As the 2024 Formula DRIFT season entered its final stages, fans arrived at Utah Motorsports Campus expecting to crown the Link ECU PROSPEC Champion during the fourth and final Round. However, there was also a chance the same fans could witness PRO Championship history. James Deane (Ireland) had the opportunity to clinch a record-breaking fourth title and achieve it before the Final Round at Irwindale Speedway – something that had never happened before. As it transpired, second-place Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) ensured the fight would continue to the end, but it was only secured late into the competition.
In addition to the frantic points calculations, teams had to cope with high temperatures and a revised track layout, which introduced plenty of drama throughout the weekend.
PRO SEEDING BRACKET
The K&N Seeding Bracket again saw the first 24 competition places determined by the results from Round 7, while the remaining eight positions were designated by results from competitive tandem runs. In Utah, ten drivers were vying to occupy positions 25-32, and it was Andy Hateley (USA) who emerged victorious in the Hateley Motorsports E46 BMW. He faced Ben Hobson (USA) in the Seeding Bracket Final but a technical issue with the Pennzoil / BC Racing Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD gave Hateley an easy victory.
It was a double-edged sword for Hobson, who was able to qualify for only the second time this season but the team needed to diagnose and resolve the Mustang’s issue.
Rudy Hansen (USA) placed third in the Team Hansen Supercharged Nissan S13 while Dmitriy Brutskiy and Robert Thorne were the only drivers eliminated.
PRO COMPETITION
The tension was palpable throughout the Formula DRIFT PRO Championship Round 7: Type S Elevated presented by AutoZone. If second-place Bakchis faltered at any stage, Deane would claim the title. But “Odi” had no intention of letting that happen.
In the Top 32 competition heats, Deane had a relatively easy run against Ryan Litteral (USA) whose Sunoco / Simagic Nissan S15 required its Competition Time Out (CTO) to complete their two runs.
Meanwhile, Diego Higa (Brazil) retired his Toyota GT86 after he ran off course at the first Outside Zone (OZ1) in the first run against “Odi” Bakchis.
In the Top 16, Deane’s AutoZone Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD outpaced Hateley’s BMW, returning the pressure to Bakchis, who then needed to defeat Rookie Conor Shanahan (Ireland) in his Red Bull / Garagistic E36 BMW.
While the Irishman might be new to the series, he’s the reigning European Drift Masters Champion and the judges were unable to separate their performance after the first two runs. The judges requested One More Time (OMT) and Bakchis eventually got the decision by the narrowest margin.
It was Deane who stuttered in the Top 8, dropping a tire into the dirt on his lead run against Dylan Hughes (USA) driving the Royal Purple E46 BMW 2JZ. Deane then bumped Hughes twice on his chase run, resulting in both cars coming to a halt. However, it was deemed that Hughes was late on the power in Outside Zone 2 (OZ2) and caused the collision.
As the RTR team breathed a sigh of relief, Bakchis faced three-time FD PRO Champion Chris Forsberg (USA) in the NOS Energy Drink / NISMO Parts USA Nissan Z. Never a pushover, Forsberg pushed hard but his mistakes on both runs tipped the decision to Bakchis.
As fate would have it, three-time FD PRO Champion Deane met Bakchis in the Top 4: a contest that could decide the 2024 Formula DRIFT PRO Championship. With two of the most powerful cars in the series and drivers on peak form, it was a slugfest that saw Deane again drop a tire into the dirt and bump Bakchis as he recovered. Both drivers repeated the mistake on the second run, but Bakchis committed fewer errors and took the win, ensuring the title race would wait until Irwindale.
In the Final, Bakchis met three-time FD PRO Champion Fredric Aasbo (Norway), who’d been a Championship contender all season in the Rockstar Energy Toyota Racing GR Supra GT86. It was another titanic showdown, which Bakchis won thanks to better proximity on the chase run, but it was yet another close decision for the composed Lithuanian driver.
“This Round 7 win means I’m still in the hunt for the Championship!” Bakchis declared. “I couldn’t let James take it before Irwindale, and it worked out well. I just took one battle at a time with the goal of winning the event, and I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. Now I need to focus on Irwindale where there’s still a chance to take the title and hold onto second place at the bare minimum. The other guys are driving so hard that I need to fight to stay on top.”
