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->ke3405 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.