From the Driver: Matthew Johnson Weighs In on the Rally xD Season

The following is a post from Scion Racing driver Matthew Johnson. Before the team headed out to the Oregon Trail Rally, he sat down with us to share his thoughts on joining the Rally xD team.

The Oregon Trail Rally is upon us once again, but this time I’m not carrying around a microphone; I’m back in the driver’s seat! Not only that, I’m in one of the most cherished seats in the entire Rally America championship driving for Scion Racing. My transition into the Scion Racing Rally xD team happened pretty suddenly around New Year’s 2014 when the team needed a driver, and we were able to come to an agreement.

Before I knew it, we were at Sno*Drift in January. Given the zero seat time I’d had in the car and the time I’ve been out of the seat, we were just aiming for a solid finish. To have driven straight to plan, taken few risks, and come away with a win at my first rally back was fantastic. I must say I wanted to do well, but even more so, I wanted the team to see they’d made a good choice.

I knew the team had a few years of rally experience, but I didn’t comprehend what that would mean for me as a driver. My entire career has been built around me handling everything including registration, licensing, re-prep between events, and even helping my volunteer crew change transmissions. I even had to rationalize the use of worn brakes and broken parts during rallies. Basically, I was at the center of every decision involved with my rally program.

Now, as part of the Scion Racing team, I’m often not even aware of half the planning for events! I’m a part of the system, filling a role that needs filling, and doing my job as a driver. I’m still wrapping my head around how awesome that is, and it’s still sinking in. The only people who really deeply get what I’m saying are those drivers who have been running their own racing teams and can’t imagine anything getting done if they weren’t doing it themselves.

It’s both incredible and scary at the same time really. On one hand if I disappear, the team doesn’t – it keeps going. On the other hand, this is a bona fide rally racing team and they chose ME to be in the driver’s seat. Given how rallying works around the world, I’m very proud to be in this position.

At the 100AW Rally, the reality of things began to set in, and I wasn’t as fast or as comfortable as I’d hoped to be. Suddenly, what felt like a good stage wasn’t quick enough to get the job done. My competitors Andrew Comrie-Picard and Will Hudson seemed to be flying! We had a few little issues throughout the event, but the team handled them perfectly and we managed to be there at the end for a 2nd place finish in the 2WD class. More importantly, we were able to keep the championship lead for the time being.

We all want to win. It feels like proper justification for all the work it takes to rally, though the big checks and supermodels are pretty cool too. Ah? Oh yeah, we don’t get those in rally. But after having to temper my love for racing the last several years, the original passion and energy I felt from the very beginning of my quest to be a top rally driver is coming back. My excitement and passion for the sport used to radiate out of me in uncontrollable ways in my early years driving, and I’m relieved to be rediscovering that original electrifying feeling for rallying.

After growing up a bit recently, I wondered if I was still as excited about driving like mad down dirt roads as I was when I was younger, back when I was racing Tanner Foust in 2005-06 in the Production GT class. Two rounds in with the Rally xD team and I can say for sure that I am. The energy is still there only now I’m able to use it to focus on preparing myself properly and making the best effort.

Now, it’s off to Oregon we go. We’ve managed a very successful testing day with the team, Phil and Ben along with TEIN support from Nakai all put in 16 hour days to help create a much better feeling for me in the driver’s seat. Phil and Ben made big changes to the car before the test and the car ran very smoothly all day. I was able to fit in a day of practicing notes on the High Desert Trails rally roads and feel more confident with my notes. We’ve come up a level on all fronts since 100AW, and are prepared for the increased competition coming from ACP’s new car, Will Orders in his Toyota, and from Ramana Lagemann driving a buddy’s M3.

If you’ve read this far I’d like to invite you to the annual ScionRacing Oregon Trail prerally reception, it’s Thursday night this year at REALLYBIGVIDEO Studios at 539 NW 10th Street in Portland, Oregon. The team’s going to be serving some light eats, drinks, and some of Portland’s finest doughnuts, and on behalf of the entire team, we’d love to see you there!

Driven 2 Drift 2014 – Episode 1: Streets of Long Beach

We just closed out two of the biggest motorsports weekends of the year with Formula Drift Long Beach and the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach back to back, but if you still can’t wait until FDATL rolls around, we’ve got something to help get you by. Our first episode of Driven 2 Drift 2014 has just landed, and includes all the highlights of Fredric Aasbo, Ken Gushi, and Tony Angelo on the Streets of Long Beach.

Watch the video above to see how the event went down, and catch the new Hankook Tire Scion Racing tC, GReddy Racing Scion FR-S, and TAngelo Racing Scion FR-S in action. Also, be sure to check back for more news and info on all our teams as they get ready for Formula Drift Round 2 in just a few weeks!

FD 2014: Long Beach Recap – Aasbo Makes Top 8, GReddy Debuts new 2JZ FR-S

It’s easy to take the Formula Drift season for granted. When you’re in the garage and on the track week in and week out, preparing your car and listening to motors bounce off the rev-limiter all day, you tend to forget how deafening the silence is during the six-month long offseason. We’re definitely not going to complain about getting some time off to refresh and rebuild, but by the time FDLB rolled around, we were more than ready to get back to work.

If you’ve been keeping up, and we certainly hope that you have, you’ll know that it hasn’t actually been that long since you’ve seen Ken Gushi and the GReddy Racing team tear up the track. The new 2JZ powered GReddy Racing Scion FR-S made its official debut just last week, after a long tease that started out at last year’s SEMA Show.