After losing in the Final to Bakchis, Aasbo returned to third overall but the 130-point deficit means he’s unable to claim a fourth title.
Third place went to Trenton Beechum (USA) in the Nexen Tire / Clonex Racing E46 BMW. He secured his first FD PRO podium and his best result since joining the Championship in 2021, although Beechum was the 2019 PROSPEC Champion and no stranger to winner’s champagne.
Deane placed fourth and his points advantage over Bakchis was reduced from 104 to 74 points, but he remains in the driving seat.
Finishing tenth in Utah after being eliminated by Forsberg in the Top 16, Hiroya Minowa (Japan) maintained his lead in the 2024 FD Rookie of the Year race. His Enjuku Racing / Cusco / Yellowspeed Racing Toyota GT86 currently sits fourth overall with 406 points; 96 ahead of nearest rival Shanahan in 11th.
After Round 7, Toyota and Nitto Tire continue to lead the 2024 Auto Cup and Tire Cup, respectively.
“Odi did everything to ensure the Championship wasn’t decided in Utah, which means the fight goes down to Irwindale,” said Ryan Sage, President of Formula DRIFT. “We also saw a new face on the podium with Trenton Beechum, who did well in Utah last year and put in a remarkable performance today. But the main story going into Irwindale is who will finish in the top three in the PRO Championship? We know James and Odi will be at the top, but who will take third place?”
PROSPEC SEEDING BRACKET
With a significantly larger driver pool attempting to compete for a place in PROSPEC competition, only the first 16 positions were preset from Round 3. The remaining 30 drivers competed in a Seeding Bracket to claim positions 17-32. As a result, the PROSPEC Seeding Bracket is sudden death, with the loser of each tandem run eliminated from competition.
With two points separating the top two PROSPEC drivers, and four others with a mathematical chance of winning the Championship, everything was on the line for the PROSPEC teams, and qualification would play a major role in Top 32 competition. In particular, the pairing of points leader Connor O’Sullivan (USA) with double PROSPEC Champion Dmitriy Brutskiy, which would give O’Sullivan a major challenge to the start of his title bid…
PROSPEC COMPETITION
The consequences of the Seeding Bracket were immediately felt when O’Sullivan’s O’Sully Racing / RTS E46 BMW met Brutskiy’s Never Settle BMW in the first heat of the day. It was a bare knuckle slugfest, with the judges requesting One More Time – where the drivers repeat the two runs – on two occasions. With almost nothing to choose between them, the contest was finally decided in Brutskiy’s favor following several small mistakes by O’Sullivan on their sixth run.
With the Champion-elect out of contention, the fate of the 2024 Formula DRIFT Link ECU PROSPEC Championship was in the hands of Tommy Lemaire (Canada). With a two-point deficit, he only needed to win his Top 32 heat against DJ Stubstad (USA) and Lemaire would claim the title.
As Lemaire pulled up to the starting line, there was a moment of hesitation before the Canadian turned around his XPN Carbon-Kevlar Nissan S14.9 and headed back to the pits. Having detected a misfire, Lemaire utilized his only five-minute Competition Time Out (CTO) to investigate the problem, which was diagnosed as a damaged plug wire.
Returning to the starting line, Lemaire set a blistering pace, contributing to several mistakes by Stubstad, which saw him miss most of the Outside Zones. The mistakes sealed Stubstad’s fate and awarded Lemaire both the heat win and the 2024 Formula DRIFT Link ECU PROSPEC Championship.
Lemaire joined the series in 2021 and placed third overall as a Rookie. After placing ninth in 2022, he decided to withdraw from the 2023 season to regroup for 2024. Returning this year, Lemaire won the opening round and placed third in both Rounds 2 and 3. He would finish fifth in the Final Round after getting knocked out of the Top 8 by Margaritis Katsanidis (Greece).
“We started this amazing weekend with a strong car and were really happy to wrap up the Championship in the Top 32!” Lemaire told us after the podium celebrations. “We lost a supercharger belt in the Top 8 but we finished the run for the fans, but it was still an awesome weekend. For next year we want to run in PRO and will try to complete eight rounds with our budget. We hope the fans enjoyed the show and want to thank everybody for their support.”
