Vaughn Gittin Jr
The sole U.S. D1GP victor, Vaughn Gittin is looking for a Formula D trophy to hang on his Mustang's neck. With a Top 16 finish in Long Beach, JR is looking to gitterdun!
Road Atlanta is one of my favorite courses. The insane downhill bomb of an entry matches the high-speed, deep-angles I love, and the varying transitions and elevation changes offer great challenges that are rewarding to overcome. The crowd's southern hospitality and enthusiasm always gives off a great energy, and I came to Atlanta with no doubt in my mind that I was going to do everything I could to make the Falken Mustang the talk of the town!
Friday's practice session was all about having fun and dialing the car in. Forsberg and I even did a little door-to-door playing around for the large crowd on hand for practice. I left the track that night sitting in Third Place for qualifying and feeling very confident in the 'Stang. The next day, I knew I'd already made Top 16 and had nothing to lose, so I went insane on my second qualifying run, and entered at 95 mph-the fastest entry speed of the weekend, putting me solidly in First Place, until "Golden Child" Foust beat me by a half-point, knocking me to Second overall.
My qualifying position paired me against rookie driver Pat Mordaunt. He was about 16 mph slower than me in qualifying, which I knew was going to make things a bit interesting during the battle. Believe it or not, it is a lot harder to pace a slower, inexperienced driver, than it is to try and beat one of the best. He put up a decent fight, but the judges awarded me the victory. I look forward to battling Pat again once he has a bit more competition experience under his 17-year-old belt.
My next battle paired me with Rhys, and I was looking forward to getting my revenge from the FD Finals a couple years ago when I had a valve stem fail and he defeated me! I lead our first run, and knew I was going to have to throw down to get the victory. I entered like a mental patient with insane speed and almost backwards angle. I hit the first clip perfectly, but had way too much speed and just barely dropped two tires after the first turn, meaning I was awarded zero points. I had nothing to lose going into the second run, so I literally planted my right front Azenis on his door-so close to him that I knocked my mirror off in Turn 1. We both stayed in drift and completed the course. The 'Stang spewed smoke all over him, showing the crowd I was the dominant driver, even before the 8 to 7 score came in and proved it. Unfortunately, my first-run tire-drop allowed Rhys to advance into the Final Four, where he went on to win the event (congrats, pal). I presented him my broken mirror during the trophy ceremony, complete with a love letter I wrote to him in some of my girlfriend's lipstick. Muah!
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