{"id":2385,"date":"2012-06-04T13:59:14","date_gmt":"2012-06-04T17:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/?p=2385"},"modified":"2012-06-04T14:04:33","modified_gmt":"2012-06-04T18:04:33","slug":"formula-drift-round-3-daigo-saito-is-victorious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/?p=2385","title":{"rendered":"Formula DRIFT Round 3: Daigo Saito is Victorious!"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.elusivemedia.com%2Fv3%2F%3Fp%3D2385&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=dark\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;height:60px;margin-top:5px;\"><\/iframe><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/?attachment_id=2386\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2386\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Diago_Round3.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Diago_Round3\" width=\"590\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2386\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Diago_Round3.jpg 590w, https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Diago_Round3-300x152.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Daigo Saito is Victorious at Round 3: Invasion at Palm Beach International Raceway;<br \/>\nPawlak Remains in the Pro Championship Points Lead<\/p>\n<p>Long Beach, Calif. \u2013 June 2, 2012 \u2013 Formula DRIFT returned to Round 3: Invasion at Palm Beach International Raceway for the second consecutive year. Rookie Daigo Saito in the Achilles Tire \/ Bridges Racing Lexus SC430 takes the victory and closes in on the points leader Justin Pawlak in the Falken Tire Ford Mustang.<\/p>\n<p>Round 3: Invasion saw an increase in attendance in the second year of competition at Palm Beach International Raceway. The Driftstream saw over 200,000 viewers in a 24 hour period.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re happy to be able to run the original track configuration due to the improvements by Palm Beach International Raceway which made for an improved event for the fans,\u201d said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. \u201cAdditional grandstands were brought in to accommodate for the increase in fan attendance. The dedication and investment by the venue shows their support for our Series and look forward to returning next season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Points leader and winner of last year\u2019s Palm Beach event, Justin Pawlak and the 2011 Formula DRIFT Champion, Daijiro Yoshihara in the Discount Tire \/ Falken Tire Nissan 240SX faced off in a battle for third place. Yoshihara took the win after Pawlak spun out on his chase run and moves into third place overall. The final match of evening pitted Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy \/ Hankook Tire Nissan 370Z against Formula DRIFT rookie Daigo Saito. After a close battle Saito was crowned the winner and has now found the podium for the third consecutive event and increases his chances to win the coveted rookie of the year honors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the first time being in Formula DRIFT and I was able to take the victory and am extremely happy about that,\u201d said Daigo Saito, winner of Round 3: Invasion. \u201cI want to thank everyone and my sponsor Achilles Tire. All my runs weren\u2019t perfect, but I am happy with the final outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Formula DRIFT Pro Championship continues with Round 4: The Gauntlet on June 22-23, 2012 at Wall Speedway.<\/p>\n<p>For more information visit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.formuladrift.com\">www.formuladrift.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Formula DRIFT Professional Championship 2012 Point Standings After 3 Events<br \/>\n1. Pawlak, Justin \tFalken Tire Ford Mustang \t280 Points<br \/>\n2. Saito, Daigo \tAchilles Tire \/ Bridges Racing Lexus SC430 \t259.50 Points<br \/>\n3. Yoshihara, Daijiro \tAmerica&#8217;s Tire \/ Falken Tire Nissan S13 \t197 Points<br \/>\n4. Millen, Rhys \tHankook \/ Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Genesis Coupe \t185 Points<br \/>\n5. Tuerck, Ryan \tTeam Retaks Nissan 240SX \t183.50 Points<br \/>\n6. Forsberg, Chris \tNOS Energy Drink \/ Hankook Nissan 370Z \t183 Points<br \/>\n7. Bakchis, Aurimas &#8220;Odi&#8221; \tBakchis Motorsports Nissan 240SX S14 \t177.25 Points<br \/>\n8. Aasbo, Fredric \tNeed for Speed \/ Papadakis Racing Scion TC \t176.50 Points<br \/>\n9. Gittin Jr., Vaughn \tMonster Energy \/ Falken Ford Mustang \t169 Points<br \/>\n10. Yoshioka, Toshiki \tRS*R Nissan Silvia S15 \t162.75 Points<br \/>\n11. Essa, Michael \tGSR Autosport \/ Nitto BMW ZR4 \t152.50 Points<br \/>\n12. Powers, Matt \tNeed for Speed \/ Nitto Nissan S14 \t151 Points<br \/>\n13. Moen, Kenneth \tLutz Performance Nissan 350Z \t149.50 Points<br \/>\n14. Gushi, Ken \tGreddy \/ Hankook Scion FR-S \t140.50 Points<br \/>\n15. Kado, Ryan \tRyan Kado Racing Nissan 350Z \t138.50 Points<br \/>\n16. Mohan, Kyle \tNexen Tire \/ Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 \t133.75 Points<br \/>\nRound 3: Invasion Event Results<br \/>\n1. Saito, Daigo \tAchilles Tire \/ Bridges Racing Lexus SC430 \tWinner<br \/>\n2. Forsberg, Chris \tNOS Energy Drink \/ Hankook Nissan 370Z \tSecond Place<br \/>\n3. Yoshihara, Daijiro \tAmerica&#8217;s Tire \/ Falken Tire Nissan 240SX \tThird Place<\/p>\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.elusivemedia.com%2Fv3%2F%3Fp%3D2385&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=dark\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;height:60px;margin-top:5px;\"><\/iframe>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Daigo Saito is Victorious at Round 3: Invasion at Palm Beach International Raceway; Pawlak Remains in the Pro Championship Points Lead Long Beach, Calif. \u2013 June 2, 2012 \u2013 Formula DRIFT returned to Round 3: Invasion at Palm Beach International Raceway for the second consecutive year. Rookie Daigo Saito in the Achilles Tire \/ Bridges [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,145,27],"tags":[423,38,10,422],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2385"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2398,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions\/2398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}