Coffman Racing Formula Drift Atlanta 2017 Recap.

Last weekend, the Coffman Racing Team headed to Atlanta, Georgia for Round Three of the Formula Drift Championship.  The competition took place at the Road Atlanta Speedway, a gorgeous road course that winds through the rolling hills.  The team started the event 11th overall in series points after a rough weekend in Florida two weeks prior.

Thursday the team was ready to practice.  Having made repairs after Florida, this was the first opportunity to truly shake down the car.  In the first practice session the team noticed the new power steering rack was showing signs of weakness under the strain of competition driving. Preventative maintenance was performed, parts were replaced and the results paid off in flawless performance and trouble-free maintenance for the remainder of the weekend.

Friday, Formula Drift rekindled its relationship with the rain gods causing practice session to be canceled in an effort to avoid the rain and move the qualifying session earlier.  While this made many of the drivers very uncomfortable, Matt was undaunted by the changes and made consistent qualifying runs.  His first run was scored as an 82 and his second 79, resulting in a 16th place qualification.

Saturday, Matt was ready for competition and his qualifying place put him up against friend Pat Goodin for Top 32.  Matt showcased his ability to drive the car very accurately, despite the wet conditions.  All three judges awarded Matt the win, moving him to Top 16 against the number one qualifier, Vaughn Gittin Jr.

Matt’s lead run against Vaughn was very aggressive and stylish, but Vaughn maintained better proximity on his follow run and was awarded the win.  Though Vaughn had defeated Matt, our teammate Alec Hohnadell faced Vaughn in the Great Eight and took the title. Ultimately, Alec would finish fourth overall and Matt would finish 13th.  Coffman Racing is now sitting 14th in the Formula Drift Series points standings.  The team’s next competition will be at Round Four of Formula Drift in New Jersey on June 2nd.