Over the weekend, Vaughn Gittin Jr. and the Monster Energy Nitto Tire Ford Mustang RTR took 1st place at the final round of King of Europe Drift. This was Vaughn’s first time competing in Europe, and this event took place at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, a famous Moto GP track in Valencia, Spain. Not only did Vaughn take the win, but he also qualified 1st out of 33 drivers, and won the award for highest finishing team along with his Monster Energy teammate Steve “Baggsy” Biagioni.
Vaughn’s victory did not come easy, as he battled some top-level European drifters in order to get the win. He battled Francesco Conti in the finals, who is the 2013 King of Europe Drift Champion. This was a true American versus European battle with Vaughn and his Ford Mustang and Conti and his BMW. His semi-final battle was against 2013 Polish Drift Champion Bartosz Stolarski. In the top 8, Vaughn battled his Monster Energy teammate and 2009 British Drift Champion Steve Biagioni.
“I’m super pumped about this win,” says Vaughn. “It definitely didn’t come easy for us! We had some really hard-fought battles and many challenges were overcome to get here. It was really cool sharing the track and battling drivers from all over the world, qualifying 1st, and taking our Monster Energy Nitto Tire Ford Mustang RTR to victory at our first outing here at King of Europe. Really pumped to have had the opportunity to give Europe a sneak peak of the amazing capabilities of the Ford Mustang RTR before it’s arrival and availability in 2015 to their part of the world. There couldn’t have been a better testament to this than our final battle against one of Europe’s best drivers and most popular vehicles. ”
Next up for Vaughn Gittin Jr., he heads to Irwindale Speedway in California for the final round of Formula Drift. For more information, pictures, and videos, head to Facebook.com/OfficialVaughnGittinJr.