August 30, 2011 (Howell, NJ) The GR Mobil1 Chevy Camaro put on a wonderful show for the fans at Las Vegas Motorsports Speedway this past weekend at the 6th Round of Formula Drift competition. Ryan Tuerck drove his heart out for a top 8 finish. Together, GR and Tuerck are working their way back up the point’s ladder to attempt to finish the season off within the top 5 in points. The team currently is sitting in the 6th spot only 100 points out of first place.
Like always the event started off great with tons of fans and spectators. The bleachers were packed, leaving only standing room at the facility. Announcer, Jarod Deanda, had the fans on their toes during what could have been some of the best battles in Formula Drift history. A few of the great battles were between Daijiro Yoshihara and Toshiki Yoshioka, and Yoshioka took the tough win. Then by far the most talked about battle of the event was Ryan Tuerck vs. Darren McNamara that ended up going on for two “One More Time” rounds. When the smoke cleared it was such a difficult call for the judges to make. “It was almost to close to call,” said one of the judges.
Even though the GR team finished the event well and everything seemed to go smoothly, it wasn’t so. During the last practice session on Saturday afternoon the rear of the Chevy Camaro bottomed out on a bad bump that was on the outside of the course, severely damaging the rear of the Camaro. Since the team had the proper spares, the Camaro was put back together in the nick of time to make it out for the first round of competition against Charles Ng a fellow Nitto Tire driver.
The team will have the month of September off preparing the Mobil 1 Camaro for the final round of Formula Drift at Irwindale Speedway in Southern California. The Camaro needs some minor repairs and freshening up after 2 exciting events on the West Coast.
“The crowd was tremendous here in Las Vegas and the drifting was some of the most exciting I have seen all weekend,” said team owner Gary Gardella. “The GR crew and Tuerck really worked together to have a successful weekend. I was on my toes during the last round of our competition, looking to advance; however, Darren McNamara and his team worked very hard to get that win and it was well deserved; great job guys.”
Although the Mobil 1 Camaro will be taking a month off, the team will still be taking an old gem out to the track. On Oct 1st & 2nd Gary will be making his way back into the drag car looking to do the impossible and take the Cobalt to a 6 second pass at over 215 MPH. Will it be possible? You will need to be there to find out. More to come on Gary’s personal Face Book page.
