Breaking into its seventh season, Formula DRIFT took to the Streets of Long Beach for its trademark season opener. This event is always a fan favorite being one of the only, if not the only, drift event that takes place on actual streets rather than a race track, course or parking lot. Many new cars made their debut at this event, some having great success while others clearly have a lot of bugs to figure out. American muscle prevailed however, as Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s new 2011 Falken Tire / Monster Energy Drink Mustang claimed the top podium spot with its debut.

Rhys Millen and his Red Bull Hyundai Genesis has clearly benefited from an off-season of thorough testing and upgrades as he finished up second place. Two-time champion Tanner Foust found himself in third with his Rockstar Energy Drink / AEM Scion tC. The threesome made for a colorful podium with three different brand of energy drinks being represented.

What made this event even more exciting was the debuts of several new drivers from all around the world seeing their first action in competitive American drifting. “With drivers from 13 nations and 12 current and former drifting champions, Formula Drift continues to grow drifting globally with the most diverse field of competitors than any other drifting series in the world,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula Drift.

Samuel Hübinette’s Dodge Challenger looks to have a few more bugs to work out, but his skill and expertise made sure he wasn’t far from a podium finish. Other new muscle cars included Conrad Grunewald in his Hankook Chevy Camaro and Tony Brakohiapa in the Sam’s Autoboy Ford Mustang. Noticeably missing, and without controversy, was Robbie Nishida’s Hankook Nissan GT-R and Eric O’Sullivan’s Subaru. Both were supposed to be big-name competitors and it must have been truly disappointing for both of these drivers flying over 10 hours to not see any competition.

Round Two of Formula Drift is scheduled to invade Road Atlanta on May 7-8th, 2010. We’ll be keeping a close eye on any testing during the break and will be sure to report on the second event of another exciting season of drifting.

GALLERY: Formula DRIFT Long Beach 2010

We broke the news last month that Samuel Hübinette would be campaigning his own two-car drift team for 2010. His new 865-hp Dodge Challenger would be campaigned with his previous championship-winning Dodge Viper, now driven by Canadian rally-star Andrew Comrie-Picard. With Formula Drift Long Beach competition starting today, the new team was out testing at Riverside, California this past week.

We spotted this video on YouTube and figured we’d share. It’s the best we can do to whet our appetite for this weekend’s competition. Things look extremely exciting with all the major teams finally making their official announcements, debuts and testing videos. We’ll be sure to report on all the results from the first event of the 2010 Formula DRIFT season. Check out the video of the Challenger swinging sideways, burning BFG rubber after the break.

GALLERY: Samuel Hubinette Testing Drift Dodge Challenger

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Rhys Millen is no stranger to any form of motorsports. However, he is probably most well-known for his Red Bull stunts and his impressive drifting career. Hailing from New Zealand, Millen was one of the US pioneers of drifting, completely dominating its initial competitive seasons with his Pontiac GTO. He then moved onto the Pontiac Solstice and shocked the world last year with the announcement of moving onto Korean-manufacturer Hyundai and its new Genesis Coupe.

There’s no denying that it was a perfect opportunity for Hyundai to extend their brand image and marketing to young enthusiasts, but was it a perfect fit for Millen? Some would argue that it was an unsuccessful inaugural campaign, perhaps even leaving an ugly mark on Millen’s otherwise successful drifting career. But we all know Millen hardly backs down from a challenge. Duly noted from his attempt at flipping a truck on New Year’s Eve a couple years back.

Plus, it didn’t help that last season Millen ran the first event with a Nissan VQ35 3.5-liter V6 under the hood. He later switched to a stroked and turbocharged 4.1-liter Hyundai V6, which has been pumped up further for the 2010 season to 650-hp.

We caught a glimpse of Millen testing at the El Toro Air Force Base a few weeks back and now Millen’s official 2010 Preseason Testing video has surfaced on the Web. The Genesis Coupe looks remarkably improved this year with Millen smoothly transitioning and swinging it sideways with what seems to be little effort.  Check out the video after the jump:

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2009 was an up-and-down year for Samuel Hübinette who has been a two-time Formula DRIFT champion and Hollywood stunt driver. Notorious for ripping it up in a Mopar-backed Viper SRT10 for many years and nicknamed The Crazy Swede by fellow competitors, Hübinette had a difficult start with his Mopar-backed Charger in 2009; and then mid-season Mopar was forced to back out of their sponsorship altogether due to difficult economic times.

As if the 2009 season couldn’t get any more tumultuous, Hübinette’s NuFormz team owner, Shaun Carlson, tragically passed away in October. Question marks were raised everywhere as one of the most talented drivers in the Formula DRIFT series seemed to be without a full ride. But talent always prevails, and Hübinette has finally announced his big plans for 2010.

