Robbie Nishida

Formula Drift Media Day exploded with the most drivers we have seen to date to ring in the start of the 10th year of Formula Drift. Jeff Jones smacked the wall, Fredric Aasbo smacked the wall harder, Justin Pawlak was putting down top qualifying runs, Daigo made just a few passes, and Chris Forsberg finished the day off with some engine issues. All and all it was quite an exciting day and did our best to document all the new rides in their entirety. You might find more people adding nitrous for 2013 than you think!

Check out the Gallery: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=325

Posted in Chelsea DeNofa, Chris Forsberg, Conrad Grunewald, Daigo Saito, Dave Briggs, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Gallery, Jeff Jones, Jhonnattan Castro, Joon Maeng, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Kyle Mohan, Odi Bakchis, Robbie Nishida, Tyler McQuarrie | 2 Comments »

While some details on this $25k shootout were revealed back in December, the full drivers list and alternates was released today. Joining the original 11 candidates are Chris Forsberg, Toshiki Yoshioka, Ryan Tuerck, Kyle Mohan, Tony Angelo, Chelsea Denofa, and Ryan Kado. Missing from the original list is Justin Pawlak. Here’s the final list, as well as the alternates:

Driver /Hometown /Nationality

Forsberg, Chris / Doylestown, PA / American
Powers, Matt / Pacific Beach, CA / American
Bakchis, Odi / Kaunas, Lithuania / Lithuanian
Yoshioka, Toshiki / Hiroshima, Japan / Japanese
Grunewald, Conrad / Houston, TX / American
Essa, Michael / Los Angeles, CA / Indian/American
Saito, Daigo / Tokyo, Japan / Japanese
Nishida, Robbie / Tokyo, Japan / Japanese
Tuerck, Ryan / Derry, NH / American
McQuarrie, Tyler / Walnut Creek, CA / American
Yoshihara, Daijiro / Hachiouji Tokyo, Japan / Japanese
Aasbo, Fredric /Ski, Norway / Norwegian
Mohan, Kyle /Anaheim, CA / American
Angelo, Tony / Doylestown, PA / American
Denofa, Chelsea / Philadephia, PA / American
Kado, Ryan / Sacramento, CA / Japanese/American

Alternate Drivers:

Wilkerson, Walker / Snohomish, WA / Japanese
Jones, Jeff / San Fernando Valley, CA / American

Who is your favorite to take home the cash?

Posted in Chelsea DeNofa, Chris Forsberg, Conrad Grunewald, Daigo Saito, Daijiro Yoshihara, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Jeff Jones, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Major Announcements, Matt Powers, Michael Essa, Odi Bakchis, Robbie Nishida, Ryan Kado, Ryan Tuerck, Tony Angelo, Toshiki Yoshioka, Tyler McQuarrie, Walker Wilkerson | 22 Comments »

The Formula D Superdrift series will take place over the Long Beach Grand Prix weekend that happens just one week after the first round of Formula D. The $25,000 in cash will be on the line for a huge event on Saturday using the traditional Formula Drift track on turns nine, ten, and eleven. On Friday the drivers will be running practice and qualifying like a traditional Formula Drift event. Saturday the cash is on the line running the traditional Formula Drift course.

Seating for the Super Drift Challenge will be in Grandstands 16, 18, 24, 25 and 26 on a first-come, first-serve basis beginning at 6:30 p.m. Ticket prices for the three-day event range from $28 for a Friday General Admission ticket to $130 for a three-day ticket that includes Sat./Sun. reserved seating in grandstand upper levels. On Saturday the event kicks off at 7:00pm and will feature a Top 16 of the best drivers in the series. As an added bonus the Super Drift Challenge cars will drift the entire race circuit after the featured IZOD IndyCar Series race.

Here is the Drivers List: 
Daigo Saito
Daijiro Yoshihara
Frederic Aasbo
Aurimas Bakchis
Michael Essa
Conrad Grunewald
Ken Gushi
Tyler McQuarrie
Robbie Nishida
Justin Pawlak
Matt Powers
*Others will be announced soon

Posted in Conrad Grunewald, Daigo Saito, Daijiro Yoshihara, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Major Announcements, Matt Powers, Michael Essa, Odi Bakchis, Robbie Nishida, Tyler McQuarrie | 5 Comments »

So Most Improved driver award goes to the driver who improved his season score the most from 2011 to 2012. Robbie Nishida took home this award by finishing 34th 120.25 points in 2011 and closing this season in 13th with 320.25 points. While we cannot be more excited for Robbie Nishida taking home this award and finally having a car that worked for a full season we don’t really understand how he got it. Robbie missed three rounds of the 2011 season (the whole east coast) resulting in most of the points gap. Oh well, congrats to Achilles Tire and Robbie for taking hom this award.