There were a lot of benefits to the EJ25 power plant that the GReddy Racing team was running the previous two seasons, but with the horsepower race in FD getting almost out of hand, switching over to the Toyota-built inline-6 ended up becoming an easy decision. GReddy has as much experience as anyone working with the 2JZ, and that showed immediately as Ken laid down perhaps the most impressive practice runs of anyone in the field on Thursday and Friday.

Qualifying didn’t go quite as planned for Ken and the team, though they still easily secured a spot in the Top 32, earning the 19th seed and a matchup with Odi Bakchis in Round 1. Though Ken’s one of the few drivers who have been in the series since day one, the battle with Odi was their first head to head meeting, putting Ken at an immediate disadvantage as the starting chase driver.

Because of his unfamiliarity with Odi’s driving style, Ken drove his first run conservatively, and ended up leaving a gap between the GReddy Racing Scion FR-S and the lead car. Though Ken put down an impressive lead run afterwards, the judges ruled against him which effectively ended his weekend at Long Beach.

While the result wasn’t as high as we know Ken and the GReddy Racing Scion FR-S are capable of, the team’s already back in the garage, using the data to prepare for the rest of the season. They’ll be back at Long Beach this Friday to compete in the Motegi Racing Super Drift Challenge, and will be ready to hit Road Atlanta for Round 2 later next month.

Since Tony’s appearance at the Scion Racing Pre-Season Test Session, he’s given the TAngelo Racing Scion FR-S a refreshed livery with new graphics that match both his car’s nose and wheels. Last season was essentially a development year for the TAngelo Racing team, as they worked to get the FR-S chassis dialed in, and they’re ready to see the results of that this season.

Though Tony and his car looked solid in practice, the team ran into some setup issues when it came time to start qualifying. Despite the problems, Tony managed to wrangle the car into the Top 32, which got his team off to a solid start for the year and gave them some extra time to get the car prepped for the main event.

Tony’s widely known around the paddock as one of those guys who are in it for nothing more than their passion for drifting, and for that reason, we’re always happy to see him succeed. While he had a tough Top 32 matchup against Tyler McQuarrie, the work that the TAngelo Racing team put in to get there would’ve been more than enough to match that of any team at the top of the bracket.

There’s still a lot of work left for Tony and the TAngelo Racing squad to get done, but we know that they’re well on their way there. With an east coast swing coming up on the calendar, the team will have more time to get the car dialed in at Tony’s Snakepit shop, and should be a lock for more main event appearances throughout the rest of the year.

As for Fredric Aasbo and the Papadakis Racing team, there’s not much more left to say that hasn’t already been said. For the fourth year running, Fredric finds himself Formula Drift’s best, making the Hankook Tire Scion Racing tC one of the most feared builds in the series.

The new Rocket Bunny kit on the tC has given the car the aggressive appearance it needed to match Fredric’s style, and with everything else in order, he proceeded to rip up the Long Beach track like he has so many other times in the past. The team earned the 5th best qualifying score of the weekend with ease, which set them up for a first round matchup against Canadian driver Marc Landreville.

It’s become standard fare for Fredric, but while Marc put up a solid battle, Fredric moved on to the Top 16, but not before participating in the event’s opening ceremonies holding a hammer that matched his “Thor” nickname. From there, he took out Conrad Grunewald in his Top 16 battle, before facing his countryman Kenny Moen in the Top 8.

Last season, Fredric was the only driver to place in the Top 8 at every single event, a streak that he doesn’t appear to want to let go of anytime soon. Judging from the driving that he’s shown early on, it doesn’t seem like that’s anything he’ll have to worry about either. Still, one of the draws of FD is that anyone can be taken down in any given matchup, and Long Beach just so happened to be a great event for Kenny Moen.

Fredric’s weekend ended with that battle, but despite the exit, he still managed to pick up enough points to grab the 5th spot in the race for this season’s Pro Championship. Likewise, his finish allowed Hankook to take an early lead in the Tire Manufacturer’s Championship standings, as well as help Scion Racing get to 4th in the OEM Manufacturer’s Championship.

Next weekend, Fredric and the Papadakis Racing team will be joining Ken and the GReddy Racing team at the Motegi Racing Super Drift exhibition, as part of the Toyota Racing Grand Prix of Long Beach. It’s going to be another exciting weekend of motorsport, and we’re hoping to see you there. If you haven’t already, check out both the Toyota Racing and the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach sites for the weekend’s schedule, and be sure to keep riding along as we take you through the 2014 Formula Drift season!

Photos from Formula Drift Round 1 – Streets of Long Beach

Last weekend, Fredric Aasbo, Ken Gushi, and Tony Angelo, were out on the Streets of Long Beach, taking on the first round of the 2014 Formula Drift season. Fredric and the Papadakis Racing team once again showed the consistency that made them one of the series’ top teams last year, adding another Top 8 finish in the Hankook Tire Scion Racing tC to their resume. Meanwhile, Ken Gushi debuted the new 2JZ GReddy Racing Scion FR-S to a Top 32 finish, while Tony Angelo and the TAngelo Racing Scion FR-S followed suit.

We’ll have a full recap of FDLB ready for you tomorrow, but in the meantime, check out our photo gallery of the Scion Racing drift teams at the event.