Practice is under way here at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale.  Drivers are looking good and getting ready for a Top 32 heat that will whittle them down to 16.

Royal Purple Need For Speed Shift Driving Challenge – Qualifying

3rd. Carl Rydquist
2nd Darren McNamara
1st. Quoc Ly

These 3 will be battling it out during halftime for a prize of $5,000.00!

Stay here as we will keep you poisted of all events from todays Final event of the 2009 season.

So you all have an idea of how the Qualifying Session works. Each driver gets 2 passes. 1 pass followed by the whole group then a 2nd pass after all have gone.   Qualifying order is setup by ranking. 

2nd Qualifying Run

Forsberg with a score of 77.9, solid run. 
Tuerck entry speed with 88.1 mph. Fast run and with a score of 88.5
JR with a score of 72.5
Sam Hubinette with a solid run, fast entry and smooth transitions.  Scores a 78.4
Tyler McQuarrie scores a 0 as he takes out a clipping point.
DMac spins on inner bank.  Scores a 0
Tanner Foust with a solid run and on every clipping point.  Tons of Hankook tire smoke. Score of 87.5
Verdier spins on inner bank. 
Robbie with a score of 78.3
JTP with a sick entry, crazy angle and entry on his inner bank entry.  Great run from JTP! Score of 86.2.  Run 1 still is the best score so far.
Ryuji Miki takes out the inner barriers and drives off course after leaving a barrier field.
Ken Gushi with a fast solid run 70mph entry and lots of smoke coming out the back.  Score of 69.4
Tony B. break on entry.
Ross Petty with a score of 59.1, solid run and fast on inner bank.
Taka Aono with a solid run in his little Hachi, score of 67
Dai Yoshihara fast through the course and on the throttle.  Score of 78.1
Eric O’Sullivan with a sloppy inner bank run.  Judges score him a 0
Rhy Millen with a solid run on his 2nd run. Score of 63.1
Joon Maeng once again comes in fast and has nice transitions.  Score of 77.1
Kenji Yamanaka with a score of 64.2
Kyle Mohan trying to best his first score, good solid line and great angle.  Score of 76.4
Calvin Wan comes in with a clean run, nice entry on te bank and on the first clip.  Score of 54
Kondo with a clean run and nice line.  Score of 55.2
Mike Essa with a solid run and gets a score of 52.6
Tommy Suell with a solid run and nice fast transitions and pushes through the course, score of 86.1
Ueo with a score of 63.3
Hayashida with a score of 66.7
Alex Peiffer with a score of 65.1
Powers coming normal on the bank with not much angle on entry.  On inner bank smacks his back bumper.  Score of 66.5
Mat Waldin with a solid run and putting out some nice smoke.  Score of 52.3
Ron Ewerth with an ok run and scores a 45.5
VanDenBrink with a good run and lays down a good line with a score of 59.6
Kregorian with an average run, gets a score of 39.4
LeJune  with a solid run and a score of 57.6
Parkhouse with a score of 60.1, good run from Cody
Kearny with only one pass to qualify and gets a score of 41.1
Aasbo with a solid run and a score of 51.1

1st Qualifying Run

Chris Forsberg currently 1st place with a solid run and lots of smoke and a solid run.  80.8
Ryan Tuerck with a score of 74.1
JR has a good run in the loud 2010 Falken Mustang.  Gets a score of 76.3
Sam Hubinette with a good run, high on the bank and lots of smoke.  Score of 80.1
Tyler McQuarrie with a good run and gets a score of 73.4
DMac high on the bank and leaves down a smoke trail through the whole course.  Solid run and a score of  77.6
Tanner Foust high on the big bank and holds a great line and smoke.  Score of 80.5
Verdier hits the wall on the big bank and drives off course.
Robbie Nishida with a solid run.  Score of 74
JTP laying down a great run and on the big banks wall, hits eac clip and has some great angle.  Score of 96.8
Miki with a poor run, little angle and all over the track.  Score of 25.5
Ken Gushi with a solid run and with a score of 73.7
Tony B with a score of 55.4
Ross Petty with a core of 37.7
Taka Aono in his Corolla with a smooth clean run.  Score of 68.3
Dai Yoshihara with a clean run and a score of 81.8
Eric O’Sullivan with a solid run and a score 74.9
Rhys Millen with a score of 71.5
Joon Maeng with a great run, quick transition and smacks his bumper on the wall and maintains drift and runs out the course.  Score of 80.6
Kenji Yamanaka with a solid run tough the course. Score of 61.7
Takatori with fire coming from the bottom side as he exits the course.  Gets a 0 for the run
Kyle Mohan on the wall from the big bank and into the inner course.  Has a great run and gets a score of 84.6
Calvin Wan shaky and saves from hitting the barriers. Score is 0
Kondo with a score of 57.3
Mike Essa, great run and gets a 73.9.  High on the bank and nice smoke.
Jeff Jones with a 0.  No power and sounding like he has having major car issues.
Tommy Suell with a score of 67
Ueo runs with a score of 61.3
Hayashida high on the bank and smoke bellowing out the back. Solid run and on the clips.  Score of 51.3
Alex Pfeiffer spun on end and is given a 0 for spinning right on exit of the course.
Mat Powers had a solid run. Score of 53.8
Mat Waldin nice entry on the bank, entry was with a nice angle, but on clipping point was off the clip.  Inner bank was a solid run and nice smoke.  Score of 54.6
Ron Ewerth in the Drift Emporium G35 with an average run.  Score of 46.6
VanDerBrink lays down a smoke cloud with an average run. Score 46.2
Kregorian spins and gets a 0
LeJune Clean run and nice angle on entry into inner bank.  Score of 49.8
Cody Parkhouse high on bank, smooth run though course and into inner bank.  Score of 43.9
Aasbo was last seen in Red Bull Drifting World Championship here in the states. 
Aasbo intiates high on the bank, gets squirly on the transition and enters the inner bank with lots of smoke. Score of 62.2

