NAVIGATION
Congratulations to the following drivers for the amazing show they put on today at Evergreen Speedway in Seattle.
1st Place: Chris Forsberg
2nd Place: Michael Essa
3rd Place: Fredric Aasbo
Also big Congratulations to Chris Forsberg for taking the points lead for the season in the Formula D overall standings.
Let me start out by saying that we met Mats and his team in an unusual way at Round 2 in Atlanta. We found out that we were staying at the same Hotel and started talking to him and the crew about his program and what it took to make it all the way down from Ontario, Canada. Mats is a genuinely nice guy and dedicated driver. He and his team drove 16 hours straight to Road Atlanta, all 5 of them packed into their truck as they hauled the trailer down.
We ran into Mats again at Road 3 in Palm Beach, despite of how small of a site Shift-Therapy is currently, he recognized us walking in the crowd and walked up to me to chat a bit on Friday. I also got a chance to talk with him, his crew and his father more on Saturday morning before Top 32 practice and even after qualifying 5th (the highest qualifying rookie thus far in the 2013 season) and needing to get ready for practice and Top 32 they were all very nice and welcoming and they exuded love and dedicated for what they were doing. Mats and his team show so much commitment and passion we are definitely keeping an eye on him to see how the season goes for such a great team.
About a week ago I saw Mats posted on Facebook and it wasn’t updates from the road on the way to Seattle. So I reached out to Mats to see if he was going to make round 5 as I know he is in 3rd place for rookie of the year and could use the points, still being within striking distance. It was then that Mats shared some upsetting news that Round 5, and maybe the rest of his rookie season, was at this point out of his budget. They are doing everything they can to try and make rounds 6 and 7 to finish the season strong but could use any help they could get. If you would like to help out Mats try and make Rounds 6 and/or 7 head over to his website www.matsbaribeau.com and pick up a shirt or stickers (I already did!) and let’s give Mats a chance to land Rookie of the Year.
You can also follow Mats on Facebook (fb.com/MatsBaribeauDrift), Twitter (@matsbaribeau), Instagram (@matsbaribeau), or YouTube (Mats Baribeau).
Official Team Shirts are $20, Stickers are 1 for $5 or 3 for $10, or you can grab a shirt + 3 stickers + an autographed driver card for $30. (Shipping & Handling note included) by e-mailing Mats at mats@goldinthenet.com
If you remember an article I posted back in May, Chris Jeanneret with a heavy heart called his 2013 rookie Formula D season quits after a bunch of trouble with the car and getting his program going.
But it looks like after some footwork and behind the scenes magic he announced a few days ago that he would in fact be able to make his Formula D rookie year after joining forging a new partnership with long time drag racer Luc English and his English Racing team. English racing will be running the engine portion of Chris program and put in a new LS6 motor with some upgraded internals into the STR Wheels S14 which looks to be good for upwards of 500hp. So it looks like good news for Chris and we wish him good luck at Round 5 in Seattle.
Conrad Grunewald uploaded this video the other day of JR Hildebrand testing at Sonoma Raceway in the Camaro that Tyler McQuarrie is fielding. Looks like this chassis is actually Conrad’s old one from previous seasons.
JR looks to have some time off from Indy racing after Panther Racing made the call to let him go back in May. Looks like us FD fans will be benefiting from that as he is finally going to make his debut at Round 5 in Seattle after missing Round 1 at Long Beach. Hildebrand will be driving for McQuarrie racing as part of a twin Chevrolet Camaro team that Tyler is running this season. Can’t wait to see how his F1 mindset effects his driving, will he be too precise and cautious or be able to understand the car enough to let it all hang out, we’ll see in about a week.