Giti Tire (USA) Ltd.’s GT Radial brand has kicked off its second season in North America’s professional drifting championship with three veteran drivers.
The company says it is looking to build on momentum established in its inaugural year of competing in Formula Drift.
Competing on GT Radial Champiro SX2 ultra high performance tires are: Kyle Mohan, Conrad Grunewald and Chelsea DeNofa. Mohan ran on GT Radial tires last year, while Grunewald and DeNofa are new drivers on the GT Radial roster.
“In addition to having Kyle competing again on GT Radial tires, we are very excited to welcome Conrad and Chelsea to the GT Radial Formula DRIFT team for 2015,” says Mike Meeiem, motorsports marketing manager, Giti Tire (USA), Ltd.
“We demonstrated last year that the GT Radial Champiro SX2 has a ton of potential in Formula DRIFT and can compete against the other tire manufacturers in the series,” Mohan says. “The GT Radial tires provide a huge amount of grip and smoke, although with the extra horsepower Mazdatrix found in our three-rotor engine, making smoke will never be an issue."
After beginning the 2015 season at the Streets of Long Beach in April 10-11, Formula Drift will visit six other venues nationwide: Road Atlanta, Orlando Speedworld, Wall Speedway New Jersey, Evergreen Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and the finale at Irwindale Speedway.
Formula Drift has announced a television agreement with CBS Sports Network for 20 half-hour programs throughout the year. Bracketed head-to-head match-ups will anchor the coverage and be featured across 13 episodes. Coverage also includes an seven shows featuring a new behind-the-scenes program, Formula Drift Insider.
In the first round of competition on the Streets of Long Beach April 10-11, all three of Giti's drivers qualified for the round of 32 and DeNofa made it to the round of 16.
Giti says Mohan’s Mazda RX-8 is sporting a new look and more power for the 2015 season. Mazdatrix was able to extract additional horsepower from the three-rotor engine, and every other part of the car has been updated and improved.
Mohan, who is entering his 10th Formula Drift season, qualified for each round of competition in the 2014 Formula Drift season and advanced to the top 16 on three occasions in the No. 99 GT Radial/Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8.
Conrad Grunewald Racing (CGR) has unveiled a project build drift car with Chevrolet Performance and Scoggin Dickey Parts Center. With support from BRE Motorsports, the ReplayXD/Always Evolving Camaro features a twin-turbo with an LSX 376.
DeNofa, a six-year veteran in Formula Drift, drives a turbocharged V8-powered BMW 3-series and is widely regarded as a fan favorite among the drifting crowd. He expects to break into the top 10 on GT Radial tires in 2015, according to Giti Tire.
