The Red Bull Drifting World Championship is a non-championship all-star drifting contest sponsored by Red Bull energy drink and hosted by IMG and Slipstream Global Marketing, the organizers behind Formula D. The event took place at the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California on November 15–16, 2008.^[1]

Announced prior to the Las Vegas Formula D round on July 14, at $50,000,^[2] it boasts of the largest prize money in a drifting contest^[1] and the largest TV production for a drift contest.^[2]

The inaugural event was won by Rhys Millen, incidentally sponsored by Red Bull, taking home $25,000.

Criteria for eligibility

As there are 32 places for the event, drivers from all over the world are given a place should they meet these following criteria:

• Finish at the Top 16 in the Formula D points table
• Become the championship winner at these following oversea drifting events listed below, should that not happen, they are eligible to take up any available runner up spot should it be offered to them.
  • D1NZ (New Zealand)
  • Drift Mania Canadian Championship (Canada)
  • Drift Australia (Australia)
  • European Drift Championship (United Kingdom)
  • International Drift Series (Germany)
  • Pro Drift European Series (Ireland)
  • Nordic Drifting Championship (Scandinavia)
  • D1 Grand Prix (Japan)
  • NZ Drift Series (New Zealand)
• Have been D1GP title holder in the past years
• Have won the exhibition Formula D Singapore event

Venue

Taking place on 90-acre (360,000 m²) lot of newly laided up asphalt on Port of Long Beach, in a course known as "Pier S".^[2]

The entire venue had to be built from scratch, however temporary.^[2] Altogether, the venue in all, accounting for three grandstands, borrowed from those of the Long Beach Grand Prix and the 2,000 seating for VIP and sponsor are designed to accommodate up to 25,000 spectators.^[2]

The course length is 1,200 ft (370 m), with another 100 ft (30 m) to allow for a rolling start with six corners outlined by a Red Bull sign.^[2] Drivers who had driven on the track are said to be capable of reaching 104 mph (167 km/h) during test runs.^[2]

List of invited drivers

Driver	Team/Principal sponsor	Car/Engine	Series	Season Position	Number
Tanner Foust [3]	Rockstar/ AEM	Nissan 350Z	Formula D	2007 & 2008 Champion	34
Samuel Hubinette [3]	Nuformz Mopar/BFG	Dodge Viper SRT-10		2004 & 2006 Champion	77
Rhys Millen [3]	RMR Red Bull Pontiac	Pontiac Solstice GXP		2005 Champion	6
Daijiro Yoshihara [3]	RMR	Pontiac GTO		4th	9
Chris Forsberg [3]	NOS Energy Drink Drift Team	Nissan 350Z-VK56DE V8		5th	64
Michihiro Takatori [3]	Super Autobacs	Nissan Skyline GT-R R34		7th	23
Conrad Grunewald [3]	Tanaka Racing/Nitto Tires	Chevrolet Corvette C5		8th	79
Robbie Nishida [3]	Hankook	Nissan 350Z		9th	31
Vaughn Gittin, Jr. [3]	Team Falken Tire-Drift Alliance	Ford Mustang GT "5th Gen"		10th
Ryuji Miki [3]	A'PEXi-Bergenholtz Racing	Mazda RX-7 FD3S		11th 2004 D1GP Champion
Darren McNamara [3]	Sears/Falken Tires	Saturn Sky V8		12th 2008 Prodrift Runner-up
Stephan Verdier [3]	Crawford Motorsports	Subaru Impreza WRX STI GD		13th
Ken Gushi [3]	RS*R Scion	Scion tC		14th
Bill Sherman [3]	Retaks/Bridgestone	Nissan 240SX S13		15th
Justin Pawlak [3]	Drift Alliance	Mazda RX-7 FC3S		16th
Kyle Mohan [3]		Mazda RX-7 FC3S		17th
Garry Whiter [3]	Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S14.5	D1NZ	Champion
Carl Ruiterman	E&H Motors	Nissan Silvia S14	NZ Drift	Champion	16
Freddy Girrard [3]	Hankook	Nissan Skyline R32	DMCC	Champion
Marcos Santos [3]				Runners-up
Leighton Fine [3]	Toyo Tires	Nissan 240SXS14	Drift Australia	2008 Champion
Luke Fink [3]	Holford Motors	Nissan 180SX		2008 Runners-up
Robbie Bolger		Nissan 180SX		2007 Champion
Ben Broke-Smith [3]	Driftworks	Toyota Chaser	EDC	Champion	24
Tim Marshall [3]	Apex Performance	Nissan Skyline R33/SB Chevy V8		2nd	118
Tengku Djan Ley [3]	Bridgestone	Nissan 180SXS13.5	FD Singapore	Champion
Mike Whiddett [3]	Red Bull	Mazda RX-7 FD3S 4Rotor		2nd	15
James Deane [3]	Nexen	Nissan 200SX S14.5 RB26	ProDrift	Champion
Eric O’Sullivan [3]	Rockstar	Toyota Corolla Coupe AE86 F20		2nd
Fredric Aasbø [3]	Japan Auto	Toyota Supra	NDC	Champion
Remmo Niezen [3]		BMW M3 E30 V8	IDS	Champion
Paul Vlasblom [3]	Driftking.NL	BMW M3 E36 Touring
Katsuhiro Ueo [3]	Drift Speed	Nissan Silvia S15	D1GP	2002 Champion	86
drivers who been invited but declined entries
Ryan Tuerck [3]	Gardella Racing	Pontiac Solstice GXP	Formula D	6th
Nobuteru Taniguchi [3]	HKS	Toyota Altezza	D1GP	2001 Champion
Youichi Imamura [3]	Auto Produce Boss	Nissan Silvia S15		2003 Champion
Yasuyuki Kazama [3]				2005 Champion
Nobushige Kumakubo [3]	Team Orange	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX		2006 Champion
Masato Kawabata [3]	Team Toyo	Nissan 180SX		2007 Champion
Daigo Saito [3]	Team 22	Toyota Mark II JZX 100		2008 Champion
Manabu Orido [3]			MSC Challenge	Series judge

