Formula Drift’s Round 3 this past weekend at Orlando Speedworld was a big success for Drift Paddock’s / Falken Tire’s Nissan 350Z driver Pat Mordaunt resulting in a great 8 finish. After an impressive qualifying run,
Pat continued to shred through the match-ups making it as far as the semi finals against Drift Cave Motorsports‘ CX Racing Yokohama Tire Nissan S14 with #777 Mat Field behind the wheel. After Orlando Pat heads to New Jersey June 26 – 27 at Wall Speedway.
With the 2015 season of Formula Drift underway, and Round 2 just around the corner, the time for burning rubber and sideways sailing is now! It has been good to see the amount of exposure and recognition Formula D has been receiving both nationally as well as internationally. Incase you missed Round 1’s action from the streets of Long Beach, CA. last month, or want to see in exclusive depth coverage of the event tune in for Formula DRIFT Episode 1 – Long Beach tonight on CBS Sports at 8:30PM EST. 
Be sure to check out Episode 2 on Saturday, May 9th, 2015 at 11:20AM on CBS Sports Network, as the drivers hit Road Atlanta for Round 2 of the Formula Drift series.
Don’t miss out on the next round of Formula Drift this Friday & Saturday, May 8th & 9th.!
Konig sponsored Pat Mordaunt #90 who drives the DriftPaddock.com Nissan 350Z on Konig Milligram wheels had a “GREAT 8” finish at Round 1 in Long Beach, CA. and will be looking to continue his run at Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA. Be sure to check out the round 2 sneak peak below.
Formula DRIFT Road Atlanta Tease (2015) by driftstream
As you may already know, the Formula Drift 2014 season has just kicked off. If you aren’t able to make it to a Formula Drift event, you can always head over to Wrecked Magazine for all the latest in Formula Drift goodness, including an up-to-date blog on the events, online magazine issues, and event photo galleries, which you can access HERE
April 5th, 2014 – Formula Drift: Round 1 – “Streets of Long Beach”
Dennis Mertzanis made his re-entry back into the professional drift series, Formula Drift – with his revamped Hyundai Genesis Coupe.
1,000 horsepower is generated from a built CBM engine, with a Vortech Supercharger. This beast sits on Konig Milligrams, wrapped in Kenda Tires, and they spin furiously in every gear.
Mertzanis totes that the practice round was good. Having a solid car, ehem, beast of a racecar for Formula Drift will prove some adjusting, but as the session continued his runs improved.
During the event, the Genesis Coupe made a transition into a wall, which sent the bumper flying off of the car, but this wasn’t a show-stopper.
Dennis qualified 24th in 2 runs with an equal scoring of 70. In the Top 32, Dennis was alluded by Chelsea DeNofa after an engine stall / restart episode.
Shortly after, DeNofa broke an axle and called it quits. Mertzanis had some repairs of his own to make, which with some quick help – got him back on to the blacktop.
Dennis Mertzanis ended up making it into the Top 16, and will move on to Round 2 Atlanta.
You can follow news about Dennis Mertzanis’ 2014 season right here on the Konig Blog as well as visiting Dennis’ Blog over at Wrecked Magazine.
Check out the video and photography and video right below.
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KÖNIG Wheels sponsors the Wrecked Magazine Formula Drift Main Event Gallery. After every round, some great event coverage is collected into a gallery on Wrecked Magazine. Check out all the scenes from Formula Drift Round 5 Right Here and check out some of the clips after the break of Dennis Mertzanis after, who made the Top 16 in Round 5 at Evergreen Speedway.
If you are an Automotive Enthusiast or Formula Drift Fan, then you may already be familiar with Wrecked Magazine. If not, you just might want to check it out!
Wrecked Magazine just released their newest issue; #27, and it covers some great Drifting Gear, in-depth Formula Drift coverage; including drivers, their cars, and Project RTR Part 3. Another cool feature to check out is the Gallery. Konig Wheels sponsors the Main Event galleries from each round of the Formula Drift season.
We won’t spoil the rest of it for you though, so be sure to head over to Wrecked Magazine and click on the “Current Issue” tab.
Dennis Mertzanis and his brand new Hyundai Genesis Coupe have made their debut at the 2013 Formula Drift tech day this last weekend. He has been testing rigoriously at Buttonwillow raceway to dial in the car in time for the season opener. The streets of long beach is about to turn in record ticket sales for the 2013 season starting in Long Beach April 12-13. The new setup has gobs of power with an already potent 3.8L v6 under the hood; that was just not enough to break the tires at 80mph. A Brian Crower 4.0L stroker kit was exactly what the car needed, oh and the addition of a large turbocharger the car will easily blow the tires off at well over 100mph. The car is now putting out a wopping 600hp and 540ft/tq
Video Interview:
Our good friends over at Wrecked Magazine (www.WreckedMagazine.com) is always putting work in on their Gallery. It contains awesome photography from all the Formula Drift events and even International Drift!
Click Here to check out the Wrecked Gallery and don’t forget to look at Wrecked Issue #23 “The Exterior Issue”, which you can get to Right From Here!
For the second time this season Kenny Moen / Lutz Performance has made it to the top 8.
This passed weekend at Formula Drift Round 3: West Palm Beach, Florida, Moen and the entire Lutz performance team came out firing.
Showing up to an FD event is hard enough but Moen continuously proves he is able to attack and conquer. On Friday, during Round 3 at West Palm Beach, an abundance of bad weather including heavy rain came down on the event. The on and off rain really fluctuated and adjusted the temperature. But cooling down the track did not prevent Moen from doing well in the first qualifying round. Moen and the Lutz Peformance / KÖNIG Wheels sponsored 350Z had a very aggressive practice and smooth transition going into the Top 32.
The weather did not seem to let up in the second run either. This caused the car to have major traction issues. With such a high rate of speed, Kenny ended up receiving a 0 due the fact that the track was wet. Over coming his scored 0, Moen ended up defeating his first competitor in the top 32 , Matt Powers, which progressed him into the Top 16.
The top 16 put Moen against Ken Gushi. Gushi provided an entertaining match up but Moen was able to defeat him and move into the Top 8. Drawing a former FD Champion, Chris Forsberg, in the top 8 is always going to present an extremely tough battle. Moen was mentally focused and had an amazing first run against Chris Forsberg giving him the lead. While the matchup between Moen and Forsberg was heating up, the Lutz performance car seemed to have its own major opponent which it would not be able to overcome. Clutch difficulties and the attributed loss of power in the 350z, allowed Forsberg to catch up. Ultimately this would be the day ender for the Moen / Lutz / Konig team. All in all it was a fantastic event. While the Lutz 350z sustained body and mechanical damage during RD 3, but this won’t hold the team back as they are now in the repair process to prepare for RD 4 in Wall, New Jersey on June, 22nd and 23rd.
KÖNIG would like to congratulate Kenny Moen and Lutz Performance on their fantastic effort and top 8 finish. We look forward to the next event. Stay tuned for more pictures and videos from Round 3 as well as upcoming coverage from RD 4!
