Category: Press Releases

Formula DRIFT Round 5: Throwdown Results

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Formula DRIFT Round 5: Throwdown Results;
Daijiro Yoshihara Takes the Victory and the Lead in the Standings

Long Beach, Calif. – July 23, 2011 – Formula DRIFT returned to Evergreen Speedway for Round 5: Throwdown. Daijiro Yoshihara in the Discount Tire / Falken Nissan S13 takes the victory and the lead in the overall Pro Championship points standings. Attendance records were broken as the event reached capacity for the venue.

Round 5: Throwdown reached capacity as fans came in droves to Evergreen Speedway. Attendance was up over 10% from last season continuing the increase in numbers for the Series. Fans were treated to an exciting round of action from the top drivers in the sport.

“The Pacific Northwest has an amazing fan base, which was proven today,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “We are excited to see the growth of the sport and the Series this season with a continued increase in attendance at each event.”

The competition heated up with the final four drivers aiming to move closer in their chase for the championship. Fredric Aasbo in the Need For Speed / Scion Racing TC went head to head with Rhys Millen in the Red Bull / Hankook Hyundai Genesis Coupe and edged out the former champion earning third place. The Finals matched up the 2009 champion, Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy Drink / Hankook Nissan 370Z with Daijiro Yoshihara. Yoshihara took the victory and gained the lead in the Pro Championship point standings and remains the leader with a commanding lead in the Tires.com Triple Crown bonus.

“It feels great to be in the lead,” stated Daijiro Yoshihara, winner of Round 5: Throwdown. “After the Top 32 when Justin Pawlak was taken out of the competition I knew I had a good chance to win, but I didn’t want to think about points and focused on winning one round at a time, which worked! We have 2 competitions left so I need to focus on them still before I can think too much about the championship.”

The Formula DRIFT Championship continues for Round 6: After Dark at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on August 26 – 27. Tickets are available to purchase online.

Formula DRIFT Continues Social Media Success

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Formula DRIFT Continues Social Media Success Surpassing 100,000 Fans on Facebook and Announces Launch of Mobile Version of Website

Long Beach, Calif. – June 30, 2011 – The official Facebook page of Formula DRIFT has surpassed the 100,000 mark in total fans. Formula DRIFT has also launched mobile version of website.

Formula DRIFT has seen a dramatic growth to their Facebook page fan base this season as the 100,000 mark was broken during Round 4: The Gauntlet at Wall Speedway weekend. The amount of Facebook fans has doubled since the season began. To celebrate this milestone Formula DRIFT will be selecting a couple lucky fans from the Facebook page to receive a prize package including Formula DRIFT merchandise and apparel.

“Formula DRIFT has embraced new technology and is very pleased with the growth of our social media outlets this season and we have our tech savvy fans to thank for this,” said Ryan Sage vice president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “In addition to Facebook we have also seen an increase in our Twitter followers along with viewers of Driftstream, our live webcast. We will continue to explore new and exciting ways to engage our ever-growing audience and provide them with the latest content and promotions.”

The Series continues to be the leader and innovator for social media and technology when compared to other emerging motorsports. Formula DRIFT has invested into new technology in order to cater to their demographic of fans who are proven to be tech savvy and early adopters for the latest trends.

“We are proud of this accomplishment as it is evident of the growth of the sport of drifting,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “Formula DRIFT has taken the lead in providing ways to connect with the fans and give them what they want.”

Formula DRIFT has also announced the launch of the mobile version of the website, www.formulad.com. The mobile friendly version of the site has optimized content for mobile browsing while also maintaining the connection for the fans to live event data, results, news posts, and more. A custom blog theme for mobile users has been created allowing users to browse through the blog with ease. The mobile version also allows users to use multiple mobile devices and if equipped with Flash can access the full version of the website.

