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The 2007 Formula Drift Champion Tanner Foust took fist place at the third Formula D event at Englishtown Raceway.  Next Formula Drift event is July 12 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Nevada.

2008 Formula Drift Round 3 Results:

1. Tanner Foust - Nissan 350Z
2. Tyler McQuarrie - Porsche GT2
3. Rhys Millen - Pontiac Solstice GXP
4. Daijiro Yoshihara - Pontiac GTO

Overall Point Standings:

Tanner Foust - Nissan 350Z (259 points)
Sam Hubinette - Dodge Viper (228 points)
Chris Forsberg - Nissan 350Z (226 points)
Daijiro Yoshihara - Pontiac GTO (217 points)
Michihiro Takatori - R34 Nissan Skyline (206 points)
Ryan Tuerck - Pontiac Solstice (199 points)
Rhys Millen - Pontiac Solstice GXP (187 points)
Vaughn Gittin Jr. - Ford Mustang (182 points)
(Tied for 9) Conrad Grunewald - Chevrolet Corvette (173 points)
(Tied for 9) Darren McNamara - Saturn Sky

Pro drifter and Formula Drift Champion (2004, 2006) Samuel Hubinette was filming on set of the upcoming Fast and Furious 4 movie when he had to get into character – Iranian character! He looks a little like a hobo, but from the driver seat I’m sure Sam will look great. Hubinette reports that three of the other stunt drivers were Rich Rutherford, Paul Dallenback, and 2007 Formula Drift Champ Tanner Foust. Samuel Hubinette has more pics of his Iranian makeover at his official blog.

The 2008 D1 Grand Prix Tokyo Drift in Odaiba took place over two days and featured the best drivers from Japan. Odaiba is a large man-made island in Tokyo Bay that was originally built during the Edo Period (1603-1868) to protect Tokyo from seaward attacks. In the late 20th century, Odaiba developed into a seaport and more recently a major commercial and residential district known for its shopping and entertainment. If you lived in Japan, you could take the train to this tourist hot spot.

The two day Tokyo Drift Odaiba Exhibition is two separate events. Each day consists of a single qualifying run followed by a tsuiso elimination tournament. Nobushige Kumakubo, 2006 D1GP Champion, took the win for day 1 driving his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, while Yoichi Imamura won day 2 drifting the Boss S15 Nissan Silvia. The Tokyo Drift Odaiba event is not part of the ongoing 2008 D1GP Championship, so placement will not affect the drivers’ overall points standings in the series. The goal of Tokyo Drift Odaiba exhibitions is to increase accessibility and awareness of drifting motorsports in Japan.

2008 D1GP Tokyo Drift in Odaiba Day 1 Results:

1. Nobushige Kumakubo - Team Orange CT9A Mitsubishi Lancer EVO
2. Masao Suenaga - Mazda FD3S RX-7
3. Yoichi Imamura - Boss S15 Nissan Silvia
4. Masato Kawabata - Nissan 180SX
5. Yoshinori Koguchi - Nissan 180SX
6. Daigo Saito - Fnatz JZX100 Toyota Chaser
7. Ken Nomura - ER34 Nissan Skyline
8. Akira Utsumi Toshino - S13 Nissan Silvia
9. Kazuyoshi Okamura - S15 Nissan Silvia
10. Tsutomu Huzio – Mazda FD3S RX-7

2008 D1GP Tokyo Drift in Odaiba Day 2 Results:

1. Yoichi Imamura - Boss S15 Nissan Silvia
2. Masato Kawabata - Nissan 180SX
3. Masao Suenaga - Mazda FD3S RX-7
4. Tsuyoshi Tezuka - BNR32 Nissan Skyline GT-R
5. Tetsuya Hibino - Toyota Corolla Levin AE86
6. Taniguti Akira Makoto (Nobuteru Taniguchi) - HKS Toyota Altezza
7. Drift Samurai - Mazda FC3S RX-7
8. Yoshinori Koguchi - Koguchi Power Nissan 180SX
9. Ken Nomura - Blitz, Dunlop ER34 Nissan Skyline
10. Tatsuya Sakuma - S15 Nissan Silvia

Wangan Midnight is a long time published manga series created by Michiharu Kusunoki that focuses on the street racing scene in Japan. The Wangan Midnight manga has been featured since 1992 in Young Magazine, which is published by Kodansha Limited – the largest publisher in Japan. The Wangan Midnight series has been adapted into several live action films, video games, and an anime television series supervised by Keiichi Tsuchiya. In Japanese, the word “wangan” means “bay shore” and refers to a stretch of highway along Tokyo’s Shuto Expressway that is infamous for street racing.

The Wangan Midnight story focuses on the life of high school student and street racer Akio Asakura. Akio’s first encounter with street racing is driving his friend’s Nissan Fairlady Z31 when rival Tatsuya Shima, a doctor driving a black Porsche 911 known as the “BlackBird,” challenges him to a race. With two girls in the back and the owner of the Z31 in the passenger seat, Akio looses his first race. With defeat fresh on his mind, Akio is determined to outrun the BlackBird. Under direction of his friend, a mechanic, Akio visits a junkyard where he discovers a wrecked Fairlady S30 – “The Devil Z.”

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