Los Angeles, CA October 22, 2009 – Drift Champion and X Games Rally Gold Medalist, Tanner Foust, has been invited to compete at the Race of Champions on November 3rd and 4th in the iconic Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing, China. The Rockstar Energy Drink sponsored racer joins 2009 Rally America Champion and Freestyle Motocross star, Travis Pastrana, to represent America as Team USA.

The Race of Champions is an annual event that pits champions from Formula One, World Rally Championship, NASCAR, Le Mans, Touring Car Racing and other motorsports from around the world against each other in a series of head to head races in an assortment of race cars. The drivers compete both individually in the Race of Champions and as teams representing their countries for the Race of Nations Cup.

The Race of Champions makes a historic move from Europe to China after several years of competition in London’s Wembley Stadium and the Stade de Paris. Foust competed at the 2008 Race of Champions for Team USA alongside NASCAR racer, Carl Edwards, as Pastrana’s alternate. Pastrana sustained an injury filming his hit MTV show, Nitro Circus. Foust beat current Formula One Champion, Jensen Button, in front of a home crowd of 80,000 in his first round of the Race of Champions, and then was defeated by 2008 ROC runner-up, David Coulthard. The 2008 event was certainly a learning experience for Foust and he is ready to do battle for Team USA alongside Pastrana who has attended ROC several times.

Foust remarks: “What an honor to be invited back to the Race of Champions! This year I’m teamed with the man I replaced in ‘08, Travis Pastrana. Besides being THE most competitive human being on the planet, he’s an extremely talented driver. I just hope he doesn’t bring the Nitro Circus crew–I’d like to make it back to the States in one piece!”

In addition to the Race of Champions and Race of Nations Cup, Foust will be headlining daily tandem drifting demonstrations against a top Chinese drifter on a modified version of the ROC course. These demos along with the race action will be broadcast on TV live in forty countries and streamed over the internet.

The ROC is a gathering of the world’s motorsport elite. The event drew eighty thousand plus live spectators and millions of live TV viewers worldwide last year. This is the twenty-second year of the Race of Champions. ROC is expected to air in the USA on Discovery HD early in the New Year.

Irwindale, CA, Saturday September 19th, 2009— Rockstar Energy Drink racer and 2007/8 Formula Drift Champion, Tanner Foust won third place and a podium spot at the 2009 Formula Drift Championship season finale at the “House of Drift”—Irwindale Raceway. Foust, the 2007 and 2008 Formula Drift champion closed an uncharacteristically mixed season debuting his all new Rockstar Energy Drink Scion TC on a high note.

Foust moved through the Top 32 and Sliding 16 rounds using his Toyota Nascar V8 power to defeating Tony Brakohiapa and Michael Essa. In the Great 8 round he faced off with Dai Yoshihara for arguably one of the most exciting rounds of the night and Foust moved on to the Final 4.

In the Final 4, Foust paired the Rockstar Energy Drink Scion TC against Ryan Tuerck’s Pontiac Solstice. Ryan was on fire, battling for the best overall finish of his Formula Drift career. Foust followed Ryan first, giving great chase and sticking to him through the course. When Foust led Ryan was able to take a steeper angle, edging out Foust to advance to the championship round, and ultimately the race win. Foust earned his third place podium spot beating out Matt Powers in the consolation round.

“The Rockstar Energy Drink Scion TC was incredibly fast at Irwindale!” exclaimed Foust. “It logged some of the highest speeds on the track and was absolutely addicting to drive… I can’t get enough of that Toyota V-8 screaming at 9000RPM!” he continued, “I want to thank Stephan, Shawn and Carlos for a great year. Even though we didn’t take the championship this season, the guys stayed pumped and were eager to get our TC right.  With a great result in Irwindale we’ve proved that our efforts throughout the year paid off and that we will have a wicked car waiting for the 2010 opener.”

Team manager and car builder, Stephan Papadakis also commented, “Tanner was on fire all week. It feels great to end the year on a high note and with the car running so well. But the bigger picture is the huge crowd at the Formula D finale at Irwindale! It was beyond standing room only. This shows how strong this series is doing, and is just one more reason we can’t wait until next year’s season opener in April.”

Sunday August 2nd, 2009—Carson, CA. — Rockstar Energy Drink Rally Team driver, Tanner Foust, won the Bronze medal at the X Games 15 Rally Super Special in an Olsbergs MSE prepared 2010 Ford Fiesta. His Olsbergs MSE Ford Fiesta teammate, Indy Champion Kenny Brack, beat him in a close fought semi-final to go onto win the Gold. Freestyle motocross star, Brian Deegan, also driving for Rockstar Energy Drink in another Olsberg MSE prepared Ford Fiesta placed fourth in his first ever X Games rally event.

The X Games Rally Super Special is the pinnacle of the race season for US rally as it shines the spotlight on rally cars with a made for TV, head-to-head format, including a mid-stadium 70 foot crossover jump, all broadcast live on ABC.

The weekend started out well for the Rockstar Energy Drink and Olsbergs MSE Fiestas. Brack, Foust and Deegan scored the first, second and fourth fastest times in the timed seeding round on Friday. Foust was already pre-qualified for the quarter-final as the 2008 silver medalist. Brack and Deegan made short work of their qualifying rounds for the quarters, though Deegan sustained heavy damage to his Rockstar Energy Drink Fiesta on the main jump after a hard nose-in landing.

The quarter-finals went smoothly for Brack and Foust with Brack drawing first blood against Subaru Rally Team USA beating Dave Mirra in a close race. Foust beat Polish rally driver, Andy Mancin in a Mitsubishi EVO. Then the real action picked up with another Ford/Subaru fight—Deegan against Ken Block. Deegan went to the line with almost no turbo pressure—the result of damage from the prior hard landing. Block quickly took the lead, but even though down on power, Deegan made a clean jump. Block then threw his race away when he tagged a rear wheel on a K rail. The damage forced him to abort his run at the crossover jump, and earning a disqualification.

