We have more information on this Scion FR-S build happening with Ken Gushi next season! It sounds like RS*R is taking a backseat like we posted a rumormill of earlier and they have a new company taking over building of the Scion. The Toyota GT-86 has been everywhere this weekend and we documented some production photos of what the car looks like as a production model. With a relationship already in place between Scion Racing and Greddy (see the Scion tC above) it sounds like they are going to call on them to complete the 2012 Scion FR-S build for Ken Gushi. We cannot wait to see what they will cook up for the new drifting season.

Here are some Toyota GT 86 (or Scion FR-S for us in America) images posted by a Japanese website from the big release they have done on the car now in Japan. The car has a Subaru boxer engine which has been rumored well in the past. The interior has a simplistic feel which I would expect from a Scion branded car and a nice three pod gauge cluster just above the radio. I really love the gauge cluster of the car and hope the USDM market gets an identical one.

This is the car now going to be what Ken Gushi is starting with for a 2012 Formula Drift project car. The car looks quite different from the concept car we saw at the 2011 SEMA Show. I love the car from some angles and I am not thrilled about it right now from other angles but I think it should grow on me over time. What do you think about this new Scion FR-S?

Source: http://autoc-one.jp/toyota/report-908981/photo/

We haver quite the confirmation (about 99%) that Ken Gushi will be driving a Scion FR-S for the 2012 Formula Drift season. Our source also heard that RS*R will not be building the new Scion FR-S for the Scion Racing team but more news on that later. What does everyone think about Ken Gushi driving a Scion FR-S next year? Will anyone step up in the new Subaru BRZ STI as well? I personally cannot wait to see Ken Gushi in a new platform with some new support to push him in the right direction!

Formula Drift Asia took over Indonesia for a round of the Asian series this year. The event was broadcast live on Star Sports and saw a huge number of viewers during the event. The drifting event took place at Jakarta International Expo and featured Ken Gushi and Robbie Nishida from Formula Drift. Daigo Saito from D1GP also attended the event and took home first place again at the Indonesia event. 2011 Formula Drift champion Dai Yoshihara was also on the judging stand again for this FD Asia event. Here is how the podium stacked up:

1. Daigo Saito
2. Muhammad Rulli Armando
3. Pond Dechapon

After the 2011 season Formula Drift has 52 events in the books. The series now has 17 overall event winners meaning just about every 3 events (twice a season) a driver will receive his first win in the sport. Now after 2011 nine drivers are multiple events winners in the series. This year added two of those nine drivers with Justin Pawlak winning both his events this season and Tyler McQuarrie earning his second at Irwindale Speedway this season joining the club.

1. Sam Hubinette (9 Wins)
1. 2004 Road Atlanta
2. 2004 Houston
3. 2004 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)
4. 2005 Road Atlanta
5. 2005 Chicago
6. 2006 Streets of Long Beach
7. 2006 Chicago
8. 2006 Wall Speedway
9. 2007 Summit Point

2. Tanner Foust (7 Wins)
1. 2006 Road Atlanta
2. 2007 Irwindale Speedway
3. 2008 Streets of Long Beach
4. 2008 Englishtown
5. 2008 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)
6. 2009 Las Vegas
7. 2010 Evergreen Speedway
8. 2010 Irwindale Speedway

3. Chris Forsberg (6 Wins)
1. 2005 Irwnidale
2. 2007 Road Atlanta
3. 2007 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)
4. 2008 Streets of Long Beach
5. 2009 Road Atlanta
6. 2009 Evergreen Speedway

3. Rhys Millen (6 Wins)
1. 2004 Irwindale Speedway
2. 2005 Wall Speedway
3. 2006 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)
4. 2008 Road Atlanta
5. 2008 Evergreen Speedway
6. 2011 Las Vegas

3. Dai Yoshihara (6 Wins)
1. 2006 Irwindale Speedway
2. 2007 Evergreen Speedway
3. 2007 Wall Speedway
4. 2010 Road Atlanta
5. 2011 Road Atlanta
6. 2011 Evergreen Speedway

6. Vaughn Gittin Jr. (3 Wins)
1. 2008 Irwindale Speedway
2. 2010 Streets of Long Beach
3. 2010 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)

7. Ryan Tuerck (2 Wins)
1. 2009 Streets of Long Beach
2. 2009 Irwindale Speedway

7. Tyler McQuarrie (2 Wins)
1. 2010 Las Vegas
2. 2011 Irwindale Speedway

7. Justin Pawlak (2 Wins)
1. 2011 Streets of Long Beach
2. 2011 Palm Beach International Raceway

10. Ken Gushi (1 Win)
1. 2005 Houston

10. Calvin Wan (1 Win)
1. 2005 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma

10. Yukinobu Okubo (1 Win)
1. 2006 Evergreen Speedway

10. Mitsuru Haraguchi (1 Win)
1. 2007 Streets of Long Beach

10. Toshiki Yoshioka (1 Win)
1. 2008 Las Vegas

10. Darren McNamara (1 Win)
1. 2009 Wall Speedway

10. Stephan Verdier (1 Win)
1. 2009 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)

10. Conrad Grunewald (1 Win)
1. 2011 Wall Speedway

The most winning driver in Formula Drift Sam Hubinette took the top qualifying spot this weekend at Irwindale Speedway which is something we haven’t seen from him in sometime. A huge congrats to his performance after a rough start to the 2011 season! Here is how the Top 32 stacked up with Rookie of the Year leader Odi Bakchis missing out with a 33rd place finish.

