A writer at BMWblog.com a few days ago named Shawn Molnar wrote a great piece about why BMW should start providing factory support in Formula Drift. The first BMW to enter Formula Drift back in 2005 was Andy Sapp with his black 3-series. Following in his footsteps several BMW projects have come and gone from the sport. Most recently and noteable has been Michael Essa with his Z4 and 335 (pictured above). Here is part of his compelling argument of why BMW should get involved and you can follow the link below to read the full story:

“BMW has long spent marketing dollars in creative ways. We’ve seen BMW throw money at sailing championships and golf championships – and considering the economic stature of the spectators, we weren’t surprised to see marketing budgets partly devoted to these sports.

BMW took a hiatus from their Hollywood product placement efforts, but they’re now back in the game with the i8 scoring a lead role in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol – playing in theaters now. When potential buyers are paying to see your advertisement, you know you’re on to something. Previous Hollywood product placement certainly did no harm for the brand, and the young audience that Hollywood captures represents a key target market to focus on, since these youngsters will be buying the cars and motorcycles of tomorrow.”

Source: http://www.bmwblog.com/2012/01/03/time-for-bmw-to-embrace-formula-drift/

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

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

Kyle Mohan Crashes Going Over 100mph Into Tire Wall at LVMS

This one is going to hurt as you sit and watch Kyle Mohan make contact at triple digit speeds (103mph was the estimation given by Formula Drift) as he contacted the wall in his Mazda Rx-8. As we reported yesterday Kyle was cleared by medical without problems and just some soreness from the wreck. This is the best angle you can find of his huge accident against Michael Essa in the Top 16.

Watch the video: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/kyle-mohan-crashes-going-over-100mph-into-tir

A great main event pushing the championship in flux and almost locking in a Rookie for the Year. The event had some minor slow downs and one of the greatest Top 32 battles in history! Rhys Millen and Sam Hubinette put on the 32 battle of a lifetime. Rhys Millen kept on his top performance and old champion form this weekend resulting in an amazing victory. Matt Powers visited the podium again in his Team NFS 240sx as well. Drama and team orders overshadowed a great performance by Team Falken from the weekend and it is all captured in this 1,000+ photo section! The most coverage from LVMS anywhere on the Internet.

Check Out the Gallery: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=260

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.

The guys over at Studio Mountain consistently put out some of the best videos for Nitto Tire and their third installment of the 2011 Formula Drift season is no exception. This video from Round 5 at Evergreen Speedway slows things down from their usual fast paced video, and it follows the Nitto Tire team throughout the event. High production value and killer on-car shots make it a video you don’t want to miss.

Watch the video here: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/nitto-tire-takes-on-evergreen-speedway

KW TV Episode 5: Battle in Seattle

So it’s not quite the Battle in Seattle with Charlize Theron released a few years ago it was quite the weekend. KW Suspension drivers Dai Yoshihara and Fredric Aasbo both found a podium finish on the most unpredictable track of the season. Dai was able to take the championship points lead back from JTP and have some time after to conduct an interview with KW partner Fredric Aasbo for the camera.

Watch the video: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/kw-tv-episode-5-battle-in-seattle

Formula Drift Evergreen Speedway qualifying ended today with Tyler McQuarrie taking the top spot. The rest of the qualifying order is below:

1 Tyler McQuarrie – 94.5
2 Justin Pawlak – 93.5
3 Rhys. Millen – 89.6
4 Daijiro Yoshihara – 86.9
5 Odi Bakchis – 86
6 Conrad. Grunewald – 85.1
7 Joon. Maeng – 83.7
8 Fredric. Aasbo – 82.1
9 Dean. Kearney – 81.3
10 Ryan. Tuerck – 80.3
11 Michael. Essa – 76.4
12 Vaughn. Gittin – 75.7
13 Matt. Powers – 75.1
14 Walker Wilkerson – 74.7
15 Chris. Forsberg -74.5
16 Alex. Lee – 72.8
17 Alax. Pfeiffer – 71.4
18 Otto. Graven – 71.2
19 Darin. McNamara – 71
20 Charles. Ng – 66.8
21 Matt Field – 66.5
22 Kyle Mohan – 65.1
23 Toshiki Yoshioka – 64.6
24 Roland Gallagher – 62.8
25 Ross Petty – 61
26 Ken. Gushi – 60.6
27 Cyrus Martinez – 60.5
28 Robbie Nishida – 57
29 Jeff Jones – 56.1
30 Ryan Kado – 55.2
31 Dennis Mertzanis – 52.3
32 Luke Longberger – 52.2