It has been a wild ride of a Formula Drift season this year, with no one driver rising above the others to take a commanding lead. Mustang driver Justin Pawlak started off strong, with two back-to-back victories in the first two opening rounds of the 2012 season. Since then though he has fallen behind, opening the way for more seasoned vets to take the podium, and the lead.

This has led to a wide-open race for the championship, with the top five leaders all just one checkered flag away from taking the lead. That has allowed Mustang driver and 2010 Formula D champion, who took third place this weekend at Formula Drift Las Vegas, to end up taking the overall points lead.

Round 6 of Formula Drift was an important one for all the drivers, as it is the last race before the season closer “Title Fight” in Irwindale, California next month. Gittin faced off against some pretty heady challengers, among them Conrad Grunewald and Fredric Aasbo. Gittin would fall to Aasbo in the final four, though the eventual victory went to another former Formula Drift champ Rhys Millen.

Gittin then had to beat Robbie Nishida to take home third place and 78 points, putting him about 25 points ahead of of 2nd-place contender Daigo Saito, 50 points ahead of Millen, and 70 points ahead of Pawlak. Yoshi Daijairo is also in the running, just a couple points behind the faltering Pawlak.

In other words, going into the last round of Formula Drift, Gittin is certainly sitting pretty…but it is still anybody’s game. To guarantee victory, Gittin MUST obtain a podium finish. Can Gittin reclaim some of that old magic?