All three Ford Fiestas were now through to the semi-finals, with only 2008 Gold medalist Travis Pastrana representing Subaru. But now it was time for the 2010 Ford Fiestas to face off, Brack in Olsbergs MSE colors and Foust representing Rockstar Energy Drink. Brack got the jump on Foust but by mid-race Foust was pulling up on Brack with just 0.03 seconds between them. An error by Foust put him in the wrong race lane necessitating a quick one-eighty to get back on track handing the race to Brack. A Ford Fiesta was through to the final.

Reviving many years of rivalry in X Games Freestyle MX, Deegan now faced off against Travis Pastrana. Despite efforts from the Olsbergs MSE pit crew, Deegan’s Rockstar Energy Drink Fiesta had sustained too much damage and he now had no turbo boost. In a repeat of the 2008 Block/Pastrana semi, much to his frustration, Deegan was unable to race against Pastrana and was disqualified also for not jumping, As a result, Foust now had the Bronze—the first medal for Ford, and Pastrana was through to the final.

Ford versus Subaru and Brack versus Pastrana for the final. It was looking like a potentially close race but before completing his first lap, Pastrana jammed the Subaru into a wall ending it. Kenny Brack, an X Games first timer, in an all-new 2010 Ford Fiesta, won the Gold.

“X Games 15 was bittersweet. Being teammates with Kenny Brack and Brian Deegan was awesome.“ commented Tanner Foust, “I think we gave America an amazing introduction to the coming-soon 2010 Ford Fiesta. My Rockstar Energy Drink Fiesta flew perfectly over the jumps and was fantastically set up by the Olsbergs MSE crew for the tarmac section where the races are won and lost. Unfortunately, one critical error on my part in the semi-final against Kenny ended my chance at the Gold. For the first time in all of my X Games rallies I had a car that I felt could take on the factory Subarus from the start. And we did.”

First time out with two X Games Rally rookies at the wheel, the Rockstar Energy/Olsbergs MSE Ford Fiestas shut the door on Subaru’s prior domination of the event—a fantastic result for Kenny Brack, Tanner Foust and X Games crowd favorite Brian Deegan. Foust has one of each medal from the last three X Games rallies, Deegan wants a rally medal to add to his record X Games collection, and Brack has to return to defend the Gold. The stage is set for a rematch at X Games 16.

Tanner Foust heads to Seattle for round five of the Formula Drift Championship at Evergreen Raceway, Monroe, WA on August 7th and 8th.

About: Managed and packaged by Overamerica Media and Marketing, the Rockstar Energy Drink Rally Team at X Games 15 includes drivers, Tanner Foust, the 2007 X Games Rally Gold/2008 X Games Rally Silver Medalist and 2008 and 2007 Formula Drift Pro Drift Champion, and Freestyle MX Star, Brian Deegan. The Rockstar Star Energy Drink Rally Team partnered with Ford Racing and Olsbergs MSE with support from BF Goodrich to campaign the X Games 15 Rally Super Special along with Indy Champion, Kenny Brack. Additional sponsors include Ohlins (Suspension), Alpinestars, Metal Mullisha, Fulmer Helmets and Memphis Car Audio.

I wasn’t sure what to think about Round 4 as we cruised by the Vegas Strip on our way to Thursday’s test session.  Round 3 at The Wall in New Jersey was an absolute disaster for the team and I knew the guys had done all they could in the interim five weeks to solve the issues that caused me to spin in both qualifying laps.  The mood was a bit different in our pit this time, the jokes were a bit more personal and the competition pressure was pushed squarely in my court.

The test session didn’t answer many questions.  I wasn’t willing, with all the concrete around, to simulate the same scenario that had caused the car to spin in New Jersey.  I approached the limit slowly, too slowly, and it looked conservative.  Sure, we made suspension and gearing changes to hone the car for this new, diverse course, but I wasn’t taking the same committed lines that JP or Ueo demonstrated because I knew that a little too much angle could still cause the front tires to rub the frame, locking them up and spinning the car straight into the wall at over 80 mph.

I strapped some on for qualifying and threw the car hard into the first left hand corner at 84 mph.  It over rotated and my worst fear was happening as it began to back into the wall!  I was at full lock and half-expecting a spin as I looked behind the passenger B-Pillar at the impact point.  Something was different though and the car began to come back to straight as it slid sideways now at 60+ mph.  I let out the clutch and added throttle only to stall the engine!  Red warning lights in my face and the wall quickly approaching I shifted to second and popped the clutch while the car was still at a descent drift angle.  The NASCAR TRD V-8 fired and I finished the run without losing drift or the line… it wasn’t pretty but it was enough to get into the show.

What happened there was exactly what I needed.  I found the new limit of the car and could now proceed with a bit more confidence.  After Qualifying, Stephan, the team manager, told me not to worry about bending the car this weekend.  “Just push hard and don’t be a p#$$y.” he said.  That “pep” talk was actually much needed, and I threw the Scion into the course as hard as I could for the rest of the event.

Every run felt better and better.  I could get on the throttle earlier and earlier, which was smoking out the place.  The Rockstar Scion TC sounded awesome, the Hankooks took the most ridiculous punishment imaginable in stride and the win was as sweet as I’ve ever experienced.  Thanks go out to Formula D for a great event, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the hard-core Vegas fans and the guys on the Rockstar Drift Team (Stephan, Sean, Carlos, Rob) for a job well done!

Tanner Foust