The Wall Speedway at Wall Township, New Jersey recently hosted the
third round of the Formula Drift Series, which has been appropriately
titled as the "Gauntlet". Known for having one of the most challenging
drift tracks in the world, the track comes with a 16-degree banked
oval along the straightaway and 30 degrees on the turns. Of course,
that didn’t stop the best drifters in the world from putting on quite
a show.
The third round of Formula DRIFT featured some scintillating action
that was highlighted by Daijiro Yoshihara’s second victory in a row -
he also won the second round at Road Atlanta - and Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s
third straight podium finish, making him the only driver in all three
rounds to finish in the podium three times, and extend his lead on top
of the Pro Championship standings.
“I’ve got my mojo back!,” a visibly excited Daijiro Yoshihara
exclaimed. “This feels incredible to win back to back events and I
could not have done it without the help of my team and sponsors.”
With clear skies serving as the backdrop to some exciting drifting
action, Yoshihara parlayed his momentum from his round two victory in
Road Atlanta into another with another scintillating run on-board his
Discount Tire Falken Tire Nissan S13. Meanwhile, Falken teammate and
overall points leader Vaughn Gittin Jr. once again played bridesmaid
to Yoshihara in his Monster Energy Falken Tires Ford Mustang, losing
out to the Japanese sensation in the event’s final run for the second
round in a row.
Coming in third was 2-time Formula DRIFT champion Tanner Foust who had
to push his Rockstar Energy Drink Scion tC to the absolute limit,
edging out last year’s winner Darren McNamara in his Falken Tires
Saturn Sky.
The exciting start to the 2010 Formula DRIFT season hasn’t gone
unnoticed by both organizers and fans, alike. Jim Liaw, president and
co-founder of Formula DRIFT didn’t hold back on his assessment on how
the 2010 season has gone so far. “The seventh season continues to be
unbelievably strong with the depth and skill of the driver pool," he
said. “We want to give it up the drivers for putting on another great
show and to the fans for their continued support.”
Heading into the fourth round of the Formula DRIFT series at the
Evergreen Speedway on July 9-10, Gittin still remains as points leader
with 291 points followed by the red-hot Yoshihara who has 270 points.
Rounding out the top three is Foust with 228 points.
Posted on
05.27.2011 @ 00:20