Formula Drift’s Final Live Blog @ Irwindale is being brought to you by eDRFT.com.  We will keep you posted on the day’s activities and schedule of events.

Just ended was Pro-Am practice and Gates have opened.  Coming out?  Wear your Sunscreen!  It is going to be a hot day.

Formula D practice and qualifying started and will run until 5pm. Qualifying begins immediatly after.

Schedule of Events

Friday October 16, 2009 (No Video Permitted w/o Approval)

10:00 AM – 8:00 PM – Will Call (Will Call)
10:00 AM – 10:00 PM – VENUE OPEN (Credential Holders Only) (Venue)
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Set-Up: Vendors/Sponsors/Teams (Venue)
2:00 PM – 10:00 PM – GATES OPEN TO PUBLIC (Venue)
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM – FD: Driver’s Meeting (Driver’s Tent)
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM – Media: Mandatory Meeting for All Photo Credentials (Media Tent)
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM – FD: OPEN PRACTICE #1 (Track)
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM – FD: OPEN PRACTICE #2 (Track)
5:00 PM – 7:30 PM – FD: Qualifying (Track)
7:30 PM – 7:40 PM – Famous Stars and Strap Stunt Bike Demo (Track)
7:45 PM – 8:00 PM – FD: All Driver’s Meeting / Qualifying Results (Driver’s Tent)
8:00 PM – 9:00 PM – Pro-AM: Qualifying (Track)
8:00 PM – 9:00 PM – FD: Driver Autograph Session (Paddock)
9:00 PM – 9:30 PM – Pro-AM: Driver’s Meeting / Qualifying Results (Driver’s Tent)
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM – FD: Open Practice – Top 32 (Track)
Saturday October 17, 2009 – Main Event (No Video Permitted w/o Approval)

10:00 AM – 8:00 PM – Will Call (Will Call)
10:00 AM – 10:00 PM – VENUE OPEN (Venue)
1:00 PM – 1:30 PM – FD: Top 32 Driver’s Meeting (Driver’s Tent)
1:30 PM – 2:00 PM – Media: Mandatory Meeting for All Photo Credentials (Media Tent)
2:00 PM – 10:00 PM – GATES OPEN TO PUBLIC (Venue)
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Open Practice – Top 32 (Track)
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM – Pro-AM: Top 8 Competition (Track)
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM – FD: MAIN COMPETITION – Round of 32 (Track)
6:00 PM – 6:10 PM – Famous Stars and Straps Stunt Bike Demo (Track)
6:15 PM – 7:30 PM – Half-Time Break (Venue)
6:00 PM – 6:50 PM – Need for Speed: Shift Contest (Podium)
6:20 PM – 6:50 PM – Jtuned Auto Gallery Awards Ceremony Cooper (Stage)
6:50 PM – 7:20 PM – Far East Movement Performance Cooper (Stage)
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM – Opening Ceremonies / National Anthem (Track)
8:00 PM – FD: MAIN COMPETITION: Round of 16 to Finals (Track)
10:00 PM – FD: Trophy Ceremony (Podium)

*SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

If you still havent purchased your tickets for this weekend.  Here is your last chance.