Over 238,500 Unique Viewers Tune-In for DriftStream’s coverage of Formula DRIFT Round 2: Road to the Championship

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Long Beach, Calif. – May 13, 2010 – Formula DRIFT continued the new DriftStream with YoParts.com at Round 2: Road to the Championship registering a massive 238,500 unique viewers watching the event live. Formula DRIFT and YoParts.com partner with Justin.tv to distribute the live stream. Over 128 countries tuned in to watch the action at Road Atlanta.

“The first live stream had over 78,000 unique IP’s, this one registered 238,500 unique IP’s. These numbers are absolutely ground-breaking,” said Ryan Sage, co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “We are talking about a minimum of 238,000 people that chose to watch the broadcast, and not just random clicks. These numbers don’t even take into account anyone else in the room of the specific IP registered. If we were using Nielson TV ratings, these numbers would be closer to 500,000 individual viewers. This is a massive home run.”

Formula DRIFT and YoParts.com have partnered with Justin.tv, the easiest way to share live video, to help feed the DriftStream across multiple channels. Justin.tv specializes in live streaming and helps engage with the live audience.

“Justin.tv is very excited about the partnership with Formula DRIFT. Formula D’s content is a perfect use case of our platform – great, professionally created content that needs an outlet to reach its global fanbase,” said Kevin Lin, COO of Justin.tv. “The test broadcast of the Road to the Championship event in Atlanta on Justin.tv drew over 200,000 unique viewers in the first day. Clearly there are drift fans out there anxious to get access to these live events, and Justin.tv is going to be that source for them.”

“After just two events the future of the DriftStream is looking bright! We were able to deal with some pretty difficult technology challenges and with the help of our DriftStream chat audience we were able to fine tune the stream each day,” said Tom Masiero, co-founder of YoParts.com. “This event we implemented a new feature that that included the behind the scenes audio from the Official Radio chatter that received rave reviews. This event would not have been possible without our sponsors Royal Purple, Mishimoto, Need for Speed, RacingJunk.com and Belle-1 Communications. We are looking forward to Round 3: The Gauntlet in Wall, NJ with some great new features for the Formula Drift Fan base!”

The Drift Stream will continue at Round 3: The Gauntlet on June 4-5 in Wall, NJ when Formula DRIFT returns to Wall Speedway.

DriftStream Videos from Round 2: Road Atlanta

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The DriftStream provided some great footage over the weekend. If you missed the action at Road Atlanta check out these videos from Round 2: Road to the Championship.

Qualifying Round 1

Watch live streaming video from formulad at livestream.com

Qualifying Round 2

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StreetWise FD ProAm Top 16

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Practice ATL – Matt Powers Crash inside

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Saturday Practice

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Top 16 Competition

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Formula DRIFT 2010 Round 2: Road to the Championship Results

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Daijiro Yoshihara Takes the Victory and the Lead in the Tires.com Triple Crown

Long Beach, Calif. – May 8, 2010 – Formula DRIFT returned to the site of the inaugural event at Road Atlanta for Round 2: Road to the Championship. Daijiro Yoshihara in the Discount Tire / Falken Tire Nissan S13 takes the victory and the lead in the first event of the Tires.com Triple Crown.

For the seventh straight season, Formula DRIFT brought drifting back to Road Atlanta and provided exciting action for all the die-hard drift fans in the South. The thousands of fans that came to watch the event were treated to great weather as temperatures dropped dramatically for the main event day. The competition was as exciting as ever with the drivers pushing the limits of their vehicles through one of the best courses for drifting.

“It all started over seven years ago here at Road Atlanta,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “Each year the drivers and teams have stepped it up and the level of competition is as tight as it has ever been. This is a great sign of the constant evolution of this still emerging sport.”

Round 2: Road to the Championship showcased intense tandem action that kept fans in their seats throughout the day and into the evening for the final battle. The consolation round for third place was between champion Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy Nissan 350Z and Michael Essa in the Nitto Tires / GSR Autosport BMW 350R. Essa made it the furthest in his career after failing to make the Top 32 during Round 1. Forsberg showcased why he is the current champion and why he won the the event at Road Atlanta last season by beating out Essa for third place. Daijiro Yoshihara earned the victory with solid driving throughout the weekend and made his way to the Tires.com Triple Crown leaderboard. The final battle was between Yoshihara and winner of Round 1: Streets of Long Beach, Vaughn Gittin, Jr. in the Monster Energy / Falken Tires Ford Mustang with Yoshihara edging his way past his Falken Tires teammate. Gittin found the podium for the second consecutive event and retains the lead in the Formula DRIFT Pro Championship points standings.

“I am so excited to be back in the game,” said Daijiro Yoshihara, winner of Round 2: Road to the Championship. “I haven’t been on the podium for two years and I proved to myself that I can compete once again in Formula DRIFT. Formula DRIFT is the most competitive series in the world and it feels great to be on top. I couldn’t have done it without the help of my sponsors at Discount Tire, Falken Tire, KW Suspension, Sparco, and the crew at SPD Metal Works.”

