Justin Pawlak pulled off what the judges thought was the perfect 100 point run with an aggressive quali run in his 1,000 HP Mustang.
With ever-increasing scrutiny on angle and style from Formula D judges, the search for that elusive perfect drift run all went out the window since it’s been so long since Tanner Foust pulled off his. But, the impossible happened earlier this weekend (June 7, 2019) when the kid from Covina, Justin Pawlak AKA JTP, pulled off the perfect run during Round 4 qualifying in New Jersey.
Check out the run that judges deemed the qualifying run par excellence that weekend below.
According to a few insiders that sat in on the driver’s meeting, the judges were looking for large amounts of angle. That means high-speed entries and chucking your car at angles never seen before in order to both wow the crowds and demonstrate just how well you could drift and connect those clipping points.
They don’t call this course “The Wall” for nothing as that first corner is notorious for taking out cars whose rear bumpers get too close.
Nonetheless, JTP initiates hard and gets his Roush-powered Ford Mustang right on the wall and rides that first corner into the first transition, which, by the way, was equally nuts with the amount of angle he threw.
From there, JTP nails each clipping point and finishes off what we soon learn is the best qualifying run of the entire weekend.
Although a couple of people pointed out in the YouTube comments that there were a handful of steering corrections in his run, as the commentator says, JTP makes these corrections because he took major risks in getting extreme drift angles, which the judges reward.
His scores
- Line- 30
- Angle- 30
- Style (Fluidity)- 20
- Style (Commitment) – 20
As mentioned, Tanner Foust pulled off a perfect score first back on August 11, 2007 during Round 5 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Here’s Tanner Foust’s run below thanks to some saint who uploaded his 100 point run soon after it happened.
By today’s standards, this definitely is not a 100 point run. Tanner’s initiation wasn’t all that aggressive and the angle he carries into the first high-speed corner would put a crowd to sleep today. But 11 years ago, that was a 100 point qualifying run.
How far Formula Drift has come since then.
So, congrats to JTP on making Formula D history. JTP ended up into the Top 8 before losing against eventual Round 4 winner Ryan Tuerck.
Round 5 is in Washington on July 18,19.
Are you following along with this 2019 Formula D season? Let me know either way in the comments below.
