Aasbø is a three-time Formula Drift champion, having won the title in 2015, 2021, and 2022.[2][3] He also holds claim to the most wins of any driver in series history, with 19 (as of May 2024).[4] He also finished as runner-up in the 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 championship chases.
Career
Fredric Aasbø checks tire pressures on his Rockstar Energy Drink Scion tC during 2015 competition
Aasbø started his career as a privateer racer driving a Toyota Supra. He won the 2007 and 2008 Nordic Drifting Championship titles competing in his native Scandinavia before making his U.S. debut at a global drifting invitational in 2008.[5]
In 2010, he ran his first full season of U.S. competition as a privateer and won the Formula Drift 'Rookie of the Year' award.[7]
He joined the Papadakis Racing squad in 2011 as a replacement for driver Tanner Foust (who had announced his departure from drifting).[8] From 2011 to 2016, he drove a Scion tC in the United States and later, a Toyota GT86 in Europe.[9][10]
In 2014, he won the Formula Drift Asia title, and finished runner-up in the U.S. Formula Drift Pro Championship.[11]
He won his first Formula Drift Pro Championship title in 2015 with a record of four wins in seven rounds, as well as the Formula Drift World Championship in the Papadakis Racing Scion tC.[12][13][14] The same year, he was also awarded FIA's Driver of the Year for Norway – an honor he accepted from Norwegian World Rally Champion Petter Solberg.[15]
Aasbø finished as championship runner-up in 2016 after winning two rounds.[16]
From 2017 to 2018, he debuted two different Toyota hatchbacks in the Formula Drift series. In 2017, he finished second in the championship in a Toyota Corolla iM.[17] In 2018, Papadakis Racing introduced the Rockstar Energy Drink / Nexen Tire Toyota Corolla Hatchback and again finished as the championship runner-up.[18]
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For the fourth year in a row, Aasbø finished as the championship runner-up in Formula D for the 2019 season.[19]
In 2020, Aasbø and Papadakis Racing launched their new Toyota GR Supra for the 2020 Formula D season onwards.[20] The GR Supra is powered by a B58 engine producing over 1000 horsepower while still utilizing the stock block.[21][22]
In 2021, Aasbø won the Formula D championship titles in 2021, after having a podium finish or win in all but 2 rounds of the season.[23]
Aasbø won the Formula D championship title for a second consecutive year in 2022, with 2 wins and 2 podium finishes during the season.[24]
Other work
He is also a stunt driver whose work has most notably been featured in the Norwegian action film Børning and advertisement campaigns for Toyota.[25]
His wife Hunter Taylor is now a rookie drifter as well.[26]
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