Fredric Aasbø vant helgens Formula Drift-runde på Road Atlanta foran landsmann Simen Olsen. Les mer i denne pressemeldingen fra teamet til Fredric Aasbø.
Fredric Aasbo and the Rockstar Energy Toyota GR Supra returned to the top of the box this weekend in Atlanta after a hard-fought second round of the 2024 Formula Drift championship.
“It was an insane night here in Atlanta. We had some challenges thrown at us today, but the team pulled together and we got the win,” said Aasbo. “It’s great to be back on top and we’re going to keep this momentum going into Orlando in just a few weeks.”
The most winning driver in Formula Drift history, Aasbo has three championship titles (2022, 2021, 2015) and a record setting 19 overall victories. He has stood atop the podium at every track the series runs, including three times at Road Atlanta.
The Georgia track features a unique road course layout that takes drivers through the Turn 10 complex and starts with a huge downhill run into a full-commitment first turn. Competition heats up as the sun is setting and track conditions cool and change considerably as the skies darken for the later rounds. The event typically draws a massive crowd turnout, with eager fans turning up early in the morning hours Saturday to secure the best views from the grassy lawns flanking the track.
“I love this track. We went into this event with the intention of being more aggressive and I’d say we accomplished that,” said Aasbo. “I had a lot of fun pushing my limits at the initiation, all the way to a backwards entry in the finals. This victory tasted sweet!”
Aasbo started strong, defeating Joao Barion in the Round of 32 before facing down Kazuya Taguchi in the Round of 16. He next battled past Forrest Wang to find himself lined up against longtime friend and rival James Deane.
Both three-time champions put it all on the line for a no-holds-barred battle and it was Aasbo who advanced to the final. There, he faced up-and-coming driver Simen Olsen. The two Norwegians proved well matched, and judges called for a one-more-time rerun. Aasbo locked in the win when Olsen pulled up short with a mechanical failure.
With only a victory lap remaining, Aasbo ended on a high note, rewarding fans who stayed late into the night with a high-speed, backward entry into the first turn and a series of crowd-pleasing donuts. It was a long-awaited win for the three-time champ, who had earned three podiums but no victories in the 2023 season – the first winless season for the driver since 2013.
Teammate Ryan Tuerck found himself the victim of bad luck in Atlanta. He was eliminated in the round of 32 after a cooling fan failed and overheated his power steering pump. Before that, he had looked strong as the team continues to dial in the new Toyota inline-six engine in his Rain-X Toyota GR Corolla. He remains optimistic that his luck will turn when the team returns to championship competition in Orlando in just three weeks.
The Papadakis Racing team began drifting in 2004 and is the most winning team in Formula Drift history, earning the 2022, 2021 and 2015 titles with driver Aasbo, as well as back-to-back championships with driver Tanner Foust in 2007 and 2008. Tuerck joined the Papadakis Racing team in 2020 and has shown strong results in the Toyota GR Corolla, bringing home the third-place championship trophy in 2022 and 2020. Partner Toyota has won the manufacturer’s cup eight times since 2014.
Drifting is a high-skill, high-powered motorsport with an emphasis on car control. In the Formula Drift series, drivers compete in knockout heats on a closed course, sliding sideways in trials judged on speed and style. With origins in Japan, the sport has rapidly grown to one of the most popular youth-oriented motorsports in the world. Here in the United States, Formula Drift officially launched in 2004 and its national schedule of eight events routinely host capacity crowds, while live-streamed multi-platform broadcasts attract millions of