Jonathan Velasquez

As promised, we continue our “competition to podium” play by play coverage of Formula Drift Round 1, “The Streets of Long Beach”. We left you at the end of Top 32 before the break in our first article, so now we will get into Top 16.

After a day of wall bashing qualifying fun, the Top 32 had been set. Drivers were bracketed against other drivers they fear, or ones they would undoubtedly trample in a wall of smoke. Competition day was bound to be full of awkward excitement, due to Formula Drift’s new rules for the 2014 season, such as no battle for 3rd place, no protest until the Great 8, and many other rules that left fans scratching and shaking their heads. Nonetheless, the fans still showed up.