Formula Drift Round 7 - Title Fight at Irwindale Matchups

Here are the matchups that will be seen during the Top 32 Round of the Irwindale Formula Drift event.

Rhys Millen vs Kenny Moen
Justin Pawlak vs Walker Wilkerson
Frederic Aasbo vs Darren McNamara
Chris Forsberg vs Conrad Grunewald
Ken Gushi vs Toshiki Yoshioka
Ryan Tuerck vs Ryan Kado
Tyler McQuarrie vs Joon Maeng
Chelsea Denofa vs Pat Mordaunt
Vaugh Gittin vs Nick D'Alessio
Tony Brakohiapa vs Michael Essa
Matt Field vs Luke Lonberger
Matt Powers vs Jeremy Lowe
Daigo Saito vs Taka Aono
Dave Briggs vs Robbie Nishida
Alex Lee vs Tony Angelo
Kyle Mohan vs Dai Yoshihara

With the points after qualifying and factoring in that each driver is guarenteed 24 event points for participating in the Top 32 round, Vaughn Gittin leads Daigo Saito by 26.5 points.  At this stage, the top 6 drivers have a mathematical shot at taking the 2012 Formula DRIFT Championship.

Other than points, drivers will mostly be letting it all hang out for this event, since they will be trying their hardest to put on a good show for their sponsors and teams.

Kevin Wells, the Formula DRIFT Technical Director, had x-rays of the Top 7 point position cars done to determine if there was any illegal ballasts placed on the cars' frame rails, which if found would disqualify that driver from the event and effectively eliminate them from winning the championship.

Catching Up

It has been a little while since I last posted anything on here.  To anyone that comes by frequently, I apologize for that.  Let's see what has happened since the last post.

Daigo Saito took 1st place in the latest D1GP with his Achilles Tire JZX100 Chaser edging out Tetsuya Hibino's UP Garage Droo-p Toyota GT86.

Forrest Wang had a big weekend in Texas with the final round of XDC.  Forrest qualified in the top spot and then went on to beat Mike Pollard for the event win, which also crowned Forrest as the 2012 XDC Champion, ahead of Mike Pollard, Nate Hamilton, and 2-time reigning champion Chelsea Denofa.

Photo from Wrecked Magazine

And probably one of the bigger announcements made in the past couple weeks in the drifting world was the discontinuation of the partnership between Rhys Millen Racing and Hyundai, which is detailed in this press release: http://rhys-millen-racing.myshopify.com/blogs/news/6633844-motorsport-relationship-ends-with-hyundai

I think that's all the big stuff for now.  I'll try to keep more on top of the drift world happenings and get motivated to post them here.

Formula DRIFT Insider - Episode 10

This episode of Formula DRIFT Insider showcases the Las Vegas Round of the FD Championship and gives a look at the points and possibilities heading into the final round at Irwindale.  Plus it offers a chance for viewers to win tickets to the event at Irwindale.

Formula DRIFT Las Vegas - Results

The next-to-last round of the 2012 Formula DRIFT season ended with Rhys Millen back on top of the podium, which he shared with Frederic Aasbo and Vaughn Gittin Jr, who defeated Robbie Nishida for 3rd place.

Justin Pawlak was again knocked out in the Top 32 round, this time by Tyler McQuarrie, and Daigo Saito was brought down in the Great 8 round by Rhys Millen.

Currently the points show Gittin leading Saito by 25.5 points, followed by Rhys Millen (-44.75), Justin Pawlak (-70), and Daijiro Yoshihara (-71.5).

The next round will be at Irwindale to decide the championship winner.

Formula DRIFT Round 5 Evergreen Results

Round 5 of Formula DRIFT had is fair share of surprises and strange happening during the tandem battles. Ultimately, it was number one qualifier Vaughn Gittin Jr, taking the win with Ryan Tuerck and Rhys Millen joining him on the podium. Ken Gushi had a strong run finishing in four place.

The event shook up the points standings a bit with Vaughn Gittin Jr now leading, followed by Saito, Pawlak, Yoshihara, and Tuerck.

Here is a run-by-run account of the event.

Top 32
The first battle at Evergreen started off with little surprise to many as Vaughn Gittin Jr defeats Miro Ovcharik.

Michael Essa then defeats Odi Bakchis after some apparent contact by Odi.

After some corrections by Chelsea Denofa in the RX8, it was deteremined that Walker Wilkerson would be moving on.

Matt Powers moved to the Top 16 after battling Kyle Pollard and Jhonatthan Castro wins after a spin by Pat Mordaunt.

Taka Aono made a huge error which lead to Matt Field moving on.

A big correction by Chris Forsberg allows his Hankook Tires teammate Rhys Millen to take the win.


Dai Yoshihara takes the win from Dennis Mertzanis after Mertzanis hits the wall.

One of the big surprises of the night was Justin Pawlak losing to Jeremy Lowe by dropping two tires off the track. Knocking him out of the points lead.

Ryan Tuerck wins after Robbie Nishida crashes into the wall.

Fredric Aasbo and Ryan Kado defeat Pat Goodin and Alex Lee, respectively.

Toshiki Yoshioka moves on against Tony Angelo due to Angelo going off course.

To round out the Top 32 Round, Conrad beats Tony Brakohiapa and Daigo Saito wins against Darren McNamara.


Top 16
The Top 16 round started with Michael Essa crashing, giving the win to Vaughn Gittin Jr.

Matt Powers defeats Walker Wilkerson after Walker has contact with the wall.

Matt Field and Rhys Millen move on after defeating Jhonattan Castro and Daijiro Yoshihara, respectively.

Ryan Tuerck moves on after a crash by Jeremy Lowe.

The Great 8 was then set after Ryan Kado defeats Fredric Aasbo, Toshiki Yoshioko loses his hood and the battle against Ken Gushi and Daigo Saito spins, giving Conrad Grunewald the win.


Great Eight
The Great 8 started just like the other rounds, win Vaughn Gittin Jr winning against Matt Powers.

Rhys Millen then betters Matt Field and Ryan Tuerck wins against Ryan Kado.

To finish out the Great 8 round, Ken Gushi wins after a spin by Conrad Grunewald.

Final Four
The Final Four matchup with Rhys Millen and Vaughn Gittin, again saw JR with the win, after Rhys dropped a tire.

After a OMT, Ryan Tuerck was able to beat Ken Gushi because of the gap left between them.


Finals
Rhys Millen then defeated Ken Gushi to take 3rd Place in the round.

Ryan Tuerck and Vaughn Gittin Jr had very close runs, but the win goes to Vaughn Gittin Jr. Who is now the Formula DRIFT points leader.

Ford Mustang Coilovers - Auto Parts Warehouse

Rhys Millen Palm Beach Recap

Team Hyundai released this video with Rhys Millen talking about his runs at Round 3 Palm Beach.

Rhys Millen FD Round 2 Recap

Rhys Millen Racing video from Formula DRIFT Round 2