McQuarrie raises eyebrows in opening World Challenge session

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April 17, 2010 (Long Beach, Calif.) – In the lone World Challenge practice session held on Friday, Formula Drift driver Tyler McQuarrie, from Pleasant Hill, Calif. surprised the World Challenge paddock with his pace in the LPL/DR/Switch Cars.com Lotus Exige S.

Despite being mired in traffic throughout the session, and a lengthy pause in the session due to a red flag, McQuarrie was able to hang on toP2 until the checkered in a competitive GTS class. Only multi-time series champion Peter Cunningham was able to turn a lap time quicker than McQuarrie.

“More than anything, being quick out of the box is a great thing for the crew that has worked extremely hard to get this LPL/DRS. Switch cars.com Lotus ready for World Challenge,” said McQuarrie. “Since this was the first appearance of the car in World Challenge, we just wanted to stay out of trouble and learn about how the car works on this track. We learned quite a bit, but we also realized that the team had done their homework since the car was very good from the beginning.”
As this race weekend marks the first appearance for McQuarrie, as well as the first appearance for the Exige S in World Challenge’s GTS class, the first practice left the team full of confidence for the rest ofthe weekend. While the Exige S excelled in the right confines of the Long Beach Grand Prix circuit, McQuarrie also excelled
in the concrete canyons of the track – no doubt due to his experience in drifting on the same course, inside the same walls.

“It’s like flipping a switch, going from drifting here lastweek to driving the Lotus this week,” said McQuarrie. “After spending all of last weekend scraping the walls with my back bumper, driving this car is almost like a piece of cake. It feels great to get back into a roadrace car, especially in the Long Beach Grand Prix. I can’t wait for qualifying.”

Formula DRIFT Invades Hollywood Recap

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Last night the IZOD Indycar Series invited Formula DRIFT to participate in the “Race to the Party” event in Hollywood. Hollywood Blvd was shut down in front of Mann’s Chinese Theatre and the Kodak Theatre and thousands of fans gathered to watch Formula DRIFT vehicles do a demonstration, Indycar pit stop challenge, and a special performance by Camp Freddy.

The fans were blown away by the drifting action of drivers Joon Maeng – Full Tilt Poker / Nitto Tires Mazda RX-8, Justin Pawlak – Falken Mazda RX-7, Michael Essa – Nitto Tires BMW 335i, Mike Whiddett – Need for Speed Mazda RX-8, and Samuel Hubinette – SHR Dodge Challenger.