Rhys Millen

Rhys Rodney Millen (born 6 September 1972) is a New Zealand-born racing driver.

Nephew of IMSA GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rodney and older brother of Ryan, is one of the America's top competitors in drifting. Prior to that he was a top rally driver in the US, and became the first works backed driver from a car manufacturer with GM in 2004 after narrowly losing to Ken Nomura in the US D1 Grand Prix exhibition event in . In 2011, Millen raced a 500 bhp AWD Hyundai Veloster in the US Rallycross championship. In the following years, he competed in the Global Rallycross series.

Career Millen became just the second champion in the short history of the United States' top drifting series, Formula D, just a year after his good friend, Samuel Hubinette, became the maiden series champ. Millen has two wins in his Formula D career: the 2004 season finale at the Irwindale Speedway, and the 2005 season opener at the Wall Speedway in Wall Township, New Jersey. He became the highest placed non-Japanese driver in the US round of the D1GP event in 2005, making it to the last 8 after beating Masato Kawabata, only to lose to Yasuyuki Kazama through a "One More Time" rerun. Millen's father, Rod, also competes in drifting on occasion. In fact, Rod made his Formula D debut at the 2005 season finale at Irwindale, the same event where his son was crowned the champion.

Millen has driven a Pontiac GTO drift car for three seasons (Winning in 2004 and 2005, but losing out to Hubinette in 2006) and a Pontiac Solstice for the 2007 D1 Season. For the 2009 season, he will drive a Hyundai Genesis Coupe. Red Bull has been a major sponsor of Rhys' drifting efforts, as well as the paint schemes of many of his cars.

Besides racing, Millen is also a stunt driver for films such as The Dukes of Hazzard, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. He also did the driving for the first Hyundai Genesis Coupe commercial.

On 31 December 2008, Millen became the first person to back-flip an off-road truck in the air. He landed off-balance, forcing his vehicle to flip on its side a few times after landing, but then walked away unharmed.

In 2009, Hyundai teamed up with Millen to race the Hyundai Genesis Coupe at the Formula Drift Professional Drifting Championship, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and select Redline Time Attack Series events in 2009. On July of that year, Millen set a new rear wheel drive record to take Pikes Peak's time attack title.

In 2010, Millen, with navigator Antony Jay Hartley, partnered with Hyundai into the sport of rally.

Racing record

D1 Grand Prix Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Position Points Pontiac Pontiac GTO IRWTSU SGO EBS APS ODB EBS TKB 0 Pontiac Pontiac GTO IRWTAN ODB SGO APS EBS FUJ TKB 12 25 Red Bull Pontiac Solstice GXP IRW SGO FUJ APS EBS SUZ FUJ 12 25 Red Bull Hyundai Genesis Coupe IRWDNQ 0

Formula D Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Position Points 2004 Pontiac Pontiac GTO Rd. 1 Rd. 2 Rd. 3 Rd. 4 2005 Pontiac Pontiac GTO Rd. 1 Rd. 2 Rd. 3 Rd. 4 Rd. 5 Rd. 6 1 2006 Red Bull Pontiac Pontiac GTO Rd. 1 Rd. 2 Rd. 3 Rd. 4 Rd. 5 Rd. 6 Rd. 7 2 596.00 Pontiac Solstice GXP 2007 Red Bull Pontiac Pontiac Solstice GXP Rd. 1 Rd. 2 Rd. 3 Rd. 4 Rd. 5 Rd. 6 Rd. 7 4 478.00

Complete Global Rallycross Championship results

AWD Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 GRC Points 2011 Rhys Millen Hyundai Veloster IRW15 IRW24 OLD17 OLD25 PIK19 PIK24 LA114 LA26 3rd 82

Supercar Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 GRC Points 2012 Hyundai Rallycross Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster CHA6 TEX4 LA4 NH LVS6 LVC3 4th 63 2013 Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster BRA MUN1 MUN2 LOU BRI LAN4 ATL CHA LVS10 18th 20 2014 Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster BAR7 AUS13 DC9 NY7 CHA11 DAY1 LA14 LA21 SEA5 LV13 10th 201 2015 Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster FTADAY1 DAY2 MCAS DET1 DET2 DC LA1 LA2 BAR1DNS BAR211 LVNC0 2016 Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster PHO18 PHO29 DAL8 DAY16 DAY29 MCAS1 MCAS2 DC AC SEA LA1 LA2 10th 96 Race cancelled.