Now factory-backed by Dodge, Hübinette will be campaigning his all new Dodge Challenger while teammate Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard (new to Formula DRIFT) will be swinging sideways in the familiar and championship-winning Viper SRT-10. Samuel Hübinette Racing also welcomes back the partnership of BFGoodrich tires. Hübinette looks forward to a strong and successful 2010 drifting season and we wouldn’t be surprised if he’ll be back in championship form with all his expertise and experience over the years.

We’ll be sure to keep an eye on both drivers, when the season kicks off in Long Beach, CA on April 9-10.

The official release is available after the jump.

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In 2008, Iron Man came out with Robert Downey Jr. playing the fitting role of Tony Stark. Previews and trailers have been swarming all over the Internet for Iron Man 2 where Downey will once again assume the role of Iron Man with new friends and villains at his side. One of the trailers show Stark passing time racing in an open-wheel car and taking a hot lap before Whiplash spoilers his fun on the track. It seems as if this scene has sparked some interest with Royal Purple, manufacturer of synthetic oils, to team up with Marvel Studios and cross promote on the new movie. The result is The Stark Motor Racing Team, a brilliant marketing program that now ties a comic book to a movie to reality.

The team is comprised of five different racers from five different demographics, all campaigning Royal Purple, Stark Motor Racing and Iron Man 2 sponsorship decals on their weapons of choice while on the track. Chris Prey will be leading the way in Grand AM Road Racing in his Porsche Boxster 986, while Stephen Verdier will be campaigning his 2008 Subaru STI sideways in the Formula DRIFT series. Speed isn’t reserved for just things with four wheels however, as David Hope and Melissa Paris will be campaigning their motorcycles in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycles and AMA Road Racing, respectively. Last but not least, Joey Stathas Jr. will have his hands full in Monster Trucks in his 2009 Chevy. All of these racers will be seen nationwide for 2010 all racing under the Stark Motor Racing Team program. We’ve also spotted Iron Man 2 branding on Royal Purple products.

Hopefully these type of sponsorships will lead to bigger and better things for all forms of motorsports. We feel that this was a real cool opportunity with the movie-makers taking a comic book to the big screen and now marketing gurus taking the movie into reality. Who would have ever thought Stark Motor Racing Team would be a reality?

[Source: Stark Motor Racing Team]

Gallery: Stark Motor Racing Team

Every March for the last few years, drifting fans nationwide stay glued to the Internet for news and videos of their favorite drifters and teams. With the Formula DRIFT season opening up in April on the Streets of Long Beach, teams all over the nation are out testing their off-season changes, new cars and even new drivers. The Bergenholtz Brothers, Ron and Ed, are no strangers to high-horsepower motorsports. They made groundbreaking changes to the world of FWD drag racing, capturing two NHRA Pro FWD championships while campaigning their Mazda 6 race car. But recently they’ve been searching for a new challenge and with drifting gaining speed, momentum and more importantly, sponsors, the Bergenholtz Brothers turned to a new automotive passion.

Recently they announced the signing of Joon Maeng to their team in order to pilot the RX-8 that they built last season. Joon Maeng had been a privateer with his Nissan 240SX for the past couple of years, making some noise amongst all the high-profile competitors that all carry heavy sponsors. It seemed like a great fit when it was announced that Joon Maeng would be piloting the Bergenholtz Racing Mazda RX-8. It was even cooler when they announced their title sponsor would be Full Tilt Poker along with Nitto Tires.

While drifting started out being coveted with Japanese rides from Toyota and Nissan, when it made its splash stateside, domestic muscle has taken center stage. The rumble of the V8 against the screaming turbocharged four-cylinder made the crowd go wild and was something that no one else could witness anywhere. Not even Japan. So it’s great to see the Bergenholtz Brothers throwing a rotary into the mix, pushing over 600whp and 480 ft-lbs of torque to the rear wheels of this sideways machine. So let’s satisfy what the fans all want, check out the first testing video of the season after the break with Joon Maeng behind the wheels of the Bergenholtz Racing Full Tilt Poker Nitto Mazda RX-8. What a mouthful!

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One of the many Camaros on display at the 2009 SEMA Show is the Formula Drift Camaro SS. Sponsored by Hankook Tire and displayed prominently at the General Motors booth, the car was built by BR Racing, Luke Lonberger and Conrad Grunewald Racing and will compete in next year’s Formula D drift championship piloted by none other than Conrad Grunewald.

In race-prepped form, the Camaro gets a GM Performance LS-A suercharger along with an AEM Universal EMS to make in excess of 600-hp at the rear wheels. The heavy beast has also been put on a diet with a striped out interior and a full cabon fiber body made by Seibon Carbon.

The car will also sport a set of custom Forgeline three-piece wheels and will (obviously) run on Hankook tires  of the Ventus R-S3 variety.

GALLERY: Hankook Tire, Formula Drift Camaro SS