Ethan Parnell’s chase for his pro license in Formula Drift got off to a rocky start in Bristol.
At the East10 Drift event, Parnell entered with high hopes of putting together a good weekend of drifting to vault himself onto the podium. However, issues with the car put Parnell into a deep hole early.
Danny Parnell, Ethan’s father and car owner, told The Upson Beacon, “The car issues put us dead last in qualifying, but we battled back and finished in the top 16.”
Formula Drift, Ethan said, “is two cars doing a tandem dance on the track and seeing which one does it better. Swap roles and do it again. Three judges award style, line, and proximity.”
Starting deep in the qualifying field forced Parnell to perform that dance more often as he tried to climb through the brackets with his 1995 Nissan 240sx.
In the second round on Saturday, the day started far better for Parnell, who qualified seventh. The afternoon saw the Thomaston driver battle into the top eight of the competition.
Per Danny, Ethan, “had two, one-more-time battles against his competitor and lost, which put him out in sixth place. But overall, we got some good points on the board and we’re looking forward to the next two rounds. We can hopefully podium both rounds and get his license.”
The Parnells will compete at Bristol again in two weeks between Aug. 12 and Aug. 14 for rounds three and four.
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