Remmo Niezen – International Drift Series
Hometown – Maassluis
Car – BMW M3 V8

photo courtesy of Alok Paleri

Ever since I was a kid I’ve been busy playing around with cars and bikes. I did the racecourse and in 2000 I got my racing licence. I started racing in 2001 in a BMW touring car championship and the first year I was Champion. In 2002 I won several races in the BMW 325i M Cup and ended up 2nd in the Championship. In 2003 I had a number of victories in BMW 325i cup. In 2004 I drove in the Super sports class with a BMW M3 and several races in the 325i Cup. In 2005 I started drifting with a BMW M5 and won my first race in drifting. After that I mixed racing with drifting with a BMW M3. In 2005 I was 2nd in the Dutch Drift Series. In 2006 I was 1st in the Dutch, Belgium and Benelux Drift Series. In 2007 I won the Xtreme Drift Series and the German IDS. I am currently in 2nd position in the German IDS and I will do everything in my power to win the Championship again.

Paul Vlasblom – International Drift Series
Hometown – Uden, Netherlands
Car – 95er BMW, M3 Touring

photo courtesy of Alok Paleri

I started racing Porsche and BMW in 1999. Some victories in the Porsche Series, and winner of the BMW Cup 2002. In 2003 I entered the Autovisie DriftChallenge (the annual sideways-challenge) with a standard BMW E30 323i with a welded diff. and got 11th place. The year after I decided to do better and bought myself a BMW E36 M3 coupe. In the end I won the 2004-edition by drifting all the turns with one hand out of the sun-roof of the car!!

In 2005 I bought my BMW E36 Touring and converted the car for drifting. With that car I entered the NL and BE-drift-series and several other events in Europe. In August 2005 I decided to go to the D1-drivers-search on Silverstone-circuit there and see. In the end I was one of the 6 chosen drivers and I was very pleased to obtain my provisional license.

On the way back from the UK we stopped over at Warneton Speedway in Belgium,where the King of Europe championship was held that weekend.I the field of European drifters I proved to be the best and was crowned King of Europe 2005!

I converted my Touring to match-up the D1-regulations and that year I won the Belgian Drift Series Championship In the end of 2005 I converted the Touring to the GTR-looks and installed a rollcage for the D1 Great Britain-season 2006. During the season the Japanese held another D1 GrandPrix match at Silverstone, and again I was one of the licensed drivers. I managed to qualify in 14th position and was matched up with Ueno driving a 600hp Toyota Soarer. By reaching top-8 my provisional D1GP-license was upgraded to a Full D1GP-license!!! In top-8 I met Ueo, but I couldn’t keep up with the speed of the lighter Corolla AE86. I’m still very proud of my D1GP license, as I’m to only European to have it!
In the end of the King of Europe championship 2006 I was invited to enter the final round on Spa-Francorchamps. In the strong field of Polish, Croatian, Belgian and French drivers I took the 1st place and by winning the finals I was send out to Dubai to enter the Dubai DriftChallenge and won the Challenge!

In 2007 I entered the King of Europe Drift-edition and the German IDS championship. The KoE took me to France (1st place), Czech Republic (3rd position), Hungary (1st place), Finland (1st place) and finally again in Hungary (3rd place).By these results again I became the King of Europe championship winner for 2007.

In September 2007 I got an email from the D1 organisation; the invitation for the D1 All Star World Match 25th November at Irwindale Speedway. As I’m a D1GP License-holder I can also enter the D1 GP-Finals on Saturday the 24th of November.

My car left the port of Rotterdam in a container October 17th, and arrived in the Port of Long Beach (Los Angeles, California) November 13th.Unfortunately the DHL-shipping company didn’t get the paperwork right for the US Customs, so the container couldn’t get cleared and returned to the Netherlands unopened.

Very sorry to have to watch the D1 World Match from the side, and not being able to compete.
In the 2008 season I’m competing in the International Drift Series (the German championship) and so far I won the season-opener at Hockenheim, also the 3rd and 5th round and I’m the current leader in the championship. I also did all the DTM-demo’s with IDS this year, which is a great opportunity to bring drifting to the attention of a big audience.

In June I went to compete in the 2nd round of the Hellenic Drift Championship in Greece, and got 1st place. In July I did a big demo in Moscow, to show Russian people what drifting is!
Last weekend I won the European Driftbattle at Poznan-racetrack in Poland.
My further plans for this year; the finals of the Italian Driftseries in Varano and….the RedBull World drifting Championship in Long Beach in November!

Another driver has been added to the confirmed list of drivers for the Red Bull Drifting World Championship.

Tengku Djan – Formula DRIFT Singapore
Hometown – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Car – Nissan RPS13 180sx

Tengku Djan Ley, who put Malaysia on the drifting world map, is Malaysia’s first D1GP Drift Champion in 2006. He took on the best drifters in the world at the D1GP World Series @ Irwindale Speedway (Los Angeles) the same year earning himself the nickname Tandem Assassin from his US fans.

Tengku Djan Ley is by day a Vehicles Dynamics Engineer who has taken Race, Rally Research (R3 – the motorsports arm of Proton) to Malaysian motorsports cult status.

Tengku Djan is also a seasoned race driver who is not just adept at drifting, but he is also Twice Consecutive Overall Champion in the 12 hour Merdeka Millenium Endurance Race in 2005 & 2006. An unbeaten record till this day.

