April 21st, Long Beach, CA – Chris Forsberg could not have asked for a better start to the 2008 Formula Drift Series. The NOS Energy Drink Drift Team swept the first 2 Formula Drift events of the year held in Long Beach, CA this last week. The crew also won the Top Mechanics Award from the Air Force Reserve for their high level of professionalism and quick action producing winning results.

Chris had a stellar performance at the first Championship round held on April 12th. The event was held in front of a sold out crowd on the Streets of Downtown Long Beach. The NOS Energy Drink Nissan 350Z ran consistent all morning in practice, so it was no surprise when Chris placed 3rd in the mornings qualifying round. “The car was running great all morning and I was feeling real comfortable on the track.” said Chris. His top qualifying placement put him in great position for the Top 16 tandem battles. Forsberg then barreled through Formula Drift Veteran Conrad Grunewald, Japanese driver Kazu Hayashida and Kyle Mohan to get into the final round matched up against 2-time Formula Drift Champion, Samuel Hubinette. After 2 tough rounds of competition with Hubinette, Chris finally prevailed landing him on the top of the podium for his first win of the year and the 3rd podium in the last 4 consecutive events.

The following weekend, Chris joined his Drift Alliance brothers, Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Tony Angelo, to compete in the Formula D Team Drift Challenge. The event was ran in conjunction with the Grand Prix of Long Beach which drew over 180,000 thousand spectators over the 3 days of competition. The Drift Alliance Team ran flawlessly throughout the weekend, qualifying first with a near perfect score of 29 out of 30 making them the team to beat. Come race day they did not disappoint scoring another 29 beating out the nearest competition by over 12 points giving Drift Alliance the win and Team NOS its second victory in just over a week. “We had a plan of what we needed to do to win and we stuck to it,” stated Chris. “Our Maxxis Tires gave me the grip and endurance to drift the entire course for over 10 minutes. That’s the kind of reliability it takes to win an event like this.”

Chris’ performance gave him the lead in the Championship Series and made him the 2nd most winning driver in Formula Drift history. “We had a great couple of events and I’m looking forward to Atlanta and the rest of the season. I want to thank my crew Kevin and Sergio for all their hard work getting the entire program ready for this event,“ commented Chris. “I certainly could not have done it without them.”
The next round in the Formula Drift Championship will be held at the Road Atlanta race track in Braselton, GA on May 10th. Checkout www.NOSDrift.com for more information on the team or www.FormulaDrift.com for ticket info or more information on the series.