EVENT DETAILS
Date: Thursday, July 30, 2026
Location: Indianapolis Raceway Park, Indianapolis, IN
Event: Formula DRIFT PRO Championship Round 5 Qualifying & Link ECU PROSPEC Round 3 Seeding Bracket results
RESULTS FROM FD PRO QUALIFYING
- Jack Shanahan (Ireland) – Pulsar Turbos E82 BMW
- Matt Field (USA) – Borla Performance / GT Radial / Heat Wave Visual / Logitech / Liqui Moly Corvette
- Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) – Feal Suspension / GT Radial / Subimods Subaru BRZ
RESULTS FROM FD PROSPEC SEEDING BRACKET
- Jacob Duncan (USA) – Duncan Motorsports Nissan S13
- Christian Cotrone (USA) – Howards Cams C6 Corvette
- Matt Rusiecki (Canada) – Lordco Auto Parts Nissan 350Z
PRO NOTES
- With Indianapolis Raceway Park appearing on the Formula DRIFT schedule for the first time, the series decided to resurface parts of the course to improve the drift spectacle. The changes were developed in conjunction with Driver Liaisons Ryan Litteral, Ken Gushi and Matt Field as well as FD Judges Brian Eggert, Reese Marin, Robbie Nishida and Vernon Zvanevald, plus the Formula DRIFT Competition Department. All parties focused on creating the best competitive environment for the drivers to ensure the most excitement for the fans, building on the incredible momentum from the previous Connecticut Round
- During practice on the new course, there were a number of incidents while drivers were learning the track, including a heavy collision between LZ (USA) and Matt Field. And while the geometry of the track walls, along with the speed and directionality of the cars was well within the certified safety tolerances, Formula DRIFT subsequently changed an Outside Zone to an Inside Clip to enhance the shortened practice time with PROSPEC going over. The Series felt it prudent to take additional measures to preserve the time drivers spent on track by decreasing the probability of potential incidents on a newly learned course. Additionally, the Series shifted the day’s Qualifying events one hour later to allow additional onboarding time for both Championships
- With 29 drivers competing for Top 32 Competition places, nobody would be eliminated provided they completed at least one of their two Qualifying runs. Unfortunately, Jeff Jones (USA) crashed his Big Drift Energy / Prisma Lab Nissan 370Z in practice and was unable to successfully complete a run, so won’t be competing on Saturday
- The top four finishers will receive a bye run into the Top 16 Competition heats
- Formula DRIFT PRO Qualifying utilizes UDSM (Universal Drift Scoring Method) technology from Race Data Labs. The telemetry and data system has automated the objective aspects of scoring individual qualifying runs with up to 80% of each PRO driver’s Qualifying score for drift Line and car Angle quantified and scored entirely by UDSM Driving Style – the remaining 20% – continues to be assessed and awarded by the existing panel of three Formula DRIFT judges
- Jack Shanahan topped Qualifying with a score of 84.63 points on his second run thanks to precise car placement and driving with real flair. He narrowly beat Matt Field by 1.08 points after the Corvette driver had led the field for most of the session
- Third-place Bakchis wasn’t far behind with a score of 82.7 points as he continues to settle into his new car
- Championship leader James Deane (Ireland) put the O’Reilly / Pennzoil Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD into fourth place with a score of 82.53
- The leading Rookie driver was Cole Richards who scored 80.66 in the Richards Racing Toyota GT86
- The top Qualifier receives four Championship points, second place receives three, third gets two, and all other drivers receive one point
PROSPEC NOTES
- The Formula DRIFT Link ECU PROSPEC Championship retained its competitive tandem Seeding Bracket Qualifying format for 2026, providing lower ranked drivers with additional competitive track time to increase their experience level
- With 24 of the places in Top 32 Competition determined by the Championship standings from Round 2, the remaining eight places would be filled from among the 16 drivers competing in the Seeding Bracket
- Rookie Jacob Duncan took his first Seeding Bracket win after his Rookie opponent Cotrone failed to complete the Final because of differential damage
- Third place Rusiecki was unable to compete in his semi-final heat after damaging his car in the Top 8 heats. However, the Rookie was awarded third by virtue of his first place ranking in the Seeding Bracket
- PROSPEC drivers recieve three Championship points for each heat they win, meaning Duncan recieved 12 points for winning the Final
- With a full field for the Seeding Bracket, a total of eight drivers were eliminated including Brian Hoplamazian (USA), Dustin Miles (USA), Matt Shulman (USA), Krzysztof Krutul (Poland), Levi Wait (USA), Luis Lanz (Venezuela), Allen Boss (USA) and Jayden Martorana (Canada)
- The Link ECU PROSPEC Championship travels to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on September 24-26 for the Final Round 4 where the 2026 Champion will be crowned
FD PRO ROUND 5 TOP 16 QUALIFYING RESULTS*
| POSITION | NAME | POINTS |
| 1 | Jack Shanahan | 4 |
| 2 | Matt Field | 3 |
| 3 | Aurimas Bakchis | 2 |
| 4 | James Deane | 1 |
| 5 | Chris Forsberg | 1 |
| 6 | Tommy Lemaire | 1 |
| 7 | Branden Sorensen | 1 |
| 8 | Cole Richards | 1 |
| 9 | LZ | 1 |
| 10 | Conor Shanahan | 1 |
| 11 | Ryan Tuerck | 1 |
| 12 | Ben Hobson | 1 |
| 13 | Dylan Hughes | 1 |
| 14 | Ken Gushi | 1 |
| 15 | Wataru Masuyama | 1 |
| 16 | Trenton Beechum | 1 |
FD PRO ROUND 5 TOP 32 COMPETITION BRACKET*
FD PROSPEC ROUND 3 SEEDING BRACKET RESULTS*
| POSITION | NAME | POINTS |
| 1 | Jacob Duncan | 12 |
| 2 | Christian Cotrone | 9 |
| 3 | Matt Rusiecki | 6 |
| 4 | Ryan Kaufman | 6 |
| 5 | Carsen Ruger | 3 |
| 6 | Kelsey Rowlings | 3 |
| 7 | Kabott Cardoso | 3 |
| 8 | Hooman Rahimi | 3 |
| 9 | Allen Boss | 0 |
| 10 | Matt Shulman | 0 |
| 11 | Luis Lanz | 0 |
| 12 | Dustin Miles | 0 |
| 13 | Jayden Martorana | 0 |
| 14 | Krzysiek Krutul | 0 |
| 15 | Levi Wait | 0 |
| 16 | Brian Hoplamazian | 0 |
FD PROSPEC ROUND 3 TOP 32 COMPETITION BRACKET*
* Preliminary standings. Final results pending official confirmation