The action continues on June 4-5, 2010 for Round 3: The Gauntlet at Wall Speedway in New Jersey. Tickets are available on-line. For more information and details visit the Formula DRIFT website at: www.formuladrift.com

Formula DRIFT Professional Championship 2010 Point Standings

1. Gittin, Vaughn Monster Energy / Falken Tire Ford Mustang 199 Points
2. Yoshihara, Daijiro Discount Tire / Falken Tire Nissan S13 162 Points
3. Millen, Rhys RMR / Red Bull Hyundai Genesis Coupe 158 Points
4. Foust, Tanner Rockstar Energy Scion TC 148 Points
5. Forsberg, Chris NOS Energy Drink / CFR Nissan 350Z 137 Points
6. Tuerck, Ryan Mobil 1 / Maxxis Tire / Gardella Racing Pontiac Solstice 136 Points
7. McNamara, Darren Falken Tire Saturn Sky 123 Points
8. Hubinette, Samuel SHR-Dodge / BF Goodrich Dodge Challenger 120 Points
9. Mordaunt, Patrick Brian Crower / PM Racing Nissan 350Z 117 Points
10. Grunewald, Conrad Hankook Tire / GM Performance Chevrolet Camaro 93.50 Points
11. Gushi, Ken Scion Racing / RS*R Scion TC 86.50 Points
12. Miki, Ryuji APEXi / Hankook Tire Mazda RX-7 81 Points
13. Pawlak, Justin Ford Racing / Falken Tire Ford Mustang 80.50 Points
14. Maeng, Joon Full Tilt Poker / Mazda / Nitto Mazda RX-8 80.25 Points
15. Petty, Ross Falken Tire / Garage Boso Nissan S15 79 Points
16. Verdier, Stephan Royal Purple / Crawford Performance / Cooper Subaru STI 78.75 Points
16. Wang, Forest BF Goodrich / Drift Emporium Infiniti G35 78.75 Points

Round 2: Road to the Championship Event Results

1. Yoshihara, Daijiro Discount Tire / Falken Tire Nissan S13 1st Place
2. Gittin, Vaughn Monster Energy / Falken Tire Ford Mustang 2nd Place
3. Forsberg, Chris NOS Energy Drink Nissan 350Z 3rd Place

Tires.com Triple Crown – Event 1 of 3

1. Yoshihara, Daijiro Discount Tire / Falken Tire Nissan S13 106 Points
2. Gittin, Vaughn Monster Energy / Falken Tire Ford Mustang 91 Points
3. Forsberg, Chris NOS Energy Drink Nissan 350Z 81 Points

Round 2: Road to the Championship Top 16 Round by Round Blog

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Round 2: Road to the Championship at Road Atlanta is about to begin. Opening ceremonies just got underway.

Top 16 Coverage

Foust vs Gushi. The battle of the Scions. Foust pulls away leading Gushi, but Gushi catches up in the horseshoe as Foust leaves a thick cloud of smoke. Gushi leads the 2nd run, Foust pulls door to door with Gushi and towards the last clipping point Foust gets aggressive and pulls close to Gushi…they hit. Gushi spins. Judges deliberate and watch the instant replay. Ken Gushi gets the win.

Forsberg vs Hubinette – Forsberg leads and Hubinette chases really tight and stays close through the first run. Hubinette leads and now Forsberg shadows…Hubinette pulls away after the horseshoe. Too close to call. One More Time.

OMT – Run 1 – Forsberg leads and Hubinette shadows and keeps tight. Hubinette spins in the horseshoe. Hubinette leads and Forsberg chases tight through the entire run. Forsberg moves on to the Great 8.

Yoshihara vs Mordaunt – Dai leads and Mordaunt goes hot into the dirt on the first sweeper. Dai has the advantage going into the 2nd run. Mordaunt leads and Dai follows. Clean run. Dai advances.

Millen vs McNamara – Millen leads and McNamara sticks to Millen, but a little shallower line. Good run by both drivers. DMac leads and Millen chases…first turn collision. Judges watch the instant replay to see what happened. Did Millen go in to hot? Or did DMac slow down dramatically? McNamara gets the win.

Tuerck vs Petty – Tuerck leads and Petty chases. Both with good angle and good line sticking close to one another. Great run. Petty leads and Tuerck sticks close. Another good run by both. This will be a close call. Tuerck moves on.

Gittin vs Maeng – Gittin leads and Maeng chases and sticks close through the horseshoe. Great run. Maeng leads and corrects on the first clipping point, Gittin close. Gittin moves on.

Grunewald vs Pawlak – Grunewald leads and Pawlak follows. Both with mistakes. Pawlak mistake on entry and Grunewald goes wide in the horseshoe. Pawlak leads and creates a gap that Grunewald can’t catch up to on Run 2. Pawlak’s mistake on the first run could not be made up. Grunewald wins.

Essa vs Nishida – Essa leads and has a great run until the end. Nishida with a solid run. Nishida leads and loses grip and straightens up on first turn. Essa moves on.