For more information visit: www.formuladrift.com

Formula DRIFT Announces 2011 Television Program Schedule on VERSUS

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Formula DRIFT Announces 2011 Television Program Schedule on VERSUS;
Premiere Episode to Air on Sunday August 14 (5:00 p.m., EST)
Long Beach, Calif. – June 27, 2011 – Formula DRIFT announces the 2011 television program schedule on the VERSUS network. Premiere episode to air on August 14 at 5 PM (EST).

For the third consecutive year, Formula DRIFT will air the television program titled, “Formula DRIFT,” on the VERSUS network. The 14 half-hour long episodes will run for 14 consecutive weeks on Sundays at 5 PM (EST) beginning on August 14, 2011 with re-airs showing on Fridays at 5:30 PM (EST) beginning on August 19, 2011.

“We are delighted to be back on VERSUS, the home of such properties like UFC, Tour de France, IndyCar and NHL. It will be interesting to be part of the Comcast/NBC merger and the positive implications of VERSUS becoming part of the NBC Sports family. As our relationship with VERSUS has grown, so have the ratings of the Formula DRIFT programming,” said Ryan Sage, vice president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “VERSUS’s 75+ million households combined with an additional 300 million household distribution internationally, we are glad to continue to not only be the leader in drifting programming, but a real force in motorsports and entertainment.”

The episodes will document all 7 Championship rounds and 1 invitational competition that took place in Qatar. The programs will be hosted by Formula DRIFT co-founder, Ryan Sage along with Formula DRIFT announcer, Jarod deAnda.

The Formula DRIFT program is scheduled for national and international distribution.

Formula DRIFT International Television Distribution to include:

BAND SPORTS
Brazil

SPEED CHANNEL
Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvadore, Brazil, Columbia, Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Peru.

MOTORS TV
United Kingdom, France, Czech Republic, Holland, Estonia, Germany, Macedonia, Serbia, Russia, Portugal, Latvia, Greece, Slovenia, Romania, Cyprus, Belgium, Ukraine, Spain, Malta, Hungary, Iceland, Sweden, Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, and Switzerland.

SPORT TV
Portugal

AUTO TV RUSSIA
Russia

In addition to the TV programming, Formula DRIFT can be also seen streaming each competition live on the internet at www.formulad.com/live. Also scheduled to air in the coming months is the Formula DRIFT Round 1: Streets of Long Beach event in 3D on DirecTV’s n3D channel.

For more information visit: www.formuladrift.com

Formula DRIFT Round 4: The Gauntlet Results

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Formula DRIFT Round 4: The Gauntlet Results;
Conrad Grunewald Wins at Wall Speedway

Long Beach, Calif. – June 18, 2011 – Formula DRIFT returned to Wall Speedway for Round 4: The Gauntlet. The capacity event was action packed with Conrad Grunewald in the Hankook Tire Chevy Camaro taking the victory. This marked Grunewald’s first victory in Formula DRIFT history and second podium since 2005.

Round 4: The Gauntlet at Wall Speedway was another exciting event where the combination of the banking on the track and the competitive nature of the drivers pushed them to the limits. As a result a few of the vehicles were damaged in competition in dramatic fashion keeping them from advancing to the later rounds. The fans witnessed a true showing of world class drifting.

“Despite the brief storm that caused chaos after qualifying on Friday, the Formula DRIFT community pulled together to help one another to put on another great event,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “Fans came out to fill the capacity of the venue on Saturday to showcase the ever growing sport this season.”

The final four vehicles gave a tremendous show for the fans with the first battle pitting number one qualifier Ryan Tuerck in the Mobil 1 / Gardella Racing Chevy Camaro against Conrad Grunewald in the Hankook Chevy Camaro. Tuerck went high on the banking, making impact which damaged his vehicle taking him out of the competition and automatically giving him fourth place. Current points leader Justin Pawlak in the Falken Ford Mustang faced teammate Daijiro Yoshihara in the Discount Tire / Falken Nissan 240SX to meet Grunewald in the finals. Yoshihara lost the battle and took third place due to Tuerck’s damaged vehicle and moved into second in the Pro Championship points standings. The finals saw a battle of American muscle with Pawlak facing Grunewald. Grunewald edged out Pawlak for his first victory of his career. Pawlak remains the points leader with this third podium finish of the season.

