EVENT DETAILS

Date: Saturday, October 23, 2021
Location: Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale, CA
Event: Formula DRIFT PRO Championship Round 8: Type S Title Fight & Link ECU PROSPEC Championship Round 4

RESULTS FROM FD PRO ROUND 8

1. Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) – Falken Tire / Feal Suspension Nissan S15
2. Fredric Aasbo (Norway)  – Rockstar Energy Drink Toyota GR Supra
3. Vaughn Gittin Jr (USA) – Monster Energy Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D

2021 FD PRO FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

1. Fredric Aasbo (Norway)  – Rockstar Energy Drink Toyota GR Supra
2. Matt Field (USA) – Falken Tire / Drift Cave Chevrolet Corvette
3. Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) – Falken Tire / Feal Suspension Nissan S15

RESULTS FROM LINK ECU PROSPEC ROUND 4

1. Daniel Stuke (USA) – MspeK Performance Nissan S14
2. Dmitriy Brutskiy (Belarus) – Essa Autosport / ISC Suspension BMW E46
3. Nick Noback (USA) – KoruWorks BMW E46

2021 LINK ECU PROSPEC FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

1. Dmitriy Brutskiy (Belarus) – Essa Autosport / ISC Suspension BMW E46
2. Nick Noback (USA) – KoruWorks BMW E46
3. Tommy Lemaire (Canada) – TLO Drift School Nissan S14.5 V8

NOTES

• Irwindale Speedway is known as The House of Drift and is the only track to be included in the series every year since 2004
• A new walled section had been added to the course for 2021 to better define Outside Zone 3 to the finish line
• Weather for the competition heats was cloudy, mostly dry, with occasional drizzle
• The Final round of the 2021 season represents the end of an era, with three pillars of the sport leaving the series: 2011 FD PRO Champion Dai Yoshihara (Japan) is retiring; 2010 and 2020 FD PRO Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr is leaving to focus on other projects; and Formula DRIFT president and co-founder, Jim Liaw, is moving to PRI but will retain a role in the series. All three have been with the series since it began in 2004 and will be missed
• After six years of narrowly missing the top spot, 2015 FD PRO Champion Aasbo became the 2021 Champion thanks to impeccable driving and the support of Papadakis Racing.
• Aasbo lost in the Round 8 Final to Bakchis but had already amassed sufficient points to win the title thanks to four second-place finishes and a Round win in St Louis
• After leading the series earlier in the season, Field finished fourth on the night and second in the Championship
• DeNofa, who led the series for a significant portion of the season, could only finish seventh at FD IRW, dropping him to fourth in the Championship
• The beneficiary of DeNofa’s tumble was Bakchis, who won Round 8 with characteristic precision, leapfrogging DeNofa into third in the overall points table
• Gittin departed the series in style, claiming third on the night and fifth overall behind teammate DeNofa
• Aasbo’s performance helped both Toyota win the 2021 Formula DRIFT PRO Auto Cup and Nitto claim the Tire Cup
• Top FD PRO Rookie at FD IRW was Jonathan Hurst (USA) who placed 15th in the Cash Racing Infiniti G37, while Simen Olsen (Norway) driving the Race Supply Toyota GR Supra is the 2021 FD PRO Rookie of the Year
• History was made in the Link ECU PROSPEC Championship when Brutskiy became the first two-time Champion, and he did it in back-to-back seasons. His perfect weekend was spoiled by a second-place finish in the Final, which he lost to Stuke
• Stuke had an eventful Round, getting knocked out of the Final 4 by Noback until his team protested Noback’s roof, which detached itself as the drivers initiated into the first turn. In an unusual reversal, the Final 4 win was taken away from Noback and awarded to Stuke, who proceeded to beat Brutskiy in the Final to claim his first Round win
• Noback finished third on the night and claimed second in the Championship by a narrow 15-point margin behind Brutskiy. And while Brutskiy has yet to commit to the FD PRO Championship in 2022, Noback is looking forward to stepping up to the premier class
• PROSPEC Rookie Lemaire was knocked out of competition in the Top 16 heats but secured enough points to take a remarkable third in the Link ECU Championship and become PROSPEC Rookie of the Year

ROUND 8 FD PRO TOP 16 DRIVER POINTS 

2021 FD PRO CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 16 RESULTS

2021 AUTO CUP TOP FIVE RESULTS

2021 TIRE CUP RESULTS

ROUND 4 FD PROSPEC TOP 16 DRIVER POINTS

2021 FD PROSPEC CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 16 RESULTS

FORMULA DRIFT IRWINDALE RECAP
A full recap of Round 8: Type S Title Fight & Link ECU PROSPEC Championship Round 4 will be available on Monday, along with event images

NEXT ROUND
Formula DRIFT will announce its 2022 schedule at its annual SEMA press conference in the Media Center, or visit formulad.com after the announcement.