This past weekend Vaughn Gittin Jr. came to Sonoma’s Infineon Raceway with hopes of a podium finish, which he has achieved twice before at this track. After a close top eight battle, he rounded out the event in seventh place, moving him up to third place overall in the Formula Drift Championship with one round left to go.

Vaughn qualified in a respectable sixth place and was ready to battle it out in the top 32 with Falken Tire teammate Ross Petty. Vaughn led first, while Ross attempted to keep up with the 2010 Falken Tire Ford Mustang, but consequently spun instead. Vaughn gave chase next, glued to his teammate’s door throughout the course. He was awarded the win and was ecstatic to move on to the Sweet Sixteen.

Vaughn was matched with Drift Alliance brother Justin Pawlak in the top sixteen. Vaughn held a perfect line while leading, maintaining the same intense angle and massive amount of Falken Azenis RT615 tire smoke as he had been all weekend. When the roles reversed, Vaughn followed Justin close, mimicking his every move. The judges decided Vaughn the victor of this battle.

In the Great Eight, Vaughn was up against Stephan Verdier, who had knocked out the FD Championship points leader, Chris Forsberg, in the previous round. It seemed to be Stephan’s day to shine, as after two close runs, he took the win of the round, and went on to win the entire event.

Vaughn finished Round 6 in seventh place, and was able to move up two spots to third place overall in the points chase for the Championship. Next stop for the Formula Drift nationwide tour is Round 7 at Irwindale Speedway, better known as the “House of Drift” and the venue at which Vaughn has won two World Championships and one FD round. With only one event left to go in the season, Vaughn hopes for not only a podium finish at Irwindale, but an overall podium finish in the 2009 Formula Drift Championship.