Formula Drift: Swiss Team has established itself 🎥
ENCOURAGING US SEASON START The Motorsport Team Seelisberg is starting this year with Yves Meyer and Joshua Reynolds in the top class of US drift racing. Our report and two videos explain how they fared in Atlanta and Orlando. The first round of the 2021 Formula Drift Championship, the world's most important championship in this sport, took place on part of the well-known circuit [...]
The first round of the Formula Drift Championship 2021, the world's most important championship in this sport, took place on a part of the well-known circuit of Road Atlanta in Braselton. As is now the case with all events in the USA, a large number of fans were once again allowed to line the track and sit in the stands, which created a great atmosphere.
Advance to the quarter finals
Already the qualifying was a success for Drift Force, the motorsport team from Eventcenter Seelisberg with the two company owners Yves Meyer and Joshua Reynolds.
A new knock-out format introduced for 2021 allows no mistakes. The 1st run has to be right to qualify safely for the top 32. With 21st (Meyer) and 22nd (Reynolds), the two Swiss managed to qualify directly in their BMW F22 Eurofighters entered in the top Pro category. This meant they could already concentrate on the Battles.
Unfortunately, Reynolds, who was competing in the Pro category for the first time, ran into problems at the end of the Horse Shoe, causing him to stumble in the Top 32 elimination.
Meanwhile, Meyer worked his way into the top eight with clean and consistent driving. It was only here that he lost out to American Vaugn Gitting Jr, the 2020 champion and eventual third-place finisher.
This is what happened to Yves Meyer and Joshua Reynolds at the US season opener in Atlanta.
Threatening wall in Orlando
Nevertheless, the Californian-supported team was proud of Meyer's fifth place overall, which boosted motivation for the second race weekend in Orlando that followed with a week's break in between.
For eight years now, the oval speedway in Florida has been a fixed tour stop for Formula Drift. The layout to be driven is technically easier, but more risky than Atlanta. The entire outside zone is in the steep wall curve along the wall, and this with third gear spun out.
Unfortunately Joshua Reynolds had some bad luck again. The American, who has made his home in the canton of Nidwalden, first had to compete in the Chase Run with the later winner Chelsea Denofa and lost his sight in his smoke. A hard crash into the wall was the result! Reynolds remained uninjured, but the BMW was beyond repair in a hurry.
Off after small error
In Meyer's Top-32 battle everything went smoothly, unfortunately the Lucerne native then committed a driving error in the Top-16 battle against Japan's Kazuya Taguchi.
Yves Meyer: "When Taguchi slowed down a bit in the last outside zone, I braked too hard with my left foot. My front wheels locked briefly, which meant the end."
Also enjoy the ten-minute film about the adventure of the two Swiss Boys in Orlando.
Worked in the right direction
Despite the early exit, which dropped Meyer to tenth intermediate place in the 2021 FD Pro Championship, he draws a positive conclusion.
Yves Meyer: "Of course we would have preferred to get further ahead. But we have established ourselves in the top league. Despite our 750 hp under the hood, we're underpowered against the competition with over 1000 hp. In Orlando, where a good setup was more important, the performance disadvantage was smaller than before in Atlanta. With our conversions and suspension modifications in cooperation with KW supsensions, we certainly made the right move over the winter."
The next stop will be Englishtown in New Jersey, a new track for all drifters, on June 18-19.
