Formula Drift at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale

Ryan Tuerck won the season finale Formula Drift event at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night. Tuerck, driving a Pontiac Solstice GXP, won when Tyler McQuarrie hit the wall in turn 3 and spun out in the final round.
“This is the epitome of drifting in America,” Tuerck said. “This is where everything started from. To get a win here is definitely a big check mark off the list of accomplishments.”
McQuarrie, a driver from Walnut Creek in a Nissan 350 ZX, finished second. Tanner Foust of Laguna Beach, in a Scion tC, was third.
Tuerck, a driver from Derry, N.H., beat Matt Waldin in the first round, then knocked out Ken Gushi in the second round, Robbie Nishida in the quarterfinals, Foust in the semifinals and McQuarrie in the final.
Chris Forsberg, a driver from Huntington Beach, won his first Formula Drift championship by defeating Doug VanDenBrink in the first round. But Forsberg was knocked out in the second round by Nishida.
“Me and Chris are such good friends,” Tuerck said. “I expected him to win and if he didn’t, I would be really disappointed in him.”
Forsberg qualified seventh and moved into the round of 16 by knocking out VanDenBrink, the 26th qualifier.
Kyle Mohan, a driver from Long Beach, was the fifth qualifier. He moved into the round of 16 with a first-round win over Jodin LeJeune. Mohan lost in the quarterfinals to Matt Powers
Justin Pawlak, another driver from Long Beach, knocked out Calvin Wan in the first round. Pawlak, the top qualifier for the Irwindale event, lost in the second round to McQuarrie.
Alex Pfieffer pulled off the upset of the first round. He was the 21st qualifier and defeated Vaughn Gittin, the 12th qualifier and the reigning champion of the Irwindale event.
Pfieffer lost in the second round to Mohan.