In 1995, Team Shell racing team came a-looking for novice drivers, and the then-17-year-old Tengku Djan decided to give it a go. After winning eight out of nine races in his debut year to finish as novice champion, the teen began to get – in his own words now – a little bigheaded. However, instead of racing full time, the decision was made for Tengku Djan to pursue further education instead.
Tengku Djan graduated as an automotive engineer in Germany, and is till this day grateful for the decision. “Being a race car driver these days is not just about driving – It’s important to understand the car and the technical aspects of it as well. Knowing the car and knowing how to drive it, and knowing how to improve it gives you an edge over other drivers.” he said.
He got the chance to further enhance his skills while working as a vehicle dynamics engineer for Lotus in Britain for three-and-a-half years, which was where he honed his driving skills further.
“Even though all the driving I did then was work related and I didn’t do any racing at all, that was where I actually enhanced my driving skills. That was because I was learning to drive for my work, and the skills I got were engineering-based ones.”
It was also during those years in Lotus that Tengku Djan discovered the magic of drifting.
“We once watched a video of Japanese drifters, and decided to try it out at the Lotus track. There was even a rivalry amongst us to try and link up all the corners,” he said.
Djan’s interest in the sport of drifting has grown steadily, spending much of his time training and guiding younger Malaysians into the sport of drift.
Djan is also in-charge of spearheading the strongest drift team in South East Asia. Bridgestone Drift Team Malaysia has since competed in various events in S.E.A finishing in the top ranks in Malaysia, Thailand, and recently, as runner-up in the inaugural Formula DRIFT Singapore in April 2008.
Djan is continuously trying to improve his drift skills. June this year saw Djan compete in Tokyo Drift @ Odaiba, seizing the opportunity to learn from the best. Scoring his personal best of 99.5 from the D.K. Keiichi himself, Djan feels encouraged and looks forward to every chance to hone his own skills, by learning from the world’s best.
Djan is excited and feels privileged to have been invited to participate in Formula D and RedBull’s Search for the Ultimate champion in drift. Every resource shall be exhausted to get his ass to Long Beach!

Exclusively on the Formula DRIFT blog, we are going to start profiling confirmed international entries for the Red Bull Drifting World Championship. The first 2 international drivers have been announced. They are Fredric Aasbo from the Nordic Drifting Series and Pro Drift and Frederic “Steady Freddy” Girard representing Drift Mania Canadian Championship.

Here is some info on the 2 drivers:

Fredric Aasbo – Nordic Drifting Series and Pro Drift
Hometown – Ski, Norway
Car – 2000 JDM Toyota Supra

Born and raised in the midst of the Scandinavian countryside, Fredric’s Dad quickly introduced him to the Norwegian rally scene. As a youngster he was let into a go-kart, and proved his car control skills at an early age being very fast under slippery conditions. Discovering drifting as a 17 year old in 2002 got him hooked on the new form of motorsport, and the young Norwegian eventually got his own entry level drift car three years later.

Becoming 2007 and 2008 Nordic Drifting Series Champion with Team Japan Auto and pulling consecutive qualification poles and podium finishes in the 2008 Pro Drift European Series have led the way to his US debut at the 2008 Red Bull Drifting World Championship in Long Beach, CA. Being very enthusiastic about the art of drifting and eager to take on new challenges, Fredric is a guy who goes all in whenever he gets the chance.

For more information, please have a look at the Pro Drift interview

Frederic Girard – Drift Mania Canadian Championship
Hometown – Warwick, Quebec, Canada
Car – 1989 Nissan R32 Skyline

Frederic Girard “Steady Freddy” is now well known by his drift technique, he starts the competition with one race line, and he keeps the same line for all the competition. He’s not the kind of showoff drifter, but he surely know what he’s doing and find the right way to make his way through the podium. Always around to help others drivers, he’s the kind of guy who wants to tandem with the best.

Fred have always been seeking for adrenaline rush. Without any doubt he was living for that, while drifting dad’s truck and ATV. Riding sideways is much exciting than going straight, he realized that he wasn’t alone with the same thinking… Japan was drifting for so many years!.

In 2003, he bought his first RWD car, a 87 Corolla Ae86 and decided to go drifting at Sanair Racetrack in St-Pie, Quebec. This first racing day scheduled by Roadz Tuning was in fact a full lapping day with Carl Nadeau as the coach. After many sessions, he founds that pushing a car to his limits was such a nice thing and went to Toronto to watch the DX2 show with Signals Twins and Team Orange.

In 2004 he bought his second Corolla but this time it was a Coupe from the Canadian Rally Championship. This car was modified with a racing cage, bucket racing seats and a 5 points racing harness. He felt in love with racing… so much he moved to Calgary and participate at some RallyCross and Time Attack events.

In 2005 , he went all out and bought a R32 Skyline HCR32 from Roadz Motorsport. First weekend back from Calgary, first drift day. Perfect setup, he gained controls among the day and decide to participate a every practice available and EVEN decided to go back to Calgary to drift in 3 events. He finished 1st and 2nd at the two Edmonton Drift Meltdown and at the Falken DriftShowoff ,he finished 2nd and only Canadian on the podium. Experience was rising new height !!

In 2007, with all Time Attack, Road Race and Drift Practices, he was top shape to start the season with so much confidence. He knew he was one of the top drifters in Canada and he proved it. He won the 2007 DMCC with a total of 549 points.

In 2008, with the DMCC title to defend, getting trough some bad crashes and an engine blow out. He always came back on track and proved again to be the best Canadian Drifter.

More drivers to be added shortly. Stay tuned for more information on the Red Bull Drifting World Championships! .