With the exception of Formula D, each series are allocated two entries, including D1GP, who following negotiation, were given six invites^[4]

When negotiation broke down, D1 drivers were discouraged from taking invites, therefore they were approached directly by the FD management to find out that they invited entrants, the former D1GP champions in particular, had to decline their entries^[4] for the reason of scheduling conflicts. Kumakubo declined his as he was due to take part in a drift demo in Dubai,^[3] Kazama, despite no longer involved in the series, declined because of schedule clash.^[3]

Former D1GP judge, competitor and Super GT driver, Orido was forced to decline his invitation as he was competing in the WTCC Guia Race at Macau on the same weekend,^[3] as was fellow judge and returning competitor Taniguchi, was taking part in a Super Taikyu race in Japan.

Other than that, and 2003 champion, Imamura declined his as he was unable to attend,^[3] the 2007 champion Kawabata declined his entry, but it was revealed that "conflict of interest" led them to decline. Saito, who originally accepted his entry, was forced to decline his entry for the same reason, although it was rumored that he placed two cars in a container to make its way to the event.^[5] Millen backed this claim of the organisation's bullying tactic during an interview^[6]

Only one FD driver, Tuerck, declined for budgetary reason as he is lacking a title sponsor, funding could not stretch for the event, therefore Mohan took his place.^[3][7] Santos, Bolger and Ruiterman made up the rest of the available slot.

Qualifying

Number	Starting order[8]	Driver	Score[9]
6	26	Millen	98.17
77	18	Hubinette	97.00
32	9	Vlasblom	96.83
86	13	Ueo	96.08
8	10	McNamara	95.75
9	28	Yoshihara	94.67
25	6	Gittin	94.50
79	25	Grunewald	93.83
34	5	Foust	93.50
99	21	Mohan	93.08
23	11	Takatori	92.25
64	32	Forsberg	92.08
16	7	Ruiterman	90.33
51	24	Aasbo	90.33
17	19	Deane	86.67
48	17	Djan	86.50
12	23	Verdier	83.92
118	8	Marshall	83.67
69	14	Fink	83.42
11	29	Whiter	82.92
7	31	O’Sullivan	82.92
22	16	Sherman	82.50
14	12	Fine	80.58
20	30	Niezen	79.58
31	3	Nishida	77.83
19	4	Santos	77.25
911	27	Bolger	72.67
24	20	Broke-Smith	72.42
5	1	Gushi	0.00
15	2	Whiddett	0.00
26	15	Miki	0.00
13	22	Pawlak	0.00

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Red_Bull_Drifting_World_Championship
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