Chevrolet Forum Front and Center at Formula Drift New Jersey 2019
Two C6 Corvettes and the full-electric Camaro represented Chevy enthusiasts well for Formula Drift Round 4 at Wall Speedway.
Formula Drift is a great place to see some of Chevrolet’s coolest cars compete in the drifting series. The season kicked off in April with the Round 1 in Long Beach, California. Recently, we attended Round 4 of Formula Drift, also known as “The Gauntlet.” It took place June 7 and 8 at Wall Stadium Speedway in New Jersey. At Round 1, the fleet of Chevrolets was slightly larger. But there was no shortage of Corvettes and Camaros tearing it up in Round 4.
The electric Camaro everyone wanted to see–piloted by Travis Reeder–was in attendance. Unfortunately, it was not allowed to participate in competition due to the local fire department being unable to handle an electric car fire. However, there was still a trio of Corvettes to keep the Chevy fanboys entertained. The C6 Corvettes of Matt Field and Dirk Stratton as well as the C7 Corvette from rookie Joao Barion were there to hold you over.
The end of Round 4 marks the halfway point of the season. The paths to the championship are beginning to form. For Round 4, Reeder, Field, and Stratton were in attendance, but Barion was absent from competition.
It was an interesting round this season, with a major adjustment to the track. In prior years at Wall Stadium Speedway, Formula Drift had been operating with a figure eight-like layout at the banked circle track.
Wall may be one of the best tracks for fans to get a look at the drift action. Sitting in the stands you can see every inch of the course as the competitors shred their tires.
But due to unforeseen issues with the track, they were forced to edit the layout this year to more of a peanut-like layout. This caused a lot of issues on tire wear as the competitors had to put more load on one tire as they circled the course.
Regardless of the layout, Wall Stadium Speedway is a complete 180 from the Long Beach street course. When we last covered Formula Drift Long Beach, for much of the course you’d see the competitors go by, then you dart your eyes to the big screens to see what happened next, because it is simply out of your view. Wall, on the other hand, may be one of the best tracks for fans to get a look at the drift action. Sitting in the stands you can see every inch of the course as the competitors shred their tires.
Wall wasn’t too great to the Chevy field. The Chevys all qualified to make Top 32 competition. Field qualified highest at 20th, Stratton at 24th, and Reeder at 31st. Both Stratton and Reeder were knocked out at the Top 32 round of competition.
Field fared best and made it to the Top 8. But he was knocked out by two-time defending Formula Drift champion James Deane.
Despite that, it was still a fun event with a lot of cool drifting action to take in. Enjoy more of our smoke-heavy gallery from Formula Drift Round 4, below.
Photos for Chevrolet Forum by Danny Korecki
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