Tanner Foust
The '07 Formula D champ missed the top spot at Long Beach and the first chapter of Formula D Diaries, but he's back for Atlanta. With a Third Place in Round 1, Tanner needs a win to secure his second title.
Atlanta was a wild ride. After plenty of practice I was very comfortable with the Rockstar 350Z on the seven-turn course, but with a stock transmission, one of the hardest parts of the track was shifting into Fourth gear mid-drift without "upsetting the car" in front of the judging stand. But with the great torque of the AEM VQ, I was able to find a final drive that let me stay in Third gear for the whole track!
On game day there were some serious runs put down for the Top 16 qualifying. JR, after expressing his "bitterness" about last year's qualifying circumstances, was out for retribution. The decibels of his driving style set car alarms off in every confederate flag flying driveway in Georgia and earned him the Top Spot after the first of two runs. Last second though, I was able to narrowly beat him to put Rockstar on the top qualifying run.
My first tandem run was against Kenji Yamanaka in his S15. This wasn't the car he usually drives and it was a bit underpowered. Despite Kenji battling hard, I was stoked to get the better of him.
After moving on, I went against Ryan Tuerck who was looking a bit inconsistent throughout the week, but still was laying down some great runs. I led him in the first run and tried to put down a good lap while learning where he was fast and slow. I gained a 9 to 7 advantage. In the next lap I followed, giving him quite a bit of room into the first corner, but it wasn't enough. The sticky Toyos reeled him in before the transition back to the right-hand second turn, so I backed off to allow his rear bumper to sweep across the nose of my Nissan. In doing so, I put myself offline in the second turn and my back tires got into the marbles. Once on the loose rubber and dirt, the car started floating. The rear of the Z felt like it was on air and it went all the way to the grass. "That was both tires...S@#&!," I thought as I chased Tuerck down through the rest of the course. Two tires off the course equals a zero point run in Formula D, so I was stuck watching the finals from the Judging stand. Luckily Samuel and Chris also made mistakes, so the championship will stay tight.
Rockstar
www.rockstar69.com
AEM
www.aempower.com
Tanner Foust
www.tannerfoust.com