The track laid out by FD judges Andy Yen and Dai Yoshihara at turns 1 and 2 of the world class F1 Track in Marina Bay
Singapore proved to be a handful for most of the
competitors last weekend (April 24-25) as they admitted that
they've combined bits of FD Long Beach, FD World Championship and
FD Atlanta into it. Small
wonder that the competitors fumbled, spun out and just had an all around hard time traversing the
track smoothly.
FD judges Andy, Ryan and
Dai w Marcus of Binter The still unfinished track lay-out
The track was so difficult that they
only managed to get 29 drivers with scores to get in the Top 32, the
rest all got zeroes during their qualifying runs so that the highest 3
qualifiers namely Ryuji Miki, Atsushi Murata and Tengku Djan Ley
automatically got into the Sweet 16 by default. By the end of their
practice the rest of the competitors eventually got it though and were
obviously thankful (and relieved!) afterward since the track clearly
showed off their driving skills and it no doubt helped in improving them
even further.
David Feliciano
piloting the Great White
DMFDrift/Goodyear Racing's
unseeded/22nd qualifier David Feliciano scored an upset when he managed
to knock out Tyrepac Kumho's 7th seed/11th qualifier Malaysian Ee Yoong
Chern out of the running during their battle into the top 16 group.
A "one more time" was given and this spelled trouble for FD
Asia's featured driver Ee Yoong Chern as he spun out at the last corner
when they battled against each other the 2nd time around, awarding the
win to our very own David Feliciano.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFFREY LIN (SINGAPORE) David Feliciano at the helm
David
who entered the season unseeded, was able to get into the Sweet 16 only
on his 3rd Formula D competition. This win was definitely sweeter as
everyone who's into this sport knows that drift competitions usually
pair off the top qualifier with the last one (and so on and so forth)
that a win by the "underdog" or lower qualified competitor was almost
always harder to clinch.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFFREY LIN
(SINGAPORE) The Great White with David during the
Sweet Sixteen Parade
But the day proved to be one for
upsets. It seemed like it wasn't only David who managed to squeak past
their higher ranked and higher qualified opponents as GT Radial's 8th
seed/17th qualifier Indonesian driver Rhenadi Arinton can attest to as
he knocked out 5th seed/top qualifier Formula D US PRO and 2004 D1GP
champion Goodyear/Spark Motorsport's Ryuji Miki in their battle for the
Sweet 16! The latest acquired Goodyear Malaysian driver 14th seed/15th
qualifier Hanizam Bin Hamzah did the same when he battled against 7th
seed/2nd qualifier Red Bull's Japanese driver Atsushi Murata.
PHOTO COURTESY OF
RON CASTRO David enjoying the beauty
of SG! world class F1 Paddock with Singapore Flyer in the
background
Now that's where the beauty of
drifting lies. It is that unpredictable that even the best of the best
can be beaten with just one wrong move. Skills, the right equipment and
even luck are all part of the equation in drifting.
David went
up against ISC/Toyo Tires' 6th qualifier Malaysian Lim Kim Wan next for
the battle for a spot in the Great Eight and had a chance to win it when
Lim spun out during an overly aggressive move at the 1st front clipping
corner. But the next run with David at the lead showed him also
committing the same mistake that Ee Yoong Chern did during their battle
and also spun out at the same last corner. Another "one more time" was
handed out and veteran driver Lim easily got the win that time around
(rotary) powered by his baby blue RX-7 FD3S.
LATEST
UPDATE: We just got word from Formula D Asia that
with this latest round, David is now ranked 13th out of the 42
competitors that joined and will come in with this ranking for the next
FD in Indonesia bringing with him the points he earned from this comp.
Woohoo!
Drivers'
Briefing Great
White at rest in Bay 38
This just goes to show
that with hard work...practice and improvements (a lot of tweaking) on
the Great White comes the reward. Getting in the Top 16 on only our 3rd
comp was really just the perfect way to open the season and we're hoping
to improve our ranking further in the coming Formula D events scheduled
throughout the year.
We'd like to CONGRATULATE podium finishers
for Formula Drift Singapore 2010: Back to back Champion Malaysian Tengku
Djan Ley, Runner-up Malaysian Tan Tat Wei and for 3rd position 2006
D1NZ Champion Kiwi "Fanga" Dan Woolhouse! CHEERS!!
We'd like to
THANK all of our SPONSORS, FRIENDS and PARTNERS for the continued and
untiring support. Cliche as it may sound...it's true when we say we
couldn't have done it without you guys!!
Click here
for FD competitors' cars photos...and here
for action shots of the Great White.
Check out Dave's runs in Formula Drift Singapore
2010 on our latest featured video at the upper right hand side of this
page or click here for a direct link
to video.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________ APRIL 11, 2010
FORMULA D SG
Prep yourselves for the ultimate drift action!
For the first time ever,
Formula D will hold the Singapore leg at the famousF1 Pit Building on
April 24-25. This event is shaping up to be one hell of a visual
experience for spectators as top seeded professional drifters from all over the Asia-Pacific region come together to
battle it out at what promises to be a high speed track at F1 Marina Bay
Circuit Singapore.
SEE YOU THERE!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________ APRIL 10, 2010
GREAT WHITE 2010: NEW YEAR. NEW SEASON. NEW LOOK.
CHECK OUT PRO DRIFTER DAVID FELICIANO AND THE GREAT WHITE LIVE AT FORMULA D SINGAPORE 2010.
Click hereto see
David's practice runs with the Great White at Clark Speedway.
