EVENT DETAILS
Date: Saturday, June 22, 2024
Location: Old Bridge Township Raceway, Englishtown, NJ
Event: Formula DRIFT PRO Championship Round 4: Type S The Gauntlet Presented by AutoZone
RESULTS FROM FD PRO COMPETITION
1. James Deane (Ireland) – AutoZone Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD
2. Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) – Feal Suspension / GT Radial Nissan S15
3. Adam LZ (USA) – LZMFG E36 BMW
NOTES
- The weather continued hot and humid for the entire weekend, pushing man and machine to the limit
- After several seasons where drivers would only win one round per season, Deane is dominating in 2024, securing his second victory in four rounds and extending his advantage from 44 to 74 points over second place
- Having finished third at Round 1 and 2, Bakchis must be relieved to reach the second step of the podium. And with teammate Simen Olsen (Norway) unable to compete, Bakchis also climbed to second in the Championship chase
- After getting knocked out of the Top 16 in Round 3, Olsen failed to even start his Top 32 heat in New Jersey after the team diagnosed an engine fault. As a precaution, Team Feal withdrew the car to avoid serious damage. The subsequent points deficit dropped Olsen from second to fourth in the standings
- Third place LZ wasn’t scheduled to compete in New Jersey but must be relishing the decision. He was knocked out of the Top 4 in a close OMT battle with Bakchis. The result bumped LZ from 13th to ninth overall
- In a return to form, Dylan Hughes (USA) finished fourth in the Royal Purple E46 BMW 2JZ. Eliminated from the Top 4 by James Deane, the points haul catapulted Hughes from 14th to tenth overall
- Round 3 winner Conor Shanahan (Ireland) was knocked out of the Top 16 by Fredric Aasbo (USA). In a titanic battle of Champions, the decision finally went against the driver of the Red Bull / Garagistic E36 BMW after the judges requested One More Time (OMT) on two occasions. Following six intense runs, Aasbo got the nod by the narrowest margin
- Aasbo reached the Top 8 but was eliminated by Adam LZ after the Norwegian’s third OMT contest of the night. With a Round 2 win, Aasbo arrived in NJ in fourth place but has leapfrogged Olsen into third
- 14 year-old Hiroya Minowa (Japan) continued to impress in the Enjuku Racing / Cusco / Jerry Yang Racing Toyota GT86. He defeated Joao Barion (Brazil) in the Top 32 but was beaten by Ken Gushi (Japan) in the Top 16.
- Gushi noted that he’s known Minowa since he was born and has competed in Formula DRIFT four years longer than Minowa has been alive! Gushi was knocked out of the Top 8 by Bakchis
- Finishing Round 4 in ninth place, Shanahan was the top Rookie on the night but Minowa continues to be the leading FD PRO Championship Rookie, sitting seventh in the points table. Shanahan is 13th
- After Round 4, Toyota continues to lead the 2024 Auto Cup and Nitto still heads the Tire Cup
- Formula DRIFT PRO Round 5 will take place at World Wide Technology Raceway on July 18-20 as well as Link ECU PROSPEC Championship Round 3. Fans can enjoy the action in person or via the series livestream at youtube.com/Formuladrift
ROUND 4 FD PRO TOP 16 DRIVER POINTS
| POSITION | DRIVER | POINTS |
| 1 | James Deane | 100 |
| 2 | Aurimas Bakchis | 84 |
| 3 | Adam LZ | 70 |
| 4 | Dylan Hughes | 70 |
| 5 | Chris Forsberg | 56 |
| 6 | Taylor Hull | 56 |
| 7 | Fredric Aasbo | 56 |
| 8 | Ken Gushi | 56 |
| 9 | Conor Shanahan | 42 |
| 10 | Branden Sorensen | 42 |
| 11 | Hiroya Minowa | 42 |
| 12 | Matt Field | 42 |
| 13 | Ryan Tuerck | 42 |
| 14 | Rome Charpentier | 42 |
| 15 | Jeff Jones | 42 |
| 16 | Jonathan Hurst | 42 |
2024 FD PRO TOP 16 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
| POSITION | DRIVER | POINTS |
| 1 | James Deane | 354 |
| 2 | Aurimas Bakchis | 280 |
| 3 | Fredric Aasbo | 240 |
| 4 | Simen Olsen | 238 |
| 5 | Ken Gushi | 196 |
| 6 | Branden Sorensen | 196 |
| 7 | Hiroya Minowa | 196 |
| 8 | Matt Field | 196 |
| 9 | Adam LZ | 182 |
| 10 | Dylan Hughes | 182 |
| 11 | Chris Forsberg | 182 |
| 12 | Rome Charpentier | 182 |
| 13 | Conor Shanahan | 170 |
| 14 | Nick Noback | 168 |
| 15 | Taylor Hull | 154 |
| 16 | Ryan Tuerck | 154 |
2024 AUTO CUP TOP 5 STANDINGS
| Toyota | 478 |
| Ford | 424 |
| GM | 350 |
| BMW | 280 |
| Nissan | 280 |
2024 TIRE CUP STANDINGS
| Nitto | 636 |
| GT Radial | 588 |
| Kenda | 420 |
| Vitour | 408 |
| Kumho | 238 |
| Nexen | 224 |
FORMULA DRIFT NEW JERSEY RECAP
A recap of all the action from FD NJ with event images will be available on Monday
