Chelsea Wins Wild Formula Drift Orlando
Chelsea Wins Wild Formula Drift Orlando

Chelsea Wins Wild Formula Drift Orlando

Good morning from what I’m starting to believe is the ironically named “Sunshine State”. Round 3 of Formula Drift season kicked off with rain throughout the first practice sessions before tapering off for a dry qualifying in the evening. Chelsea laid down a strong qualifying run securing P2 for today’s competition and extended RTR’s streak of having a driver qualify top 2 in each round so far this season. James would qualify 10th and Adam 17th. Adam will be the first RTR driver out battling Matt Field in the top 32 with Chelsea facing Oleksii Holovnia and James vs Robert Thorne to round out the Top 32 battles.

It was an action-packed Saturday at Formula Drift Orlando that would see Chelsea leave victorious! In his Top 32 battle Chelsea took a hard hit while advancing but prompting the team to work through the halftime break, assuring he’d have the best car to advance. A routine Top 16 win versus Chris Forsberg would setup one of the most anticipated matchups of the season in the Great 8, Chelsea versus James. The all RTR battle would live up to the hype with both drivers on the door of one another and the fans on their feet watching Chelsea get the win. Misfortune would again strike Chelsea in the final four with Kazuya Taguchi running into him on his lead run forcing the team to use the full 10 minutes allotted plus their five-minute timeout making repairs to Chelsea’s car sending him out with just seconds remaining on the clock. He would complete the remainder of his battle with Taguchi and move onto the finals against Fredric Aasbo. One lead and one chase with Aasbo was all it would take for the judges to declare a winner ending Chelsea’s wild weekend on the top of the box!

The drama wasn’t limited to Chelsea’s run to the top, but Adam would have some of his own with a close Top 32 battle versus Matt Field. The judges would give it to Matt, but following a successful protest they would award Adam an OMT setting up another shot at the points leader going into the event. Unfortunately, Matt would best Adam in a hard-fought battle.

Chelsea leaves Orlando 2nd in overall points with James in 4th with the midway point in the season coming up in just a few weeks in New Jersey.

Chelsea, James and Vaughn head to Michigan this weekend for some fun at GRIDLIFE Midwest.