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Motorsports
Coming into the last event of the
Formula Drift season no less than seven drivers had a chance at winning the championship.
Vaughn Gittin Jr., the 2010 champion, was the odds-on favorite, entering the final with a size points lead gained from back-to-back wins earlier in the season, but other drivers like veteran
Rhys Millen, last years champion
Daijiro Yoshihara, rookie Daigo Saito and Gittin's fellow Mustang driver
Justin Pawlak were all in the hunt.
It was a packed house at
Irwindale Speedway in Southern California to watch the finale - for the first time in the event's history all tickets were sold out before the competition even began.
The drivers put on quite a show for the capacity crowd, and Vaughn Gittin Jr. made things interesting by getting knocked out early in the competition. That left the door open for Rhys Millen and Daigo Saito to take the overall points lead. While Millen managed to make the semi finals, it was Saito who took full advantage, beating out every driver he faced in heads-up competition in his 1,200 Lexus SC430. The first place finish not only gave him the most coveted win in the Formula Drift schedule, but the overall championship as well in his first season. This perhaps makes him the most highly rated drifter in the world, having already won the Formula Drift Asia championship as well as a D1 championship.
You can read the official press release
below or check out our photos from the event in the
gallery above.
Continue reading Formula Drift crowns its 2012 champion
Formula Drift crowns its 2012 champion originally appeared on
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Motorsports: Formula Drift crowns its 2012 champion