Posted in Formula D, Major Announcements, Robbie Nishida | 4 Comments »

In case you didn’t get a chance to grab these cartoon stickers at Formula Drift Las Vegas the guys at Achilles Radial just announced they will be available during autograph signings all weekend at Irwindale for interested fans. You can pick up one of Daigo Saito in his Lexus SC430 or Robbie Nishida in his flat black Toyota Soarer.

Posted in Daigo Saito, Formula D, Free Stuff, Lifestyle, Robbie Nishida | 5 Comments »

With the 2012 season coming to a wrap following the next round of competition at Irwindale Speedway, Vaughn Gittin Jr. leads in points, but the shot for the title is still very much open. Here’s the tentative list of who you can expect to see at the final round of the 2012 Formula Drift season at Irwindale.

	Rank	Name	Car #
	1	Gittin, Vaughn Jr.	25
	2	Saito, Daigo	430
	4	Pawlak, Justin	13
	5	Yoshihara, Daijiro	9
	7	Tuerck, Ryan	62
	3	Millen, Rhys	67
	6	Aasbo, Fredric	151
	9	Forsberg, Chris	64
	11	Powers, Matt	665
	13	Bakchis, Odi	723
	8	Gushi, Ken	21
	10	Grunewald, Conrad	79
	12	Essa, Mike	101
	19	Moen, Kenneth	22
	20	Kado, Ryan	614
	14	Yoshioka, Toshiki	5
	16	Denofa, Chelsea	88
	17	McQuarrie, Tyler	17
	18	Wilkerson, Walker	95
	15	Nishida, Robbie	31
	21	Field, Matt	777
	25	McNamara, Darren	8
	22	Mohan, Kyle	99
	23	Angelo, Tony	96
	24	Maeng, Joon	51
	28	Lowe, Jeremy	138
	27	Mertzanis, Dennis	323
	29	Aono, Taka	86
	30	Ovcharik, Miroslav	235
	31	Mordaunt, Patrick	90
	32	Castro, Jhonnattan	717
	33	Brakohiapa, Tony	18
	26	Lonberger, Luke	28
	34	George, Danny	7
	39	Hosford, Corey	232
	35	Ward, Chris*	23
	36	Goodin, Patrick	46
	41	D’Alessio, Nick	84
	42	Amandio, Emmanuel	30
	39	Lee, Alex	81
	45	Jones, Jeff	29
	49	Martinez, Cyrus	951
	49	Hajdu, Zoltan	32
	49	Abbott, Jeff	518
	45	Bell, Ryan	19
	45	Briggs, Dave	24
	49	Coomes, Andrew	12
	43	Fournier, Ian	11
	37	Gallagher, Roland	425
	49	Mendoza Jr., Enrique	16
	49	Ornelas Jr., Mauricio	27
	49	Phillips, Mike	52
	49	Skudlarek, Mike	20
	49	Stone, Gabe	15
	49	Thomas, Nick	310

Posted in Chelsea DeNofa, Chris Forsberg, Conrad Grunewald, Daigo Saito, Daijiro Yoshihara, Darren McNamara, Dennis Mertzanis, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Joon Maeng, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Kyle Mohan, Matt Powers, Michael Essa, Patrick Mordaunt, Rhys Millen, Robbie Nishida, Ryan Tuerck, Tony Angelo, Toshiki Yoshioka, Vaughn Gittin Jr., Walker Wilkerson | 4 Comments »

The qualifying scores were delayed  because of a protest by Jeff Jones that he did not have 2 tires go offline. Jeff Jones won the protest, but it did not effect the qualifying score.

