{"id":3215,"date":"2013-04-15T16:48:58","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T20:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/?p=3215"},"modified":"2013-04-15T16:50:25","modified_gmt":"2013-04-15T20:50:25","slug":"news-round-1-streets-of-long-beach-kicked-off-the-tenth-season-of-formula-drift-presented-by-gopro-to-a-sold-out-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/?p=3215","title":{"rendered":"[NEWS] Round 1: Streets of Long Beach Kicked Off the Tenth Season of Formula DRIFT Presented by GoPro to a Sold Out Crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.elusivemedia.com%2Fv3%2F%3Fp%3D3215&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><img src=\"http:\/\/www.formulad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/RD1-Podium-600w.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Long Beach, Calif. \u2013 April 13, 2013 \u2013 Formula DRIFT presented by GoPro begins the tenth season of competition with Round 1: Streets of Long Beach. Daijiro Yoshihara in the America\u2019s Tire \/ Falken Tire Nissan S13 takes the victory and leads the championship points chase.<\/p>\n<p>Round 1: Streets of Long Beach started off the tenth season of Formula DRIFT presented by GoPro to a sell out crowd. Fans were treated to a vendor village, Slammed Society car show, a display of vehicles from the Targa Trophy and a skateboard demo from the Action Sports Kids Foundation of Long Beach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo start our ten year anniversary season in front of a sell out crowd sets a great tone for the season to come,\u201d stated Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. \u201cWe owe it all to our drivers, sponsors and the fans for helping to make the Series what it is today. We look forward to another exciting season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Experience became the deciding factor with all three spots on the podium being found by ten-year veterans who also are past champions of the Series. The 2009 Champion Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy Drink \/ Hankook Nissan 370Z was too much for Chelsea DeNofa and earned third place. The final battle pitted 2010 Formula DRIFT champion Vaughn Gittin, Jr in the Monster Energy \/ Nitto Tire Ford Mustang against the 2011 champion Daijiro Yoshihara who also was the number one qualifier. On their first run Gittin made a small mistake at the hairpin giving Yoshihara the edge. A consistent second run by Yoshihara secured his victory giving him the first victory of the season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was my first time to win in Long Beach. I\u2019ve been on the podium a few times, but winning here was one of my goals and I was able to achieve that today, \u201csaid Daijiro Yoshihara, winner of Round 1: Streets of Long Beach. \u201cI also qualified first so this was the best way to start off the season, but it is still a long way to another Championship. I hope to win another Championship this season.\u201d Formula DRIFT presented by GoPro continues at Round 2: Road to the Championship at Road Atlanta on May 10-11, 2013.<\/p>\n<p>For more information visit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.formuladrift.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.formuladrift.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Formula DRIFT Professional Championship Presented by GoPro 2013 Standings After One Event<br \/>\n1. Yoshihara, Daijiro America\u2019s Tire \/ Falken Tire Nissan S13 112 Points<br \/>\n2. Gittin Jr., Vaughn Monster Energy \/ Nitto Tire Ford Mustang 92 Points<br \/>\n3. Forsberg, Chris NOS Energy Drink \/ Hankook Nissan 370Z 79 Points<br \/>\n4. DeNofa, Chelsea BC Racing BMW 3 Series 75 Points<br \/>\n5. McNamara, Darren Falken Tire Nissan S14 64 Points<br \/>\n6. Tuerck, Ryan Team Retaks Scion FR-S 64 Points<br \/>\n7. Gushi, Ken Greddy \/ Hankook Scion FR-S 62 Points<br \/>\n8. Essa, Michael GSR Autosport \/ Yokohama BMW M3 62 Points<br \/>\n9. Moen, Kenneth Nexen Tire Nissan 240SX 58 Points<br \/>\n10. Saito, Daigo Achilles Tire \/ Bridges Racing Lexus SC430 57 Points<br \/>\n11. Aasbo, Fredric Hankook Tire Scion Racing tC 56 Points<br \/>\n12. Bakchis, Aurimas Nexen Tire Nissan S14 56 Points<br \/>\n13. Kado, Ryan DNA Motoring \/ Nexen Tire Nissan 350Z 55 Points<br \/>\n14. Powers, Matt Nitto Tire \/ Fatlace Nissan S14 55 Points<br \/>\n15. Mordaunt, Patrick Apexi \/ PM Racing \/ Diamond Lexus SC430 54.50 Points<br \/>\n16. Pawlak, Justin Falken Tire Ford Mustang 54.50 Points<\/p>\n<p>Round 1: Streets of Long Beach Event Results<br \/>\n1. Yoshihara, Daijiro America\u2019s Tire \/ Falken Tire Nissan S13 Winner<br \/>\n2. Gittin Jr., Vaughn Monster Energy \/ Nitto Ford Mustang Second Place<br \/>\n3. Forsberg, Chris NOS Energy Drink \/ Hankook Nissan 370Z Third Place<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturers Championship Standings After One Event<br \/>\n1. Ford 146.5 Points<br \/>\n2. Nissan 137 Points<br \/>\n2. BMW 137 Points<br \/>\n4. Scion 126 Points<br \/>\n5. Lexus 111 Points<\/p>\n<p>Tire Championship Standings After One Event<br \/>\n1. Falken 176 Points<br \/>\n2. Nitto 167 Points<br \/>\n3. Hankook 141 Points<br \/>\n4. Yokohama 116.5 Points <\/p>\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.elusivemedia.com%2Fv3%2F%3Fp%3D3215&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>Long Beach, Calif. \u2013 April 13, 2013 \u2013 Formula DRIFT presented by GoPro begins the tenth season of competition with Round 1: Streets of Long Beach. Daijiro Yoshihara in the America\u2019s Tire \/ Falken Tire Nissan S13 takes the victory and leads the championship points chase. Round 1: Streets of Long Beach started off the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,474,145,458],"tags":[617,443,615,38,618,85,10,614,620,382,98,532,619,616,545,459],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215"}],"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=3215"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3217,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215\/revisions\/3217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}