perfect lead run with Mohan chasing in his screaming Mazda RX-8, McNamara went shallow while chasing Mohan into the first clip. Although judge Brian Eggert voted for a One More Time, judges Andy Yen and Ryan Lantagne both voted to advance McNamara.
Entering at 85.4 mph, Saito ran away from Grunewald at the start of his lead run, but Grunewald clawed most of the gap back without compromising much of his line or angle. Grunewald’s lead run was extremely strong, but with Saito parked alongside the Camaro throughout the whole of the course, the judges sent the two drivers for a One More Time. On the lead run of the OMT, Saito turned it up to an even faster 86.1 mph on the entry, with Grunewald running a strong line with a lot of angle to catch up. Grunewald’s lead run was mistake free, but Saito was even closer than he was in the first battle – and the judges were split evenly – one vote for Grunewald to advance, one for Saito to advance, and one OMT. After a tire change for both drivers, they returned for a third battle. Saito turned the speed down, switched up his approach to the initiation, and accelerated away from Grunewald a bit at the first inner clip. Grunewald’s lead run was almost a copy of the one in the previous battle, but the judges finally decided to advance Saito.
The surprise of qualifying, Ovcharik, matched up in his V8-powered Nissan S13 with Ken Gushi’s new Scion FR-S. The Formula Drift rookie did a good job on his lead run, but made a mistake on his initiation during his follow run which allowed Gushi to establish a huge gap. It was an easy decision to advance Gushi to the next round.
Kenneth Moen drove his Nissan 350Z more like the car’s previous driver, two-time Formula Drift champion Tanner Foust. Matt Powers was unable to maintain close proximity to Moen until the final clip, and when Moen stayed right on Powers’ Nissan throughout Matt's lead run all three judges moved Moen into the Top-16.
In one of the more bizarre battles of the day, Brakohiapa – who finally seems to have a handle on his new Ford Mustang – smashed the barriers on the initiation, losing his rear bumper which attached itself to the rear wing of Yoshioka’s S15. Brakohiapa followed well until Yoshioka suckered him into straightening at the final clip. The mistake cost Brakohiapa his first run to the Top-16 in his new car.
Forsberg drove textbook-perfect lead and follow runs to advance past the rookie Corey Hosford. While Hosford made no major mistakes, Forsberg simply overshadowed him with more speed and angle – and that word, ‘proximity’, as he nearly embedded his tire in Hosford’s door at the final clip.
