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It appears that 2010 is turning into the year of the Mustang. This past weekend, Vaughn Gittin Jr. drove the Monster Energy Falken Tire Ford Mustang at the Formula Drift event in Sonoma at Infineon Racway to first place; his fifth podium finish of the season. As a result, Gittin and his HRE-equipped Ford are now solidly in the lead of the 2010 Formula D championship points race.

Gittin’s first battle of the weekend in front of a capacity crowd was with legendary driver Ken Gushi, yet two perfect runs later he was declared the winner and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. Gittin then took a break long enough to spend time with is fans signing autographs and working the crowd. After the break he did batle with Irish driver Dean Kearney, who put forth a solid effort but went wide and wasn’t able to keep up, advancing the Monster Mustang to the Great Eight – where it drifted side-by-side with Fredric Aasbo, who beat Gittin in Seattle a few months prior. With everything to prove, Gittin drove a perfect line and advanced to the Final Four.

In the Semis, Gittin drove against 2009 Formula Drift Champ Chris Forsberg, who drove a fantastic first round but ended up going off the course and spinning out while chasing the Mustang. Finally in the finals, the Gittin’s green HREs were turned to full lock as he battled Drift Alliance teammate Ryan Tuerck, who put on an incredible show but in the end lost to Gittin in a cloud of tire smoke.

“Winning this round makes this dream-season even more unbelievable for me and I don’t want to wake up,” says Vaughn. “The success I am experiencing on the track is due to multiple variables; most notably our awesome 2011 Ford Mustang, the amazing Falken Tires, and my incredible team that I appreciate more than words can explain. I look forward to carrying this momentum to Irwindale!”

With his 1st place finish at Round 6, Gittin remains the Championship points leader. He is 58 points ahead of Dai Yoshihara in 2nd place, and 75.5 points ahead of Tanner Foust in 3rd place. The Monster Energy Falken Tire Ford Mustang head to Irwindale Speedway, otherwise known as “The House of Drift”, October 8-9 for the Formula Drift final round.

Photos courtesy of VaughnGittin.com and Driftfotos.com

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