May 10, 2011 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – Spirits were high in the Kyle Mohan Racing camp as the team descended upon Atlanta after Mohan finished fifth at the season-opening Streets of Long Beach event and then was part of the winning Team Mazda at the Team Drift competition during the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
However, at the end of the weekend the team couldn’t get Atlanta’s Hartsfeld Airport quickly enough to fly back to Southern California, which was ironic since the Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 almost didn’t get to Atlanta in time to qualify for the second round of the Formula Drift Pro Championship at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.
The Formula Drift transporter which was to deliver Mohan’s Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 to Road Atlanta ran into several delays on the way, and the car would not be at the track until the early hours of the morning on Friday. Mohan had only enough time to complete seven practice laps, with the KMR crew making the most of the practice time to dial in the car on its new Nexen N6000 tires.
Mohan’s qualifying position meant he would line up against Eric O’Sullivan in the potent Gardella Racing Pontiac Solstice in the top-32 round of competition. As the two began their first tandem run and initiated into the first corner, a coolant line on Mohan’s RX-8 burst, sending him into a spin and laying down coolant onto the track which then caused O’Sullivan to hit Mohan. Both cars went into the gravel trap and had to be extricated by Road Atlanta’s tow vehicles.
“I had no idea that about what happened until we got the car back to the staging area,” said Mohan. “It happened so quickly, I thought that Eric had just come in too hot and hit the side of us. But it was clearly not his fault at all – he was sideways and right on top of the water and there was nothing he could do.”
The KMR crew was quickly able to repair Mohan’s car and Formula Drift allowed O’Sullivan enough time to complete repairs to their car so that the duo could run the second run of their tandem. Without any drama, O’Sullivan and Mohan completed a clean second run before the judges advanced O’Sullivan to the second round as Mohan had a big disadvantage to overcome after the crash.
“One day, we’re going to have a great weekend in Road Atlanta,” said Mohan. “It’s too bad we always have trouble here because it’s one of the most fun events on the schedule. The crowd is great, the atmosphere is insane, and there is a lot of support for Mazdas and a lot of rotary fans in Atlanta. But now we’ll get the car back and fix everything and be ready to go to Florida in three weeks.”
During the trip to Atlanta, Mohan and his team visited Rick Case Mazda located in nearby Duluth, Georgia, on Thursday night. Located close to Road Atlanta, Rick Case Mazda was a big supporter of the KMR team throughout the weekend and the team will definitely return to the dealership in 2012.
Mohan now sits 14th in the series points standings with 95 points after two rounds. The next Formula Drift Pro Championship event is scheduled for June 8-9 at Palm Beach International Raceway in Palm Beach, Florida – a new venue for the series.