1. V. Gittin Jr

2. J. Pawlak
3. T. Yoshioka
4. P. Mordaunt
5. C. Forsberg
6. C. Grunewald
7. F. Aasbo
8. W. Wilkerson
9. M. Powers
10. R. Kado
11. D. McNamara
12. D. Yoshihara
13. M. Field
14. K. Gushi
15. R. Tuerck
16. M. Essa
17. O. Bakchis
18. R. Nishida
19. K. Moen
20. T. Aono
21. D. Mertzanis
22. D. Saito
23. A. Lee
24. K. Pollard
25. C. Denofa
26. P. Goodin
27. T. Brakohiapa
28. R. Millen
29. J. Castro
30. T. Angelo
31. J. Lowe
32. M. Ovcharik

Posted in Chelsea DeNofa, Chris Forsberg, Conrad Grunewald, Daigo Saito, Daijiro Yoshihara, Darren McNamara, Dennis Mertzanis, Formula D, Jeff Jones, Jhonnattan Castro, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Matt Powers, Michael Essa, Odi Bakchis, Patrick Mordaunt, RESULTS, Rhys Millen, Robbie Nishida, Ryan Tuerck | 4 Comments »

Both Robbie Nishida’s SC300 and Dean Kearney’s S13.5 are being wrapped in flat black material to match Daigo Saito’s Lexus SC430. As we reported earlier this week, Dean will make his return to Formula D behind the wheel of the S13.5 Robbie Nishida drove in Long Beach this year. Robbie’s car was wrapped by Portland Sign Design, a local company specializing in wraps, while the car sat at Portland Speed Industries. Dean’s car was wrapped at Designcraft Fabrication in Huntington Beach, and is now on the way north to join the cars at PSI.

We liked Robbie’s white livery more than Daigo’s black livery. Which livery do you prefer?

Posted in Dean Kearney, Robbie Nishida, Spy Shots | 5 Comments »

Back in 2006, we ventured up to Seattle filming the Slide America DVD and witnessed one of the most dramatic crashes in Formula D to date when Seigo Yamamoto and Yokinobu Okubo collided mid-bank. Since then, Formula D has returned to Seattle 5 more times, and each year, we’ve learned to expect the unexpected. Seattle is one track that has had some of the most diverse podiums. We decided to look back at the last 6 years that Seattle has taken place as we prepared for our seventh trip to the track this weekend.

2006 Podium:
1st – Yokinobu Okubo – Signal Auto Nissan Skyline
2nd – Seigo Yamamoto – Falken Tire Toyota Chaser
3rd – Rhys Millen – Red Bull Pontiac GTO

2007 Podium:
1st – Dai Yoshihara – Rockstar Energy Nissan S15
2nd – Vaughn Gittin Jr – Falken Tire Ford Mustang
3rd – Kenji Yamanaka – JIC Magic Nissan S15

2008 Podium:
1st – Rhys Millen – Red Bull Pontiac Solstice
2nd – Sam Hubinette – Mopar Dodge Viper
3rd – Robbie Nishida – Hankook Tire Nissan 350Z

2009 Podium:
1st – Chris Forsberg – NOS Energy Drink Nissan 350Z
2nd – Eric O’Sullivan – Rockstar Hankook Tire Subaru STI
3rd – Tyler McQuarrie – Falken Tire Nissan 350Z

2010 Podium:
1st – Tanner Foust – Rockstar Energy Scion tC
2nd – Ryan Tuerck – Mobil 1 Gardella Racing Pontiac Solstice
3rd – Darren McNamara – Falken Tire Saturn Sky

2011 Podium:
1st – Dai Yoshihara – Discount Tire Falken S13
2nd – Chris Forsberg – NOS Energy Drink Nissan 370Z
3rd – Freddy Aasbo – Need for Speed Scion tC

Who is your pick for the 2012 podium?

Posted in Daijiro Yoshihara, Darren McNamara, Eric O'Sullivan, Formula D, RESULTS, Rhys Millen, Robbie Nishida, Sam Hubinette, Scion, Tanner Foust, Vaughn Gittin Jr. | 9 Comments »

Unlike Mitsuru Haraguchi, Dean Kearney will actually be driving in Seattle, marking his return to the series since the 2011 season finale at Irwindale. Kearney will be piloting the Achilles Tire S13.5 that Robbie Nishida drove in Long Beach. Kearney arrived in Long Beach ready to drive, but had to watch as Nishida drove the car then eventually crashed it in top 32 when leading against Conrad Grunewald. Although Kearney finished 2011 ranked higher, Nishida was a higher priority on the Achilles team due to his involvement both in the US and Asia as well as his previous relationship with Bridges Racing. We look forward to having another Irishman behind the wheel!

Posted in Dean Kearney, Formula D, International, Robbie Nishida | 13 Comments »