Michael Essa

A tentative drivers list for Road Atlanta has been released by Formula Drift today. Eric O’Sullivan is finally on the list and ready for action in a Pontiac Solstice. Some of the rookies like Walker Wilkerson are making the trek out east. Make sure to sign in to Fantasy Drift and update your roster in case your drivers are not making it to Round 2.

Justin Pawlak
Matt Powers
Daijiro Yoshihara
Chris Forsberg
Kyle Mohan
Conrad Grunewald
Rhys Millen
Ryan Tuerck
Fredric Aasbo
Darren McNamara
Tyler McQuarrie
Walker Wilkerson
Matt Field
Ross Petty
Matt Waldin
Dennis Mertzanis
John Russakoff
Michael Essa
Ken Gushi
Joon Maeng
Cyrus Martinez
Charles Ng
Alex Pfeiffer
Taka Aono
Odi Bakchis
Mike Feiock
Otto Graven
Jeff Jones
Dean Kearney
Patrick Mordaunt
Tony Brakohiapa
Patrick Cyr
Vaughn Gittin Jr.
Jim Guthrie
Zoltan Hadju
Brad Hettinger
Sam Hubinette
Ryan Kado
Luke Lonberger
Eric O’Sullivan
Mike Skudlarek

Posted in Alex Pfeiffer, Chris Forsberg, Daijiro Yoshihara, Darren McNamara, Dean Kearney, Eric O'Sullivan, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Joon Maeng, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Kyle Mohan, Matt Powers, Matt Waldin, Michael Essa, Patrick Mordaunt, Rhys Millen, Sam Hubinette, Stephan Verdier, Tanner Foust, Tyler McQuarrie, Vaughn Gittin Jr. | 8 Comments »

KW Suspension put together this video highlighting the KW Suspension team’s efforts at Formula Drift Round 1: Streets of Long Beach. This video featuring it’s all-star roster of drivers featuring Matt Powers, Dai Yoshihara, Rhys Millen, Michael Essa, Fredric Aasbo, and Joon Maeng and highlights Matt Powers’ and Dai Yoshihara’s 2nd and 3rd place podium finishes.

Click here to watch the video: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/kw-tv-episode-1-streets-of-long-beach

Posted in Daijiro Yoshihara, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Joon Maeng, Matt Powers, Michael Essa, Rhys Millen, Video | No Comments »

Posted in Chris Forsberg, Conrad Grunewald, Daijiro Yoshihara, Darren McNamara, Dean Kearney, Formula D, Joon Maeng, Ken Gushi, Kyle Mohan, Matt Powers, Matt Waldin, Michael Essa, RESULTS, Rhys Millen, Ryan Tuerck, Tyler McQuarrie | 14 Comments »

Luckily Michael Essa has a few days to get his BMW Z4 sorted for Streets of Long Beach but in the second session (P2) he broke a tie rod and barreled right into the tire wall in the exact same fashion that murdered his 335i last year. The same problem at the same turn just quite slower in the Z4 from what we were told.

You can see some of the battle damage on the Z4 right around the KW Suspension and Genius Tool logos on the front bumper. First off I super respect Michael Essa and his whole GSR team for building a car with ZERO data in the sport. It’s great and more people need to take these risks and step out of the 240sx box. However, suffering the same accident in the Z4 with a tie-rod failure I feel like could have Essa’s confidence on tilt for qualifying and with the chance of rain their is no telling where he might wind up.

I really hope he can overcome these obstacles but 2011 is already throwing him quite a wrench. The last of the convertibles will be put up to the test and Long Beach will set the stage for him to be a championship contender, fighting to stay in the Top 16, or a bottom feeder for the new year.

Posted in Formula D, Michael Essa | No Comments »

The 2011 season has arrived and Ricky Cervantes was on the scene to capture these images and some video (coming later tonight) from Media Day. Chris Forsberg looked spot on in his new chassis and Conrad Grunewald looked decent in his Chevrolet Camaro as well. Joon Maeng had some great runs in the Rx-8 while others like Alex Pfeiffer didn’t look so hot along with Michael Essa who crashed his Z4 (more on this in a follow up post). Ryan Tuerck also took the rear end off his car passing the second turn of the course after going wide on his line up into the horseshoe.

Check out the Gallery: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=220

Posted in Alex Pfeiffer, Chris Forsberg, Formula D, Gallery, Joon Maeng, Michael Essa, Ryan Tuerck | 4 Comments »

Universal Technical Institute’s Rancho Cucamonga campus once again hosted Formula Drift’s Tech Day and we were on hand to get the first look at the new vehicles, wraps, and builds of the 2011 Formula Drift season. We put together a gallery of all the cars on hand, which included new builds for Chris Forsberg, Michael Essa, Fredric Aasbo, and many others.

