It's GR Supra vs Corvette C6 at Formula Drift Irwindale, There Can Be Only One Champion

We've already had a look at the history of FD events held at Irwindale Speedway in a recent story, so we'll cut straight to the chase here. Going into the event, Italian driver Federico Sceriffo announced that he woudn't make it to California due to unforeseen personal circumstances.

Even so, 35 other drivers were onsite and ready to go. And that meant that, at the end of day one, three of them would have to pack up and watch the rest of the race from the side.

One thing that's cool about this last round, appropriately named "The Title Fight," is that it's held late into the evening. As always, Jarod DeAnda and Ryan Lanteigne were in the booth for the live-stream broadcast, and of course, the panel of judges was completed by Chris Uhl and Brian Eggert.

To provide the fans with a better understanding of how the drivers will be judged, the event organizer provided a demo display via the Torque Drift video game. As the drivers initiate the drift, they have to keep close to the wall, which is designated as Outside Zone 1.

Transitioning into Outside Zone 2, they have to make sure they get close to the Inside Clipping point number 1 as they also decelerate. The last section of the track contains one more inside clipping point and also the third and final outside zone.

Each driver can score as many as 100 points, which are split as follows: 30 for style, 30 for angle, and 40 for the line. The first man to head out onto the track for qualifying was Matt Field in his Drift Cave Chevrolet Corvette.

He put down a solid run, and he was consistent with his throttle inputs throughout the track. Seeing him drift is once again proof of the fact that pros make it look a lot easier than it is. He managed to score a total of 87 points, and by the end of the day, he would be P4 overall in qualifying.

That's just below the level where he could have received more championship points. Fredric Aasbo was up next in the Papadakis Racing GR Supra, and he showed everyone how determined he is to win another title this year.

The Norwegian driver would take Pole Position in qualifying, which means that the gap between him and Field is now smaller by three points overall. You didn't even have to see Chelsea Denofa going out on track to know it was him, as the sound of his RTR Mustang is unmistakable.

Still, it wasn't his best run ever, with just 83 points awarded by the judges. That would only be enough to have him sitting in P12 by the time the knockout qualifying session was over.

Chris Forsberg seems to be having a hard time adjusting to his new Nissan Z, and he ended up with an incomplete run the first time around. Later on in the evening, he had to fight to stay inside the Top 32, ultimately qualifying in P28.

We instantly recognized Ryan Tuerck as he approached the start line, but we didn't expect him to come out with a new color scheme for this last event. With 83 points by the time he had finished the job, he was third overall. But he would end up in P11 as other drivers managed to outperform him.

The whole qualifying session took almost three hours, and you can watch every single run in replay on Formula D's official YouTube channel. We'll tell you this: Wataru Masuyama qualified second overall, right behind Fredric Aasbo. And Amanda Sorensen's brother, Branden came in third.

For both of these two drivers, this was their best qualifying result ever. Watching every single run, you might be shocked that Kazuya Taguchi won't be competing in the main event after facing some major technical difficulties with his car. The other two drivers that were knocked out of the race are Trenton Beechum and Taylor Hull.

Looking at the brackets, you can try to make some predictions of your own. One thing's for sure, the left bracket is the toughest one, with Aasbo, Backchis, Field, Forsberg, and Denofa all trying to make their way up to the top.

Aasbo might just match up with Field in the Top 4 if no one else can stop them before that. It's going to be a nail-biting race to watch either way. The Top 32 battles start at 2:45 PM PDT, while the Top 16 ones are scheduled to begin at 7 PM PDT. Right now, we'd probably bet on Aasbo claiming his third FD title, but anything can still happen.