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The racers and fans at Road Atlanta endured high temperatures all weekend with splashes of rain during qualifying rounds that kept everyone on their toes. Tanner’s first qualifying run was in the rain and he placed him in the 8th qualifying spot since he was not able to push the car on the wet track. During his Second run the track dried up and he was able to drive 100%, netting a 1st place qualifying spot overall.
Stephan’s qualifying runs ran the opposite of Tanner’s weather-wise, as Steph’s first top 32 qualifying run was on a dry track (netting an 88 point run), and the second run was on wet pavement. Despite not being able to improve his overall score, Steph performed well in the rain and netted an 87.33 overall score to advance to the Sweet 16.
Top 16 Showdown
Stephan and Tanner faced each other in competition for the first time in the duo’s two-year history at Road Atlanta, and was a showdown everyone was anxious to watch. Stephan followed during the first run, keeping it very clean and sticking close to his teammate, but Tanner took the run with an 8-5 advantage. During the second run Tanner followed Stephan, and despite Steph making big smoke coupled with clean transitions Tanner stayed right on his bumper throughout the run and was awarded the win. Although Steph’s day ended, he is quietly making his way back into the top 20 with 55 Series points overall, placing him one point off the Top 20 rankings.
Top 8—Ross Petty vs. Tanner
Everyone knew the Z was going to be even faster this year with the off-season changes to the car that included a revised tune to the AEM EMS that added over 60 mid-range horsepower, a wider rear track and new aerodynamics from C-West, and Ross Petty was no exception. Petty followed Tanner during the first run and could not keep up with the AEM/MCA 350Z, almost straightening up at points trying to build enough speed to stay with Tanner. During the second run Tanner followed Petty, sticking right to him and matching all of his lines to take the round and advance to the Fantastic Four.
Top 4—Darren McNamara vs. Tanner
Tanner put a new set of tires for this round, and with temps dropping 20-degrees throughout the afternoon he later decided that this was a mistake since his used T1Rs had just reached the perfect temperature. Regardless, Tanner lead McNamara during the first run and made a clean pass through the course, but during the next run with Tanner following he caught McNamara too quickly and had to go wide, dropping two tires off the track. Unfortunately, this gave Tanner a zero for the run and gave McNamara the win.
Battling for the Third Spot
The battle for third was slated to be another highly anticipated showdown featuring Rhys Millen’s Pontiac Solstice GXP vs. Tanner and the AEM/MCA Z. Unfortunately for the fans and Millen, the Solstice experienced a radiator issue during the top 4 runs and was not able to compete against Tanner for the third spot on the podium. Instead, Tanner got a bye for the run and automatic third overall at the event, and to the fans delight he performed a solo pass through the drift course showing a little more style than he could in normal competition.
Commented Tanner, “The new track was changing constantly and the grip was there because of the rubber the drifters laid down. When rubber changes temperature it looses grip, so the teams that advanced were the ones that were able to overcome the changes. Regardless, with six turns in the course, having good grip was only part of the equation since consistency through that many transitions is critical to good scores. Road Atlanta is always a fun track, and I’m looking forward to the Series’ first event at Summit Point!”
Stephan said, “I am stoked to get into the Top 16 again, even if my first round pairing was against Tanner. I think Tanner and my runs during the first round were very solid and showed that neither of us were doing any thing different than we would if we were competing against anyone else. We didn’t even have a game plan, except to keep it clean and fast. I always love to drift on the Road Atlanta course with the rumble strips and high speed turns!”
Tanner currently leads the Series in points with 182. Stephan Papadakis is one point out of the Top 20 with 55. A list of the top 10 is below.
Formula D Top 10:
- 182 - T. Foust
- 163 - C. Forsberg
- 149 - D. Yoshihara
- 140 - R. Millen
- 122 - K. Hayashida
- 119 - R. Petty
- 113 - R. Tuerk
- 112 - K. Yamanaka
- 110 - C. Canul
- 104 - M. Haraguchi
(20.) 56 - Yukino Okubo
The AEM / Memphis Car Audio Drift S2000 and 350Z are sponsored by Toyo Tires, Motegi Racing, Tokico Gas Shocks, Advanced Clutch Technology (ACT), Specialty Products Company (SPC), C-West and DC Sports.
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