“I am pumped to win our second event in a row at WDS in China,” says Vaughn Gittin Jr. “The Chinese drivers have really stepped up their game this year and we had some very hard-fought battles. It is awesome see the progression of drifting and huge turnout for these events in China!”

A week before heading out to China, Vaughn and the RTR Drift Team were at Texas Motor Speedway for Formula Drift Rd. 6. While testing the Monster Energy Nitto Tire Ford Mustang RTR on the new track to the FD circuit, the Autosport Dymanics crew was able to get the car dialed in and ready for qualifying. Vaughn threw down a near-perfect qualifying run, landing him in the 1st place position overall.

After winning his top 32 match, Vaughn moved into an all-American car battle against Conrad Grunewald in his Camaro. After mistakes from both drivers in the first battle, the judges called for a One More Time. After the second set of runs, Vaughn was deemed the clear-cut winner and the Ford Mustang would be moving on to the Great Eight.

Vaughn was matched with Pat Mordaunt during the top 8, and had an excellent lead run which including high speeds, hitting the established clipping points, and maintaining huge angle throughout the course. When it was Vaughn’s turn to chase, he did a great job of holding a run behind Mordaunt’s inability to stay on the defined course line. To avoid hitting Mordaunt between clipping points 1 and 2, Vaughn was forced to significantly slow down and make a “bobble” during his transition to avoid collision. Vaughn was deemed the winner of the battle, but after a protest from Mordaunt’s camp, the decision was overturned with the claim that Vaughn straightened out irrespective of Mordaunt making any mistakes. Vaughn would not move on to the Final 4 and would end his day in 5th place overall.

“I could not be happier with how we performed all weekend,” says Vaughn. “Everything my team and I had control over was pretty flawless and our Ford Mustang was loving the high speeds that this track required. For a while there, we saw our Championship hopes come back to light until the protest.  While we do not agree with Formula Drift’s ruling of the protest, we unfortunately have no choice but to accept it.  I am looking forward to Irwindale where we look forward to finishing off the season on a more positive note.”

Before leaving Texas, Vaughn and the team headed to Fort Hood to host one of their signature “Smoke Shows”, putting smiles on faces and giving rides to the troops. Vaughn was drifting his demo-version Monster Energy Nitto Tire Ford Mustang RTR and Ryan Tuerck was accompanying him in a 2013 Mustang RTR Spec 2. The voice of Formula Drift Jarod DeAnda MC’ed the event and the Monster Energy models were on site to take pictures and chat with the crowd. Check out all the PICTURES from the event.

“The events we are doing for the military are my favorite events of the year without question,” says Vaughn. “The smiles that we put on these men and women’s’ faces make all the effort and lack of sleep to make the events happen well worth it. It’s the least we can to do to say thank you for their efforts for our country. I am so thankful to have like-minded partners in Monster Energy, Ford, Nitto Tire, K&N Filters, and HPI Racing that make these events possible!”

Also within the last month, Vaughn took to Europe with the RTR Drift Team to put drifting into the eyes of all sorts of motorsports fans. Vaughn and his Ford Mustang RTR made their way to the downtown city streets of Rotterdam, Holland in front of over 200,000 spectators to get sideways with the Monster Energy crew. The event was an incredible success with overwhelming media impressions. Here is a VIDEO from Vaughn’s point of view of all the fun in Rotterdam, as well as PICTURES from the event.

Vaughn then traveled to Loheac, France to drift on the European Rallycross track in front of a crowd of over 60,000 diehard rally fans. It was a great weekend for Vaughn, for drifting, and for Monster Energy as they even took the win by means of their driver Andreas Bakkerud. Vaughn also presented Petter Solberg with the "Hardest Charger" award. Watch this VIDEO from Monster Energy to see how the weekend went down and check out this album of PICTURES from the event.

Next up on his European tour, Vaughn made his way to Lausitzring, Germany for Gymkhana Grid. Vaughn gave rides to multiple European media outlets and performed demos on the track to entertain the fans in between the Gymkhana battles.

“It is really amazing to travel with my Ford Mustang RTR and have the opportunity to expose drifting globally in all of these new markets,” says Vaughn. “Drifting is blowing up big time all over Europe and I am pumped that Monster Energy has brought me out to be a part of it this year. There is a lot of talent here and I am excited to see what the future holds for drifting in Europe; I look forward to helping in anyway I can!”

Next up for Vaughn Gittin Jr. and the RTR Drift Team, they will head to Irwindale Speedway October 12-13th for the Formula Drift finales. For more information, please visit VaughnGittin.com or Facebook.com/OfficialVaughnGittinJr.

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