Formula D Diaries - Chris Forsberg - Import Tuner Magazine

Chris Forsberg
The Second Place winner of the '07 season, Chris came on surprisingly strong with his Z33. In the same vehicle, with more seat time, the results speak for themselves.

Coming into Long Beach we knew that there were going to be new things to watch out for. Every new season brings newer, better, faster cars, and a longer list of driver's names. Our overall game plan didn't change much from last year, but with the addition of NOS Energy Drink as our primary sponsor, we now had a budget that we could work comfortably with and we had a faster, more reliable setup.

In the Top 16 round we were paired off with Conrad. He definitely got a handle on that Vette and he showed the crowd that he meant business. I got to lead first lap since we qualified higher and just ran as hard as I could. Moving into the chase run I was trying to stick to him through the big sweeper and as we flipped into the hairpin I saw his car over-rotating. I threw it in Second and rotated my car around his front end and avoided the collision.

Top 8 paired us off with Kazu Hayashida in his powerhouse Skyline. Like the first round, I ran the lead lap as hard as I could to put distance down through the sweeper. As we turned back around for the chase lap, I wanted to really push hard and earn that Final 4 spot. Going into the first turn, I flicked the Z at full throttle trying to close in on the Skyline, and as we rotated to the left I literally felt the hot exhaust gases blazing from the muffler on my face for a split second and I knew I was close. I pedaled through the big turn getting ready to flip in the hairpin and tighten up the gap. As we set into the hairpin it must have been inches away, cause when he lifted off the gas at the finish, the back end of his car almost swung into mine. With that, we were declared the winner and moved into the Final 4. I could hear my team and the crowd going absolutely nuts as I drove back to the start line.

In the semi-finals I got the call on the radio that we were paired up with a newcomer. Kyle Mohan and his RX-7 were doing well in the tandem rounds. On the first lap I was running lead and checking his speed into the corners. I noticed his car was very far behind and the cause being a broken gearbox. He decided he was going to go for it anyway for his lead lap. I was very nervous and did not know what might happen. His car could crash, snap straight, or anything else out of the ordinary while trying to use the next highest gear.

In the first corner I could see him kicking the clutch trying to get the car to light up the tires, I was losing speed trying to stay in drift behind him. Finally his car lights and flips into the main corner. I kicked the clutch two or three times and got my car back going just enough to clear the link. I closed the gap in the main corner, flipped through the hairpin, and we were done. I had a pretty good feeling given the big mistake in his first run. A crewmember pointed at me and gave me the thumbs up. I almost cried. I was so happy to be in the Finals at the first event I didn't know what to do with myself. What I did know was I had to haul ass back to the start line for one last run.