EVENT DETAILS
Date: Thursday, September 14, 2023
Location: Utah Motorsports Campus, Grantsville, UT
Event: Formula DRIFT PRO Championship Round 7: Type S Elevated presented by AutoZone, and Link ECU PROSPEC Championship Round 4
RESULTS FROM FD PRO QUALIFYING
- James Deane (Ireland) – AutoZone Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD
- Simen Olsen(Norway) – Feal Suspension Nissan S14.9
- Chelsea DeNofa (USA) – Pennzoil / BC Racing Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD
RESULTS FROM FD PROSPEC QUALIFYING
- Rudy Hansen (USA) – Track Tires / Mast Motor / J&A Racing Oil Nissan 240SX S13
- Geoff Donati (USA) – Freedom Builders / Tuner Tools-powered E46 BMW
- Joshua Love (USA) – Josh Loves Drifting / After Hours Autosports E46 BMW
NOTES – PRO
- Formula DRIFT changed the course at Utah Motorsports Campus this year, removing Inside Clip 1 and replacing it with a longer Outside Zone 2, allowing the course to flow better
- The K&N PRO Qualifying session was led by triple FD PRO Champion Deane who scored 91.6 points, putting himself in pole position to perhaps finally win his first round of the season
- Second place Olsen reportedly struggled with set up in practice but nailed a 90-point qualifying run to reinforce his Top 5 PRO Championship position
- Championship leader DeNofa maintained his momentum from Seattle, transforming his Round 6 win into third place Utah qualification as he looks for his first series title
- DeNofa’s Championship rivals fared poorly, with Fredric Aasbo (Norway) qualifying 13th in the Rockstar Energy Toyota GR Supra, and Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) in 15th. While Matt Field (USA) was relegated to the Knockout Qualifying Format (KQF) after a flawed first run in the Borla Performance / GT Radial Corvette. His second run resulted in a 92.3 point run, which would’ve been good enough for first place on his first attempt, but the best he could achieve in KQF was 25th
- With only two Rookie drivers in the FD PRO Championship, and one not competing regularly, Diego Higa (Brazil) was again the best Rookie qualifier, placing his JDMSupreme Toyota GT86 in 26th
- 33 drivers qualified for the Top 32 competition places, meaning at least one person would be disappointed. Unfortunately, Ola Jaeger (Norway) had the lowest score after KQF and took an early shower
NOTES – PROSPEC
- Hansen claimed the top qualifying spot with a score of 85.3 points. Having won the opening Round in Atlanta but struggled in the two previous Rounds, Hansen occupies third place in the Link ECU PROSPEC Championship coming into the Final. Sitting 81 points behind leader Ben Hobson (USA), Hansen is one of three drivers with a mathematical chance to take the title
- Donati qualified second with a score of 84.6 while third place Love received 83 points. Sitting mid-table, both drivers will be hoping to finish the season on the podium
- PROSPEC Championship leader Hobson had his worst qualifying session of the year, placing ninthoverall with a 76.3 point run. He has a comfortable 65 point cushion to second place Andy Hateley (USA) – who qualified fourth – but this is the first time we’ve seen Hobson look fragile all season. However, the 2023 PROSPEC title remains Hobson’s to lose
- Double PROSPEC Champion Dmitriy Brutskiy failed to complete his qualifying run after a technical issue with the DriftHQ E46 BMW. Given a second chance under KQF, he scored 86.6 points and placed 25th overall. If he had received the same score on his first run, Brutskiy would have qualified in first place
- The top Rookie qualifier was Sam Maghmoumi (Lebanon) who scored 80.3 points and placed fifth. Normally driving the 412 Motorsport E82 BMW, Maghmoumi qualified in an E36 BMW, which seemed to work well for him
- Coming into Utah, the leader of the 2023 Rookie title race was Connor O’Sullivan (USA) in the RTS / GT Radial E46 BMW. However, he failed to complete two qualifying runs and was eliminated from the event. With a 12 point lead over his nearest Rookie rival, O’Sullivan will almost certainly lose the title, but who will take his place?
- A field of 37 drivers battled for the 32 PROSPEC competition places. The bottom 13 qualifiers had to run a second time under KQF, with at least five being excluded, provided they successfully completed one run
- The eliminated drivers included Zandara Kennedy (Canada), Chris Leonard (USA), Alex Lichliter (USA), Erick Medici (Brazil) and Connor O’Sullivan (USA)
FD PRO ROUND 7 TOP 16 QUALIFYING
| POSITION | NAME | POINTS |
| 1 | James Deane | 3 |
| 2 | Simen Olsen | 2 |
| 3 | Chelsea DeNofa | 1 |
| 4 | Travis Reeder | |
| 5 | Ryan Litteral | |
| 6 | Kazuya Taguchi | |
| 7 | Dylan Hughes | |
| 8 | Joao Barion | |
| 9 | Dean Kearney | |
| 10 | Trenton Beechum | |
| 11 | Branden Sorensen | |
| 12 | Jeff Jones | |
| 13 | Fredric Aasbo | |
| 14 | Dan Stuke | |
| 15 | Aurimas Bakchis | |
| 16 | Chris Forsberg |
FD PROSPEC ROUND 4 TOP 16 QUALIFYING
| POSITION | NAME | POINTS |
| 1 | Rudy Hansen | 3 |
| 2 | Geoff Donati | 2 |
| 3 | Joshua Love | 1 |
| 4 | Andy Hateley | |
| 5 | Sam Maghmoumi | |
| 6 | Derek Madison | |
| 7 | Alex Jagger | |
| 8 | Kasey Kohl | |
| 9 | Ben Hobson | |
| 10 | Cory Talaska | |
| 11 | Austin Matta | |
| 12 | Faruk Kugay | |
| 13 | Kelsey Rowlings | |
| 14 | Hooman Rahimi | |
| 15 | Dustin Miles | |
| 16 | Adam Knapik |
BRACKET FOR ROUND 7 PRO COMPETITION HEATS
BRACKET FOR ROUND 4 PROSPEC COMPETITION HEATS
NEXT ROUND
Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, CA will host the Round 8: Type S Title Fight, the Final Round of the Formula DRIFT PRO Championship on October 13-14. Please visit formulad.com for the competition schedule, ticket information, driver profiles, special content, and the event livestream
