Federal Tires has announced a new partnership with SHR (Sam Hubinette Racing) for the 2011 Formula Drift (FD) championship as accomplished driver Dean Kearney will pilot his contending SHR Dodge Viper SRT10, shod with the daring Federal 595RS-R extreme performance tires in size 265/35R18 front and 285/30R18 rear to kick off their season in the 2011 FD Round One event on the Streets of Long Beach, CA. on April 8-9. Meanwhile, Federal is the official tire to once again serve as an associate sponsor of the world famous racing series around the U.S.

Dean Kearney is one of the European top drifters, having conquered the Prodrift Super Series, he began to set his sights on Formula Drift (FD) Series in the USA. With a background in competitive professional drifting from the young age of 16, the 22-year-old native of Waterford, Ireland, nicknamed “Karnage” has already shown his aptitude by coming off a banner season in 2010. His rookie season in FD was completed with a top 30 overall placing under his belt. Now entering his sophomore season of the race, Kearney is more than ready to join Hubinette in the SHR spotlight, and will be looking to improve on the great start he got from last year.

“Dean’s maturity is very apparent. We are thrilled to team up with him; and have him to represent Federal. We all believe that Dean is able to draw on his talent and experience in such an internationally well-known competition like FD U.S.A.” Henry Lin, Director of Global Sales, Federal Corp. shares the expectation to the potential racer as the 2011 season opener approaches.

"This is a perfect fit for me, and I feel right at home with the whole SHR family,” Kearney, who integrated very well into the team’s method of communication is excited to be a part of the SHR team remarked. “I know that I have a great knowledgeable team with SHR, and I think the 2011 season will provide a fantastic opportunity for me to prove myself as a driver to the next level.” Dean shows his confidence as Federal will give the young drifter a new dimension of support with the added power and competitiveness of 595RS-R track tires running right out of the gate on the 650bhp+ Dodge Viper.

For the 2011 model year, the FD season will be continuing its fierce events at the following:

Round 2 - Road Atlanta, Braselton, Ga., May 6-7
Round 3 - Palm Beach International Raceway, Palm Beach, Fla., June 3-4
Round 4 - Wall Speedway, Wall, NJ., June 17-18
Round 5 - Evergreen Speedway, Monroe, Wash., July 22-23
Round 6 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NV., Aug. 26-27
Round 7 - Irwindale, CA., Oct. 7-8

We look forward to the start of the season and can’t wait to see Dean and his team putting on the best drift show in all of drifting this season ─ with a Win!