Fredric Aasbø og Simen Olsen er klare for årets sesongstart i Formula Drift i amerikanske Long Beach. Les mer i denne pressemeldingen fra teamet til Aasbø.
Fredric Aasbo and Ryan Tuerck are ready for a new season as Formula Drift opens its eight-round competition series this weekend on the streets of Long Beach. Both drivers return to the series this year in their 1,000-plus horsepower GR Toyota machines, with the Rockstar Energy Toyota GR Supra and the Rain-X Toyota GR Corolla sporting all-new looks designed by Jon Sibal.
The look of the cars isn’t the only thing that’s new. Papadakis Racing joins the Kenda Tire team this year and is looking to bring the tire maker its first podium since coming into the series in 2023. Both vehicles are equipped with Kenda VEZDA UHP MAX+ tires, which have performed well for the team in pre-season tests.
Norwegian driver Aasbo has won three Formula Drift titles since joining the Papadakis Racing Toyota team in 2011, earning his first series championship in 2015, as well as back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022. He has a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most winning driver in Formula Drift, having achieved 19 No. 1 finishes in the premier USA series and 100-plus podium finishes on three continents over the past decade of global competition. In 2024, he finished third in the championship chase with a record of four podiums, including a win at Round 2 in Atlanta. He has two event wins to his name on the streets of Long Beach (2015 and 2018).
Tuerck, who hails from New Hampshire, is a Formula Drift title contender in the Rain-X Toyota GR Corolla. His down-home charm, commitment to the sport’s grassroots, and talent in front of the camera have brought him a social fanbase of 1.7 million followers. His build legacy includes the Celica, the Stout and the Formula Supra, and started with the viral Toyota GT4586 build released in 2016. That inventive first project inspired the genre of build content online when he paired a Toyota GT86 with a Ferrari 458 engine to generate some 70 million digital impressions. He joined the Papadakis Racing team in 2020 and is a fan favorite for his go-big or go-home commitment to competition. The highlight of his 2024 season was a win at Round 6 in Seattle.
Based in nearby Carson, California, the Papadakis Racing team began drifting in 2004 and is the most winning in Formula Drift history, earning the 2022, 2021 and 2015 championship titles with driver Aasbo, as well as back-to-back championships with driver Tanner Foust in 2007 and 2008. Partner Toyota has won the manufacturer’s cup nine times since 2014. Team owner Stephan Papadakis is a legend of sport-compact racing who began building his reputation in the 1990s in drag racing.
Drifting is a high-skill, high-powered motorsport with an emphasis on car control. In the Formula Drift series, drivers compete in knockout heats on a closed course, sliding sideways in trials judged on speed and style. With origins in Japan, the sport has rapidly grown to one of the most popular youth-oriented motorsports in the world. Here in the United States, Formula Drift officially launched in 2004 and its national schedule of eight events routinely host capacity crowds, while live-streamed multi-platform broadcasts attract millions of online viewers.