Orlando Speed World is the latest addition to the Formula Drift series, as this is only the second time the series has visited this track for Pro1 and Pro 2 competition.
We were graced with perfect drift event weather last round in Atlanta, so it was no shock that the weather would get its revenge on the fans and teams in Orlando. The humidity and heat claimed a few victims through heat stroke and there is no doubt that thousands of gallons of water were consumed at OSW.
There was no escaping the heat! But our guys were ready to begin practice on Thursday.
The weather couldn’t keep SS driver Alec Hohnadell down from talking to eager fans.
Orlando was Round 3 for the Pro 1 series and Round 2 for the Pro 2 series, so our man on the West Coast Dan Burkett was out in his Rad Industries MK4 Supra! Thursday was Pro 2 qualifying, Dan laid down a solid run that put him in the show on Friday!
Alec was looking sharp in his S14 after a solid 4th place finish last round!
Forrest was laying down some impressive runs full of his notorious full angle wall riding style!
Forrest finished out his Qualifying runs with a score of 90.
Having some issues with his car, Alec sat out his first qualifying pass. Once he and his team figured everything out he was able to lay down a solid 82 that put him in the main competition; and against his teammate and fellow SS Driver Forrest Wang. 🙁
SS Driver Dan Burkett had his first match up with Nate Hamilton from Enjuku Racing.
Unfortunately for Nate, he had a tire debead and due to a technicality he was unable to finish his run and Dan advanced on to battle Andrew Lewis.
Dan had his steering rack blow a hose on the bank during his Top 8 battle making the car pretty hard to drive and resulted in a spin out on his lead run. He still finished top 10 at the event, so he is still in the game as far as the Pro 2 finale goes.
Both Alec and Forrest were looking dialed in during practice on Saturday, getting ready to go head to head in their Top 32 battle.
As unfortunate as it is that our guys were pitted up against each other right off the bat in Top 32, it was interesting to see their styles synced together in a high speed/high angle tandem. The judges awarded Alec with the win over Forrest, click HERE to see that run and let us know what you think!
For his Top 8 battle, Alec was matched up against Kristaps Bluss (who has been on fire the whole event and ended up taking second place after making a mistake in the finals against Aasbo). Overall the event was a success with minimal damage to either cars and plenty of knowledge gained that will be translated into results at Formula Drift New Jersey next weekend.
That’s all for Orlando, keep up with the blog next week for an update on Formula Drift New Jersey!
