The competitive sport of drift racing continued to take another step in it’s evolution this past weekend, where Round 7 of the 2013 Formula DRIFT became the largest motorsport event ever held at Irwindale Speedway. With over 20,000 estimated attendees over the 2 day event, it not only set records in attendance but Michael Essa finished what he came to do in Round 7 by piloting the first European chassis to win a championship in Formula DRIFT history.
Daigo Saito won the round and put on an impressive display in his Achilles Tire / Bridges Racing Lexus SC430, but Michael Essa would have the last laugh. Essa entered the last round with the point lead and managed to hold on taking the 2013 DRIFT title in his GSR Autosport / Yokohama BMW M3 despite blowing his motor.
Even with the championship in hand however, Essa commented on not finishing as strong as he would have liked but there’s no denying his performance this year.
“Coming into this event I wanted to prove that this season wasn’t a fluke and sitting on the sideline wasn’t how I wanted the event to go down, but unfortunately that is what happened tonight,”
Great turnout at Irwindale and a sign of growth and continued success for the Formula DRIFT team and series, and we’ve definitely got to give our tip of the hat to all the competitors for a great year.
Congratulations Michael, you earned it.
