Foust, AEM/Memphis Car Audio 350Z Scores Perfect 100 in Qualifying at FD Sonoma, Continues Series Lead!

August 15, 2007 Round 5 Formula Drift, Infineon Raceway, Sonoma CA- Two thousand and seven marked the fourth running of FD drift at Infineon Raceway and the course has gained a reputation as "The Fastest in the Circuit." AEM/Memphis Car Audio 350Z driver Tanner Foust showed the crowd just how fast with a 91 MPH entry speed en route to the #1 qualifier, and AEM/MCA S2000 driver Stephan Papadakis qualified for eliminations on Friday, making it his first time in the Top 32 at Sonoma

Tanner Foust continued to dominate the qualifying rounds as he has all season; piloting the AEM/Memphis Car Audio 350Z with twin Garrett GT25R turbochargers to the #1 qualifier spot with a perfect 100 score and a blazing 91 MPH entry speed. In round 1 of tandem he faced Tommy Suell, whose car was the polar opposite of the Z in weight and power. Tanner pulled away fast in the first pass and stuck to Suell when following to advance. In the second round Tanner faced Vaughn Gittin (JR). Tanner was able to run away from JR during the first pass using the enhanced grip from the new Toyo T1Rs, and stayed with him when following-even closing what small gap there was between them on the first turn-but JR laid down heavy smoke and the judges called for a One More Time. During the OMT, Tanner pulled away hard again and stuck to him like glue when following, but it appeared that winning wasn't in the cards for the current Series points leader and 2007 X-Games Rally Champion.

Commented Tanner, "Being a subjective sport I think that the judging criteria and the way the judges assign a winner or loser is under constant scrutiny, and therefore should continue to evolve. Hopefully, the motivation for drivers to commit in tandem drifting will return, but right now it feels like if you just run the qualifying laps somewhere near the other car you will advance."

Steph's main goal was to get the AEM/MCA S2000 in the Top 32 field at Sonoma, as he had yet to make elimination rounds at Infineon. Despite a short practice schedule before qualifying, Steph drove well on his most challenging track and made the cut with an 80-point qualifying round. Unfortunately, Steph spun during his first elimination run, and despite putting together a great second run (82 points), fell to the 22nd spot overall for the weekend.

Said Stephan, "Lame. That's the only way to describe the spin, especially after working so hard to get into eliminations. I felt great this weekend driving and the car is making amazing power, but as I step it up so does everyone else. I think this is the first time I made the 32-car field here…for some reason I always had trouble here until this weekend. I'm glad that monkey is off my back now and I was really happy to get a Honda out there on elimination day!"

Tanner currently leads the Series in points with 415. Stephan Papadakis is five spots out of the Top 20. A list of the top 10 is below.

Formula D Top 10: