# Red Bull Drifting World Championship

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.
Announced prior to the Las Vegas Formula D round on July 14, at $50,000, it boasts of the largest prize money in a drifting contest and the largest TV production for a drift contest.
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 m$^2$) lot of newly laided up asphalt on Port of Long Beach, in a course known as "Pier S".
The entire venue had to be built from scratch, however temporary. 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.
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. Drivers who had driven on the track are said to be capable of reaching 104 mph (167 km/h) during test runs.

## List of invited drivers

| Driver | Team/Principal sponsor | Car/Engine | Series | Season Position | Number |
| Tanner Foust | Rockstar/ AEM | Nissan 350Z | Formula D | 2007 & 2008 Champion | 34 |
| Samuel Hubinette | Nuformz Mopar/BFG | Dodge Viper SRT-10 | Formula D | 2004 & 2006 Champion | 77 |
| Rhys Millen | RMR Red Bull Pontiac | Pontiac Solstice GXP | Formula D | 2005 Champion | 6 |
| Daijiro Yoshihara | RMR | Pontiac GTO | Formula D | 4th | 9 |
| Chris Forsberg | NOS Energy Drink Drift Team | Nissan 350Z-VK56DE V8 | Formula D | 5th | 64 |
| Michihiro Takatori | Super Autobacs | Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 | Formula D | 7th | 23 |
| Conrad Grunewald | Tanaka Racing/Nitto Tires | Chevrolet Corvette C5 | Formula D | 8th | 79 |
| Robbie Nishida | Hankook | Nissan 350Z | Formula D | 9th | 31 |
| Vaughn Gittin, Jr. | Team Falken Tire-Drift Alliance | Ford Mustang GT "5th Gen" | Formula D | 10th | |
| Ryuji Miki | A'PEXi-Bergenholtz Racing | Mazda RX-7 FD3S | Formula D | 11th 2004 D1GP Champion | |
| Darren McNamara | Sears/Falken Tires | Saturn Sky V8 | Formula D | 12th 2008 Prodrift Runner-up | |
| Stephan Verdier | Crawford Motorsports | Subaru Impreza WRX STI GD | Formula D | 13th | |
| Ken Gushi | RS*R Scion | Scion tC | Formula D | 14th | |
| Bill Sherman | Retaks/Bridgestone | Nissan 240SX S13 | Formula D | 15th | |
| Justin Pawlak | Drift Alliance | Mazda RX-7 FC3S | Formula D | 16th | |
| Kyle Mohan | | Mazda RX-7 FC3S | Formula D | 17th | |
| Garry Whiter | Toyo Tires | Nissan Silvia S14.5 | D1NZ | Champion | |
| Carl Ruiterman | E&H Motors | Nissan Silvia S14 | NZ Drift | Champion | 16 |
| Freddy Girrard | Hankook | Nissan Skyline R32 | DMCC | Champion | |
| Marcos Santos | | | DMCC | Runners-up | |
| Leighton Fine | Toyo Tires | Nissan 240SXS14 | Drift Australia | 2008 Champion | |
| Luke Fink | Holford Motors | Nissan 180SX | Drift Australia | 2008 Runners-up | |
| Robbie Bolger | | Nissan 180SX | Drift Australia | 2007 Champion | |
| Ben Broke-Smith | Driftworks | Toyota Chaser | EDC | Champion | 24 |
| Tim Marshall | Apex Performance | Nissan Skyline R33/SB Chevy V8 | EDC | 2nd | 118 |
| Tengku Djan Ley | Bridgestone | Nissan 180SXS13.5 | FD Singapore | Champion | |
| Mike Whiddett | Red Bull | Mazda RX-7 FD3S 4Rotor | FD Singapore | 2nd | 15 |
| James Deane | Nexen | Nissan 200SX S14.5 RB26 | ProDrift | Champion | |
| Eric O’Sullivan | Rockstar | Toyota Corolla Coupe AE86 F20 | ProDrift | 2nd | |
| Fredric Aasbø | Japan Auto | Toyota Supra | NDC | Champion | |
| Remmo Niezen | | BMW M3 E30 V8 | IDS | Champion | |
| Paul Vlasblom | Driftking.NL | BMW M3 E36 Touring | IDS | |
| Katsuhiro Ueo | Drift Speed | Nissan Silvia S15 | D1GP | 2002 Champion | 86 |
| drivers who been invited but declined entries ||||||
| Ryan Tuerck | Gardella Racing | Pontiac Solstice GXP | Formula D | 6th | |
| Nobuteru Taniguchi | HKS | Toyota Altezza | D1GP | 2001 Champion | |
| Youichi Imamura | Auto Produce Boss | Nissan Silvia S15 | D1GP | 2003 Champion | |
| Yasuyuki Kazama | | | D1GP | 2005 Champion | |
| Nobushige Kumakubo | Team Orange | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | D1GP | 2006 Champion | |
| Masato Kawabata | Team Toyo | Nissan 180SX | D1GP | 2007 Champion | |
| Daigo Saito | Team 22 | Toyota Mark II JZX 100 | D1GP | 2008 Champion | |
| Manabu Orido | | | 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
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 for the reason of scheduling conflicts. Kumakubo declined his as he was due to take part in a drift demo in Dubai, Kazama, despite no longer involved in the series, declined because of schedule clash.
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, 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, 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. Millen backed this claim of the organisation's bullying tactic during an interview
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. Santos, Bolger and Ruiterman made up the rest of the available slot.

## Qualifying

| Number | Starting order | Driver | Score |
| 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 |

## Knockout stage

| Top 32 | Top 16 | Great 8 | Semi Finals | Final |
| Millen | | | | |
| Gushi | Millen | | | |
| O'Sullivan | Verdier | | | |
| Verdier | | Millen | | |
| Takatori | | Gittin | | |
| Sherman | Sherman | | | |
| Gittin | Gittin | | | |
| Santos | | | Millen | |
| McNamara | | | Foust | |
| Broke-Smith | McNamara | | | |
| Foust | Foust | | | |
| Niezen | | Foust | | |
| Ruiterman | | Whiddet | | |
| Fink | Ruiterman | | | |
| Vlasblom | Whiddet | | | |
| Whiddet | | | | Millen |
| Hubinette | | | | Yoshihara |
| Miki | Hubinette | | | |
| Deane | Tengku | | | |
| Tengku | | Hubinette | | |
| Forsberg | | Forsberg | | |
| Whiter | Forsberg | | | |
| Grunewald | Nishida | | | |
| Nishida | | | Hubinette | |
| Yoshihara | | | Yoshihara | |
| Bolger | Yoshihara | | | |
| Mohan | Fine | | | |
| Fine | | Yoshihara | | |
| Aasbo | | Ueo | | |
| Marshall | Aasbo | | | |
| Ueo | Ueo | | | |
| Pawlak | | | | |