Formula Drift Survives Pandemic Year #2 With Final Round Excitement In Irwindale

The Hollywood-handsome, lantern-jawed Fredric “The Norwegian Hammer” Aasbo won his second championship in Formula Drift by manhandling his Toyota Supra all the way to the final round in front of 10,000 screaming, vaping fans who packed the oval at Irwindale, Calif. Saturday night.

“I have so much respect for everybody here, Chelsea (DeNofa) and Matt (Field) have been on my tail all year, Odi (Bakchis), everyone else,” Aasbo said through tears of relief and joy. “This is by far a much, much harder-fought championship than the one we won in 2015, and I’ve been here chomping at the bit every single freakin’ year.”

Aasbo’s Supra manages 1,000 hp out of just four cylinders, too.

“We have this amazing car, it’s half the displacement of the rest of the field,” Aasbo said, referring to the mostly V8-powered Fords and Chevies in the field.

“As (2004 champ) Rhys Millen said, ‘It’s hard to drive like a man in a chick car.”

No doubt words sponsor Toyota will be speaking to him about. Look for media training for The Hammer in the off-season.

Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis beat Aasbo in the final at Irwindale in one of the closest-fought “battles” of the weekend.

“We’ve been hunting for that championship forever,” said Bakchis, who finished second in the title chase this year. “We start out the season strong (he won at Road Atlanta) and we end it strong (he won at Long Beach and Irwindale), it’s just that middle section that we have to work on.”