Podium Finish at 'Final Fight' Seals the Deal on Hubinette's Second Championship

Mopar Speed | IRWINDALE - -
Team Mopar's Samuel Hubinette, the inaugural 2004 Formula D champ, set forth on a mission in 2006 to reclaim his title, after finishing second in the '05 points battle. The "Crazy Swede" can now say "mission accomplished," as his third-place showing on Saturday at Southern California's "House of Drift," Irwindale Speedway, earned him the 2006 title and brought home Mopar's first championship of the year. Hubinette entered the "Final Fight" at Irwindale, before the largest crowd ever to witness a drifting event, with a 36-point lead on Rhys Millen, and claimed the title by advancing to the Final Four round. The "Crazy Swede" qualified his NuFormz Racing Mopar Dodge Viper SRT10 second, and then defeated Mitsuru Haraguchi to advance to the Elite Eight. Millen kept the heat on with round wins of his own, making Hubinette's second-round match-up against Kenji Yaminaka all-important.

Hubinette and Yaminaka both went all-out, but a mistake in the corner by Yaminaka proved the difference, as the judges advanced Hubinette, earning him the championship. Hubinette and his team, the NuFormz crew of Shaun Carlson (owner) and crew members Kenny Nevins and Tim Dunbar, along with team manager and DaimlerChrysler Youth/Urban Marketing Manager B.J. Birtwell, high-fived in celebration in pit lane.

In the Final Four round, Hubinette was unable to advance past event winner Daijiro Yoshihara. With Tanner Foust unable to stage for the third-place race, Hubinette took the last podium spot and marked his championship with a victory lap in his trademark style, hanging out the door of his Mopar Dodge Viper and unleashing plumes of tire smoke on the cheering Irwindale crowd. The outing was Hubinette's fifth podium finish in seven races, and his three wins were the most on the series this year.

"It's been a pretty big year," observed Hubinette. "I took part in my first feature film [The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift] as a stunt driver, I got engaged, I became an American citizen, I won my second championship, and I'm getting married in December. Wow! 2006 has rocked for me. We're going to come back just as strong next year and look to capture our third championship, this time in the Mopar Dodge Charger SRT8."