{"id":24418,"date":"2017-04-04T16:11:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T20:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver4\/?p=24418"},"modified":"2017-04-04T16:11:16","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T20:11:16","slug":"james-deane-makes-his-return-to-the-series-and-takes-the-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/james-deane-makes-his-return-to-the-series-and-takes-the-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"James Deane Makes His Return to the Series and Takes the Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long Beach, Calif. \u2013 April 2, 2017 \u2013 Formula DRIFT Black Magic Pro Championship presented by BlackVue Dash Cameras kicked off the 14th<\/sup> season with an exciting day of action at the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Round 1: Streets of Long Beach.\u00a0 Irish driver James Deane returns to the Series and gets the win in the Worthhouse Drift Team \/ Falken Tire Nissan S15.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a way to start the season,\u201d said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT.\u00a0 \u201cWith not only a capacity crowd, record numbers on the Livestream, but proof that Formula Drift is truly an international series where the best of the best come to compete.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n

\"3966091491171502687\"<\/p>\n

The first event of the season commenced on the Grand Prix of Long Beach Street Course.\u00a0 The highly anticipated event was action packed from start to finish and the capacity crowd witnessed many competitive battles throughout the day.\u00a0 The event also introduced new drivers to the field including Georgy Chivchyan from Russia and Piotr Wiecek from Poland and marked the return of Irish driver, James Deane.\u00a0 The event broke records with the Livestream with over 1 million viewers tuning in from around the world over the two-day event weekend making for the largest viewership for a single event in Formula DRIFT history<\/p>\n

Deane returned to Formula DRIFT after a seven year hiatus from the Series in dramatic fashion.\u00a0 Deane proved to be a contender after qualifying in second position and making his way through to the finals by defeating both former champion Michael Essa and the reigning and 3-time champion, Chris Forsberg.\u00a0 Deane met with Ryan Tuerck in the Gumout \/ Nameless Performance \/ Hankook Toyota 86 in the semi-finals and with consistent driving all-day and a solid chase run he was able to advance to the Finals.\u00a0 On the other side of the bracket in the semi-finals, Aurimas \u201cOdi\u201d Bakchis in the Falken Tire \/ Drifz Wheels \/ Ark Performance Nissan 240SX faced off against Alex Heilbrunn in the IMR \/ Nitto Tire BMW M3.\u00a0 After a hard fought battle that was too close to call, the drivers met in a One More Time battle and while chasing Heilbrunn, Bakchis made an error entering the hairpin giving Heilbrunn the win to put him in the Finals.\u00a0 Deane\u2019s consistency and technical driving was no match for Heilbrunn in the Finals and Deane won his first Formula DRIFT victory to take the lead in the chase for the championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, what a way to start back in Formula DRIFT after missing out on the last seven years,\u201d said James Deane, winner of Round 1: Streets of Long Beach.\u00a0 \u201cI owe a lot to my good friend and teammate, Piotr Wiecek, who came up with this whole idea to come back to the Series as a two-car team.\u00a0 To come out with the win is just mind blowing.\u00a0 What a feeling!<\/p>\n

For more information visit, www.formulad.com<\/a> and find Formula DRIFT on Instagram @formulad, Facebook www.facebook.com\/formuladrift<\/a>, Twitter @FormulaDrift, and Snapchat – formula_drift. Tune into Formula DRIFT on CBS Sports and check your local listings for airtimes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Round 1: Streets of Long Beach Event Results<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1. Deane, James<\/td>\nWorthouse Drift Team \/ Falken Tire Nissan 240<\/td>\nWinner<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2. Heilbrunn, Alex<\/td>\nIMR \/ Nitto Tire BMW M3<\/td>\n2nd Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. Tuerck, Ryan<\/td>\nGumout \/ Nameless Performance \/ Hankook Toyota 86<\/td>\n3rd Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4. Bakchis, Aurimas<\/td>\nFalken Tires \/ Drifz Wheels \/ ARK Performance Nissan 240<\/td>\n4th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5. Aasbo, Fredric<\/td>\nRockstar Energy \/ Nexen Tire Toyota Corolla iM<\/td>\n5th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6. Coffman, Matt<\/td>\nNexen Tire \/ Coffman Racing Nissan 240<\/td>\n6th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7. Forsberg, Chris<\/td>\nNOS Energy Drink \/ Hankook Tire Nissan 370Z<\/td>\n7th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8. Kearney, Dean<\/td>\nOracle Lighting Dodgle Viper<\/td>\n8th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9. Gittin, Vaughn<\/td>\nMonster Energy \/ Nitto Tire Ford Mustang RTR<\/td>\n9th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10. Wiecek, Piotr<\/td>\nWorthouse Drift Team \/ Falken Tire Nissan 240<\/td>\n10th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11. Gushi, Ken<\/td>\nGReddy Racing \/ Nexen Tire Toyota Racing 86<\/td>\n11th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
12. Field, Matt<\/td>\nFalken Tire \/ Vapetasia \/ ARK Performance Nissan 240<\/td>\n12th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
13. Rintanen, Juha<\/td>\nSTR Racing \/ Nexen Tire Nissan 240<\/td>\n13th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
14. Bluss, Kristaps<\/td>\nHGK \/ Mast \/ Motul \/ Wisefab BMW E46<\/td>\n14th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
15. Pawlak, Justin<\/td>\nRoush Performance Ford Mustang<\/td>\n15th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
16. Essa, Michael<\/td>\nAchilles Tire \/ Essa Autosport BMW M3<\/td>\n16th Place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2017 Formula DRIFT Black Magic Championship Presented by BlackVue Standings After 1 Event<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1. Deane, James<\/td>\nWorthouse Drift Team \/ Falken Tire Nissan 240<\/td>\n106.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2. Heilbrunn, Alex<\/td>\nIMR \/ Nitto Tire BMW M3<\/td>\n84.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. Tuerck, Ryan<\/td>\nGumout \/ Nameless Performance \/ Hankook Toyota 86<\/td>\n69.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2017 Manufacturer Championship Standings After 1 Event<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1. Toyota<\/td>\n121.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2. Ford<\/td>\n74.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. Nissan<\/td>\n52.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4. Dodge<\/td>\n51.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5. BMW<\/td>\n35.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6. Infiniti<\/td>\n18.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2017 Tire Championship Standings After 1 Event<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1. Falken<\/td>\n174.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2. Nitto<\/td>\n123.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. Hankook<\/td>\n121.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4. Nexen<\/td>\n104.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5. Achilles<\/td>\n86.00 Points<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long Beach, Calif. \u2013 April 2, 2017 \u2013 Formula DRIFT Black Magic Pro Championship presented by BlackVue Dash Cameras kicked off the 14th season with an exciting day of action at the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Round 1: Streets of Long Beach.\u00a0 Irish driver James Deane returns to the Series and gets the win in the Worthhouse Drift Team \/ Falken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24420,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24418\/revisions\/24420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}