Tanner Foust wins Formula Drift season finale at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale

Tanner Foust, a driver from Laguna Beach, beat Vaughn Gittin to win the Formula Drift season finale at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night.
Foust entered the Formula Drift competition dubbed Title Fight as the fifth-seeded driver in the 32-car field.
He beat Jodin LeJeune in the first round, Conrad Grunewald in the second round, Justin Pawlak from Long Beach in the quarterfinals, Darren McNamara in the semifinals before taking out Gittin in the final.
McNamara was the top qualifier. He raced against Michihiro Takatori in the third-place race. McNamara crashed and ended up in fourth place. Takatori completed his run through the course and was awarded third place.
Foust and Gittin raced four times to determine the champion of the seventh and final race of the 2010 Formula Drift season.
Gittin wrapped up the Formula Drift championship earlier in the day when he won his first-round race against Nikolay Konstantinov. Gittin beat Taka Aono, Matt Powers and Takatori to reach the final against Foust.

Formula Drift season finale at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale

Vaughn Gittin won his first Formula Drift championship at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night.
Gittin beat Nikolay Konstantinov in the first round of the Title Fight Formula Drift competition, the final round of the Formula Drift season.
It was the first Formula Drift championship for Gittin, who started his professional career in 2004. He was fifth last year and eighth in 2008 in the Formula Drift standings.
Daijiro Yoshihara entered the final round of the Formula Drift season in second place in the series standings. He earned the third seed in the round of 32 field, but lost to Matt Field, the No. 30 seed, in the first round.
Tanner Foust was the fifth seed and beat Jodin LeJeune in the first round.
More from Irwindale later....

Formula Drift drivers

After spending the day in Long Beach, and learning that I will be covering the Formula Drift event for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, I had lunch with Samuel Hubinette and Tanner Foust. Both are top Formula Drifters. Hubinette, from Newport Beach, is second in the Formula Drift Professional Championship standings after the event in Long Beach last weekend. He trails Ryan Tuerck by 12 points. Foust,a driver from Dana Point, is third in the standings.
Hubinete and Foust explained how the drifting competition will work this weekend in Long Beach. It's more of an exhibtion than an competition. The drivers will compete in three-car teams and won't go head-to-head, as was done during the Streets of Long Beach event.