Race Updates

Foust Claims First Formula D Victory

May 14 2006

BRASELTON, GA - While nearly everyone else was getting last minute flowers for Mother's day, Formula D was putting on a great show in Atlanta.

The Road Atlanta course has been home to Formula D for the last two years and has seen only one champion since then; Samuel Hubinette and his Viper SRT-10. Everything looked as though it was set for another Mopar win as the Crazy Swede slid his way through the competition to an unprecedented third-consecutive final. Waiting on the other side of the bracket was rookie Tanner Foust and his AEM 350Z powered by twin Garrett turbochargers.

Foust's day had not been an easy one. He had done battle with two heavyweights (Ken Gushi and Casper Canul) as well as former champion Rhys Millen and was now set to face another in the form of Hubinette.

With the odds stacked against him, Foust showed the icy nerves and driving skills that only the world's very top drivers can muster. Hubinette's hat trick would be foiled as Foust outslid the champion to claim his team's first Formula D victory and establish himself as one of the top drivers on the circuit.

Congratulations to Tanner Foust on his victory!

Official AEM Release

Tanner Foust, AEM/Memphis Car Audio 350Z Take Win in Atlanta, EMS-Equipped Drifters Nab Two of Three Podium Spots!

May 15th, 2006, Hawthorne, CA-Tanner Foust and the AEM/Memphis Car Audio 350Z took home the first win of the season for AEM Racing in front of a huge crowd at FormulaD in Atlanta on May 12-13 at Atlanta Motor Speedway! Driver and team manager Stephan Papadakis qualified for elimination rounds but did not advance to the tandem elimination rounds.

Tanner/350Z
After two grueling weeks of testing and setting the Z up for Tanner's driving style, the car arrived on its sticky Toyo tires with new adjustments to the Tokico suspension and twin Garrett turbos blazing for competition. Atlanta's Drift course is one of the longest in the series, which rewards drivers with consistency and was the team's focus going into Round Two. Tanner qualified second overall behind Dai Yoshihara (who finished third overall) and faced a challenging tandem bracket in every round leading up to the finals. It started with Ken Gushi in the Sliding Sixteen, Casper "Mr. Consistency" Canule in the Great Eight, Rhys Millen and his always-formidable GTO in the Final Four and finally Sam "Crazy Swede" Hubinette in the finals, who had never lost a tandem round in Atlanta until this weekend.

"The Z was flawless all weekend," noted Tanner. "The test days leading up to Round 2 paid off, netting us the highest entry speed of the weekend at 88 MPH!" In the first tandem round, Ken's car was so loud that Tanner couldn't hear the Z's engine on the track! Ken spun behind him on the first pass, so all Tanner had to do was stick with him during the second pass to advance. In the next round, Casper was so smooth and predictable that it was up to the Z to use its power and grip to keep up with him, which it obviously did with expert input from Tanner. In the final four, Tanner faced Rhys Millen and led the first pass. Rhys got very close to the Z at the top of the horseshoe, allowing Tanner to pull away on the downhill. When Tanner led the next round, a correction he made to the Z was forgiven when Rhys's GTO blew a tire and went off track. In the final round, Tanner led off against the Undefeated One, Sam Hubinette. Sam stuck to Tanner on the first pass, but Tanner was able to gain a little distance on him on the downhill after the horseshoe. Commented Tanner, "I got some distance on him at the downhill, but I could see Sam's lights and fenders in my mirrors practically the entire run. When I was following, I stayed in his tracks around the horseshoe instead of diving inside, which enabled me to stick with him the entire downhill. The Z was perfect on that run, and watching the Viper sit inches off of my outside front fender-not being able to pull away-was awesome!"

Tanner continued, "This was a great weekend for our team and our sport. All of the teams are bringing their A-games, and I don't envy the judges. They have a difficult job and we appreciate their hard work. Round Three in Chicago next month changes everything. We are going from a long, smooth track in Atlanta to a short, bumpy one. I am putting myself and the car on a diet, and will be tuning the Tokico set up for the short course."

Steph/S2000
"The crowd in Atlanta was easily twice as big as last year, and we dodged some weather for what turned out to be a great weekend," said Stephan. Steph pre-qualified 13th out of an available 17 spots for Saturday's competition and put down two very solid laps in the 32 car elimination round. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to advance, although it is likely that Steph has moved up from his overall ranking of 20th in the series. Final positions are still pending.

"I had a lot of fun this weekend and it was great to see Tanner take the podium!" commented Steph. "We have worked very hard on the Z and it's paying off. Both the S2000 and my driving skill have improved since this same event last year, but I still have to fine tune my driving technique and am addressing this in testing before Round Three in Chicago. I qualified 3rd overall in Chicago last year and made it to the Great Eight, so I have some confidence going in."

"I also want to announce the addition of our newest team member, Danny Oda, Steph continued. "Danny hails from Hawaii where he worked at Hypersports before moving to the mainland. Danny has worked at XS Engineering and at Designcraft with Gary Castillo, and assisted in the build on Calvin Wan's G35 and the RSR S2000. Danny has a broad range of experience with high performance cars, has excellent fabrication skills and is a team player. He is already a great addition to the AEM Racing family! To all of our partners, please say hello to Danny and welcome him in when you see him at the races."

FAST FACTS:AEM Racing's drift cars have qualified for all FormulaD events entered this season…The team has one win, two top 10 finishes, both drivers are ranked in the top 20 and Tanner is second overall in points in FormulaD…Chicago is the shortest track in the series and more cars were damaged there than any other drift event last season…

The AEM/Memphis Car Audio Drift S2000 and Drift 350Z are sponsored by Toyo Tires, Unbound Energy Drink, Motegi Racing Wheels, Honda Factory Performance (HFP), Nismo, Tokico Gas Shocks, Advanced Clutch Technology (ACT), Specialty Products Company (SPC), Garrett Turbochargers and DC Sports. AEM Racing's next event is the FormulaD series competition at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois on June 9th and 10th.