1.Sam Hubinette – 92.7 points
2. Justin Pawlak – 90.4 points
3. Tyler McQuarrie – 88.4 points
4. Ryan Tuerck – 86.1 points
5. Rhys Millen – 85.9 points
6. Dai Yoshihara – 83.5 points
7. Walker Wilkerson – 83.3 points
8. Robbie Nishida – 83.2 points
9. Conrad Grunewald – 82.3 points
10. Matt Powers – 79.4 points
11. Ken Gushi – 79.0 points
12. Vaughn Gittin Jr. – 77.7 points
13. Fredric Aasbo – 77.3 points
14. Dean Kearney – 77.1 points
15. Luke Lonberger – 77 points
16. Chris Forsberg – 76.9 points
17. Matt Field – 76.5 points
18. Toshiki Yoshioka – 73.1 points
19. Ryan Kado – 72.8 points
20. Kyle Mohan – 72.8 points
21. Michael Essa – 71.2 points
22. Taka Aono – 70.8 points
23. Ross Petty – 68.9 points
24. E. Armandio “Dio” – 68.6 points
25. Dennis Mertzanis – 68.3 points
26. Darren McNamara – 67.9 points
27. Jeff Abbott – 67.8 points
28. Pat Cyr – 66.3 points
29. Kenneth Moen – 66.2 points
30. Cyrus Martinez – 63.3 points
31. Charles Ng – 62.5 points
32. Patrick Mordaunt – 61 points

Ken Gushi has been documenting all the issues his RS*R Scion tC has had this year on more than one occasion through his blog. Long Beach I feel like he vented the most which you can see here in this,”Ken Gushi Blogs About Lack of Top 32 Competition and Long Beach.” I have heard from several other FD teams over the past week (unconfirmed with RS*R) that they have heard a buzz about the RS*R program not being together next season. The off season is all quiet right now with Irwindale coming up but we think some big driver changes are going to be happening this off season and we of course will be the only ones reporting on the rumors of the industry.

RS*R has been running a Scion program since inception of the car in Formula Drift but this year they have suffered many vehicle malfunctions. Even if RS*R stays on board in 2012 I find it hard to believe Ken Gushi would stick around given the opportunity to find another ride in the sport. Ken Gushi is one of the 16 elite drivers since the sports creation in 2004 to win a round of the series. This was back in Houston 2005 when he was with Ford Racing and it more recent time I feel like people have forgotten about his great achievements in this sport.

Check out the tentative drivers list here for Formula Drift Round 7. No big shockers in the drivers list (hopefully some last minute shocking entries show up) but read it up and down. The finals are going to be up in the air and we cannot wait until the main event:

1. Fredric Aasbo
2. Jeff Abbott
3. Emmanuel Amandio
4. Odi Bakchis
5. Tony Brakohiapa
6. Patrick Cyr
7. Michael Essa
8. Mike Feiock
9. Matt Field
10. Chris Forsberg
11. Vaughn Gittin Jr.
12. Otto Graven
13. Conrad Grunewald
14. Ken Gushi
15. Jim Guthrie
16. Sam Hubinettte
17. Jeff Jones
18. Ryan kado
19. Dean Kearney
20. Nikolay Konstantinov
21. Alex Lee
22. Luke Lonberger
23. Joon Maeng
24. Cyrus Martinez
25. Darren McNamara
26. Tyler McQuarrie
27. Dennis Mertzanis
28. Rhys Millen
29. Kenneth Moen
30. Kyle Mohan
31. Patrick Mordaunt
32. Charles Ng
33. Robbie Nishida
34. Justin Pawlak
35. Ross Petty
36. Alex Pfeiffer
37. Kyle Pollard
38. Saranon Pornpatanarak
39. Matt Powers
40. John Russakoff
41. Ryan Tuerck
42. Matt Waldin
43. Walker Wilkerson
44. Daijiro Yoshihara
45. Toshiki Yoshioka

J Brad visited MotoIQ radio to talk about all the issues that happened at LVMS. The master of the Falken Tire throne talked about how they got the Falken Tire S15 from Los Angeles to LVMS. The car sounded like it was in rough shape according to TMac from Facebook. J Brad did announce that the car will be getting a V8 for next season and will be prepped to be more competitive as a “back up” car perhaps for the next season. That leaves this car as an option for backups possible in the future? I wonder if they will even take the extra step to haul it around next year with the rigs? Another car steps away from a four cylinder engine at the turn of this year.

Here are the Top 32 pairings for todays big event. Right now if your eye is on the championship you will care about Tyler McQuarrie Justin Pawlak and Dai Yoshihara photographed above. They are on the same side of the bracket and scheduled to meet in the Final Four if they can win their respective tandem battles for the weekend. Sadly Tyler McQuarrie and Justin Pawlak are on opposite sides of the ladder so they would not meet until the finals for a battle that would be huge after the controversy of the weekend.

Matt Powers Vs. Jeff Jones
Matt Field Vs. Fredric Aasbo
Conrad Grunewald Vs. Matt Walden
Ken Gushi vs. Tyler McQuarrie
Chris Forsberg Vs. Alex Lee
Ryan Tureck Vs. Charles Ng
Vaughn Gittin Jr. Vs. Cyrus Martinez
Darren McNamara Vs. Kyle Pollard
Rhys Millen Vs. Sam Hubinette
Dean Kearney Vs. Patrick Mordaunt
Kyle Mohan Vs. Dennis Mertzanis
Michael Essa Vs. Armando “Dio”
Robbie Nishida Vs. Justin Pawlak
Otto Graven Vs. Odi Bakchis
Daijiro Yoshihara Vs. Ross Petty
Ryan Kado Vs. Toshiki Yoshioka

UPDATE at 6:41pm: Formula D changed the Top 32 due to points not given to Ryan Tuerck. No update of rankings as of Top 32 has been posted or provided as of the event going on live in progress. We apologize for the errors in this post.