“I’m really happy for the team,” stated Conrad Grunewald, winner of Round 4: The Gauntlet. “We overcame a lot to get to this position this weekend. And I am overwhelmed to be on top of the podium for my first time and especially to do it by beating a Ford Mustang.”

The Formula DRIFT Championship continues for Round 5: Throwdown at Evergreen Speedway on July 22-23. Tickets are available to purchase online.

For more information visit: www.formuladrift.com

Daigo Saito emerges champion as the cream rises to the top

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Daigo Saito emerges champion as the cream rises to the top
Team Spark Motorsports wins first Team Championship trophy at VIP Formula Drift Singapore 2011 Presented by Achilles Radial

Singapore, 12 June 2011 – Daigo Saito of Team Spark Motorsports joined the pantheon of champions, becoming only the third driver to take the much-coveted crown of the fourth edition of VIP Formula Drift Singapore 2011 Presented by Achilles Radial at the F1 Pit Building today.

It was a double victory for the team, with the Japanese champion and third-place winner Ken Gushi (USA) propelling Team Spark Motorsports’s charge to take home the inaugural Team Championship trophy with 183 points. Singapore is the first formula drift championship in the world to introduce the award for the best team performance.

Following two days of intense competition and volatile weather, Daigo showed consistency and the highest level of precision and car control, conquering the challenging track. Going neck-to-neck with Thai Saranon Pornpatanarak of Team M150 in the final face-off, the Japanese set the tone in the first tandem battle, chasing Saranon and staying mere inches from the Thai – drawing a huge round of applause from the crowd. In the second run, Daigo sped ahead to create an impossible gap for Saranon to match his competitor’s move, securing his first victory in Singapore with aplomb.

Recounting the competition, Daigo said, “Happy for the win as it is the first leg of the series, and I am happy to have gotten off to such a great start. It is amazing to be racing on an F1 circuit and the crowd really got behind Formula Drift. It was an encouraging victory, considering that none of them have competed in Singapore before. I am planning on keeping up my performance for the whole series this year with the Spark Motorsport team.”

The Thai ace driver will be hoping to carry this form into the remaining rounds of the Formula Drift Asia Championship, which will continue on to Indonesia, Thailand and finishing the year off in Malaysia. Saranon rued his chance missing out on the top prize, and said, “I came here expecting to be on the podium and am happy with my position in the race. To lose to someone like Daigo who is usually racing in D1 and competing against the best in the world is not so bad.”

Gushi won the final place on the podium with a dominating performance over Malaysian Ivan Lau from LTM Bridgestone. Said Gushi, “Formula Drift Asia is a phenomenal series, with highly skilled and competitive drivers, I hope to get more chances to compete against them and raise my own game in the car.”

Said Lau, “Ken had a slow start, and I came in too hot in the straight. I slowed down on the first clipping and missed a gear. I had to then upshift to fourth – that mistake cost me the third place today.”

Bright sunshine made for a welcome change from yesterday’s thunderstorms, as fans were once again treated to a world-class display of drifting prowess. With engines revving high and tyres burning furiously, the crowd had lots to cheer about as the tandem battles began in the morning. Unlike qualifying yesterday, which was based on the driver’s individual runs on track, today’s format was the tandem drift battles where drivers do two laps in tandem, each taking a turn to lead and fighting for the best score across two runs. The drivers were judged on their speed, style, and ability to maintain their drift angle for as long as possible. Battles are always tight and nail-biting, with chasing drivers pushing the limits and trying to better the lead driver.

Organised by ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group, the Singapore event is the first of a four-leg series for Achilles Asian Drift Series which will be followed by events in Indonesia in October, Thailand in November and the year-end Grand Finale this December in Malaysia.

Please visit www.formuladriftasia.com for more details about the event.