Click here to check out the full gallery and get a sneak peek of some of the cars we can expect to see at Long Beach: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=218

Posted in Chris Forsberg, Dean Kearney, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Gallery, Ken Gushi, Michael Essa, Patrick Mordaunt, Sam Hubinette | No Comments »

Here is Michael Essa’s BMW Z4 with a E46 M3 engine. The car has a similar design style to his BMW 335i which is now retired from Formula Drift action. The BMW Z4 might be the last convertible left in this sport after we have watched almost all the top teams converting to coupes this year. Michael is still running Nitto Tire this year and next week we will see how competitive his new machine can be.

Posted in Formula D, Michael Essa, Spy Shots | 7 Comments »

The guys at MotoIQ dug into the BWW Z4 of Michael Essa’s and give you a full suspension and engine rundown on the car. It is looking like a great project for Michael Essa who is bringing his second BMW into the Formula Drift series this year. This did go up earlier last week and we aren’t sure how we missed this story! In case you haven’t seen it yet you should check out how immaculate this car looks. Now here is to hoping he leaves it this awesome BMW light blue color but I doubt it.

Read about Michael Essa’s BMW Z4: http://www.motoiq.com/magazine_articles/articletype/articleview/articleid/1887/hard-as-fck-mike-essas-bmw-z4-drift-monster.aspx

Posted in Formula D, Michael Essa, Spy Shots | No Comments »

Here is the tentative 2011 Formula Drift drivers list for Long Beach exclusively found here at Wrecked Magazine. If you scroll all the way to the bottom you might find a Japanese star back on the roster for a new season. It is looking like a strong field and a super intense season. Just seven days from Media Day at Streets of Long Beach!

Aasbo, Fredric
Abbott, Jeff
Aono, Taka
Bachis, Odi
Brakohiapa, Tony
Essa, Michael
Feiock, Mike
Field, Matt
Forsberg, Chris
Gallagher, Roland
George, Danny
Gittin, Vaughn Jr.
Graven, Otto
Grunewald, Conrad
Guild, Josh
Gushi, Ken
Guthrie, Jim
Hettinger, Brad
Hubinette, Samuel
Jones, Jeff
Kado, Ryan
Kearney, Dean
Lee, Alex
Licup, Chris
Lonberger, Luke
Maeng, Joon
Martinez, Cyrus
McNamara, Darren
McQuarrie, Tyler
Mertzanis, Dennis
Millen, Rhys
Moen, Kenneth
Mohan, Kyle
Mordaunt, Patrick
Ng, Charles
Nishida, Robbie
Pawlak, Justin
Petty, Ross
Pfeiffer, Alex
Powers, Matt
Russakoff, John
Skudlarek, Mike
Tuerck, Ryan
Waldin, Matt
Wang, Forrest
Wilkerson, Walker
Yoshihara, Daijiro
Yoshioka, Toshiki

Posted in Alex Pfeiffer, Chris Forsberg, Daijiro Yoshihara, Darren McNamara, Dean Kearney, Formula D, Forrest Wang, Fredric Aasbo, Joon Maeng, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Kyle Mohan, Matt Powers, Matt Waldin, Michael Essa, Patrick Mordaunt, Rhys Millen, Robbie Nishida, Roland Gallagher, Sam Hubinette, Tanner Foust, Tyler McQuarrie, Vaughn Gittin Jr. | 21 Comments »

Qatar qualifying was dominated by Tanner Foust in his last drifting event in history. Chris Forsberg was Driver Number 8 who DNF’d due to engine problems that we reported about yesterday. Thailand’s Kiki Sak Nana came out to Qatar and Malaysia’s Tengku Djan Ley also came out to compete. They will run a Top 8 format with Tanner Foust getting a bye for the first round. Here is how they scored with speeds in KPH.

1.- Tanner Foust – #34 – Speed 109.2 KPH – Score 95.9
2.- Fredric Aasbo #151 – Speed 98.4 KPH – Score 87.7
3.- Tengku Djan Ley #12 – Speed 89.3 KPH – Score 77.3
4.- Daijiro Yoshihara #9 – Speed 90.6 KPH – Score 72
5.- Tony Brakohiapa #18 – Speed 97.8 KPH – Score 69.8
6.- Kiki Sak Nana #2 – Speed 80.2 KPH – Score 68.6
7.- Michael Essa #101 – Speed 93.2 KPH – Score 64.9

Posted in Daijiro Yoshihara, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, International, Michael Essa, Tanner Foust | 12 Comments »