Hankook Tire drivers Tanner Foust and Ryuji Miki placed first and second respectively at the recent Formula Drift competition at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The one-two finish marked the tire maker’s first ever Formula Drift win and the first time two Hankook-sponsored drivers finished together on the podium.
The July 11-12 results have now put two of the company’s drivers within reach of the Formula Drift 2009 championship.
“In a highly competitive season, (these) podium finishes mark significant milestones for Hankook Tire’s motorsports efforts in Formula Drift,” says motorsports manager Jason Kim. “Our drivers gave very strong performances despite the difficult racing conditions. We hope to carry this momentum into the next series event in Seattle next month.”
After climbing their way to the final round, Papadakis Racing’s Foust and Dynamic Autosport’s Miki faced each other to battle for the top spot. In the first run, Foust took a superior drifting line with a high entry speed and a lot of smoke. On the second run Miki continued with the consistency that got him to the finals but Foust was right on his bumper for the win.
“The team and I went from zero to hero after failing to qualify for the main competition last event,” says Foust, the defending Formula Drift champion. “Heat is a tire’s worst enemy. I can’t think of a more extreme test of a tire than to drift it with the 600-horsepower Rockstar/Scion tC – in Vegas – in July. Not only did the Hankook R-S3 stand up to these conditions, in the series with more tire manufacturers represented than any other motorsport on the planet, the Hankooks finished first and second – truly impressive.”
“It is really hard to win a Formula D event,” says team owner Stephan Papadakis. “Fortunately the Rockstar/Scion tC ran flawlessly in the 105-plus heat and Tanner was in A-plus form all day. Speed was definitely a factor in tandem competition and our Hankook R-S3 tires had the grip to allow Tanner’s 88-plus mph entry speeds.”
Foust currently sits in the eighth spot in the points standing, with fellow Hankook driver Robbie Nishida from Team Dynamic Autosports residing in seventh.
Hankook’s Formula Drift drivers are racing with the new Ventus R-S3, a successor to the track-proven Ventus R-S2 and compliment to the Ventus Z214 racing tires, according to Kim, who says the company has applied its latest motorsports technology to “improve dry-grip performance by 30 percent, further enhancing the tire’s handling capabilities and maximizing the footprint contact patch.”
Eddie Kim, the owner of Team Dynamic Autosports, points out that the R-S3 “was one of the key contributing factors to the Hankook/Apexi RX-7’s victory. The ability to maintain its consistency, excellence in traction and stability in extreme heat is always a struggle, and the Hankook tires really stood above the rest.”
For more information, visit www.hankooktireusa.com.
