As the Formula Drift Pro Championship circuit slid into downtown Long Beach, Calif., April 8-9 to open the season, Nitto Tire USA is once again sponsoring an expanded lineup of teams and drivers. Now in its seventh year as a sponsor of Formula D, Nitto backed five teams and six drivers at the season's inaugural event in Long Beach and through the season.
All sponsored teams and drivers will use Nitto NT05 tires. On this season’s lineup are Ryan Tuerck/Gardella Racing, Eric O'Sullivan/Gardella Racing, Joon Maeng/Bergenholtz Racing, Matt Powers, Charles Ng/Charles Ng Racing, and Michael Essa/GSR Autosport.
Stronghold Racing’s Naughton is Hitting his Stride in Pro 2
Switching from LOORRS’ Pro Lite class to Pro 2 Unlimited has had its challenges, but in his second year, Robert “Fig” Naughton has figured out a formula for success. In March, Naughton won Round 2 of the series, bringing Maxxis its first-ever Pro 2 victory.
“It was a struggle,” he told Maxxis Tire of the transition between the two classes. “We did a lot of work in the off-season to prepare for my second year in Pro 2. It’s such a tough class. You always hope for a podium, so to get one in Round 2 – it was needed just to set the tone for the rest of the year.”
Based on his achievements during his long career, Naughton could approach his new class with confidence. A past CORR Pro Lite champion and Driver of the Year, he can also claim victories in SCORE’s Laughlin Desert Challenge and Terrible’s Cup as well as X Games gold in downhill mountain biking in 1995.
Season Kicks Off in Pirelli World Challenge Championships
Pirelli Tire North America recently opened the 2011 racing season on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., in rounds one and two of the Pirelli World Challenge Championships, a competitive production-based race series. Pirelli is the official tire supplier and title sponsor of the series, which features three classes – GT, GTS and Touring.
The five-year contract with WC Vision will introduce Pirelli’s P Zero Racing Slick and P Zero Racing Rain spec tires to the series, where competitors compete for the annual Driver’s Championship, Rookie of the Year honors, and the Jim Cook Memorial Trophy. The series also features a Manufacturer’s Championship.
“Pirelli is recognized as the premium performance brand tire supplier. All of us at WC Vision are proud of our relationship with such a highly recognized worldwide brand,” said Scott Bove, WC Vision’s director of operations. The 12-race 2011 Pirelli World Challenge GT, GTS and Touring Car Championships campaign will be broadcast on Versus.
Mini Claims First Rally Victory
Running on Pirelli tires, the brand-new Mini Cooper has claimed its first-ever overall rally victory. Andrea Navarra, co-driven by Simona Fedeli, won the Rally dell’Adriatico in Italy, driving the Regional Rally Car version of the Mini run by the Grifone team. The Mini John Cooper Works is built to the latest Super 2000 regulations, forming the basis of the John Cooper World Rally Car that will make its debut on the Rally d’Italia-Sardegna in May.
Using Pirelli Scorpion K6 gravel tires, Navarra led from the start to the finish of the opening round of the Italian Gravel Championship, based on Italy’s Adriatic coast close to Ancona. Navarra used three sets of tires in the nine stages that made up the 100-kilometer event to win by 12 seconds on only the Mini’s third competitive outing.
Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery commented: “I’d like to congratulate both Andrea and Mini for a very important victory, marking what is sure to be the first of many successes for one of rallying’s most iconic brands. We’re delighted to be able to share in this first overall win, which has underlined the effectiveness of the Mini-Pirelli package. For just its third event, this was an extremely promising performance.”
Clean, Fast Or Efficient? Green X Winners Must Deliver All Three
Some people like fast cars; others are more interested in cleaner or more efficient cars. In the Michelin Green X Challenge at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, fans will find that cars competing in the American Le Mans Series can be clean, fast and efficient. In fact, the cleanest, fastest, most efficient Prototype and GT cars at Long Beach will not only win the Challenge race awards on April 16, they will also score points toward the season-long prize: automatic invitations to compete in the 2012 running of the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Fourteen different car makers are currently participating in either the American Le Mans Series or the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2011. The technical rules not only permit, but encourage the development of new technologies in competition and the use of alternative fuels, including E10, E85, Isobutanol, GTL diesel and hybrids. Winning the Green X Challenge is not simply a matter of cruising and saving fuel. To date, 16 of the 38 Green X Challenge winners in the ALMS have also won their respective classes on the track.
Falken Formula Drift Teams Pumped and Ready for Dynamic Season
Coming off a dominating 2010 season in which Team Falken driver Vaughn Gittin Jr., competing in the Monster Energy/Falken Tire 2011 Ford Mustang, became the Formula Drift Champion, the tire manufacturer will be gunning for a repeat performance of last year.
Team Falken started the 2011 Formula Drift season the way it finished last year, with one of its factory drivers on top of the podium. Justin Pawlak, in just his second year with Falken, took his inaugural first place at the Long Beach opening round, with Team Falken teammate Dai Yoshihara in third. Pawlak took the victory on board his 2011 Ford Mustang with a new engine built by Ford Racing and Roush-Yates and ran on Falken’s Azenis RT615K, as did all other Falken team members. Pawlak qualified 11th, while Yoshihara was second among the top 32, alerting the other competitors he was the driver to beat on the streets of Long Beach.
While defending Formula D champion and Falken driver Vaughn Gittin Jr. struggled in qualifying, he was an important part of the weekend, meeting and greeting his fans as well as supporting the rest of the Falken team in the main event. “This is an important victory for us because the race is in our backyard and we had a lot of fans, customers and Falken enthusiasts in the stands and the paddock,” said Nick Fousekis, Falken’s director of motorsports marketing and events. Round two will be held May 6-7, at Road Atlanta, Braselton, Ga.