Lemaire amassed 296 points for the season, finishing 26 points ahead of O’Sullivan. Both drivers automatically receive Formula DRIFT PRO licenses to move up next year if they wish, as well as Austin Matta (USA) who placed third overall in the Austin Matta Motorsports Nissan S14.
With the Championship decided, two-time PROSPEC Champion Brutskiy set about transforming his Seeding Bracket success into victory, becoming the first person to accomplish the feat since the new qualifying format was introduced.
After defeating O’Sullivan in the Top 32, Brutskiy beat Duston Miles (USA), Josh Love (USA) and Cody Buchanan (USA) before facing Katsanidis in the Final. Unfortunately, the driver of the LS Doctor E46 BMW de-beaded a rear tire in Outside Zone 1. And with Katsanidis eliminated, Brutskiy was gifted the win. The Round 4 win catapulted Brutskiy from a lowly 23rd to a more respectable sixth in the 2024 PROSPEC standings.
“Coming into Utah was my last chance to grab a trophy because the season had been dry so far,” Brutskiy told us. “We struggled in practice but I ignored the pressure in Top 32 and decided to have fun. Everything just clicked. We had three sick battles with Connor and I was sorry to take away his Championship but we’re not here to give things out! That gave me a boost and it clicked in the remaining Rounds to the Final. The win gave me a lot of motivation and I’m now looking forward to finishing the season in PRO at Irwindale. For next year, I’m thinking about competing in both Championships again but we’ll make that decision later.”
By finishing second, Katsanidis recorded his first ever Formula DRIFT podium and best result since joining the series last year. He was joined on the podium by Matta, who finished third in both Round 4 and the PROSPEC Championship. Matta actually scored equal Championship points with Cody Buchanan (USA) but was awarded the position by scoring a podium in the St Louis Round.
As the leading Rookie driver, Nik Jimenez (USA) placed 12th in Round 4 driving the Jimenez Racing Nissan Z, reaching the Top 16 where he was defeated by Lemaire. The result placed him 15th overall, locking up the 2024 PROSPEC Rookie Driver of the Year award.
“In my mind, PROSPEC peaked last year when Ben Hobson won,” said Ryan Sage, President of Formula DRIFT. “He had every attribute you could want in a driver and it was hard to imagine we’d achieve anything similar this year, but Tommy returned after a year out and was a completely different driver. He elevated his driving and then Connor O’Sullivan came out of nowhere to lead the Championship and finish second by a narrow margin. And with veteran Matta in third, we saw a great progression throughout the year for PROSPEC.”
ROUND 7 FD PRO TOP 16 DRIVER POINTS
| POSITION | DRIVER | POINTS |
| 1 | Aurimas Bakchis | 100 |
| 2 | Fredric Aasbo | 84 |
| 3 | Trenton Beechum | 70 |
| 4 | James Deane | 70 |
| 5 | Jeff Jones | 56 |
| 6 | Jonathan Hurst | 56 |
| 7 | Dylan Hughes | 56 |
| 8 | Chris Forsberg | 56 |
| 9 | Ryan Tuerck | 42 |
| 10 | Hiroya Minowa | 42 |
| 11 | Adam LZ | 42 |
| 12 | Kazuya Taguchi | 42 |
| 13 | Matt Field | 42 |
| 14 | Conor Shanahan | 42 |
| 15 | Branden Sorensen | 42 |
| 16 | Andy Hateley | 42 |
2024 FD PRO TOP 16 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
| POSITION | DRIVER | POINTS |
| 1 | James Deane | 566 |
| 2 | Aurimas Bakchis | 492 |
| 3 | Fredric Aasbo | 436 |
| 4 | Hiroya Minowa | 406 |
| 5 | Adam LZ | 350 |
| 6 | Matt Field | 350 |
| 7 | Ryan Tuerck | 338 |
| 8 | Simen Olsen | 336 |
| 9 | Dylan Hughes | 322 |
| 10 | Branden Sorensen | 322 |
| 11 | Conor Shanahan | 310 |
| 12 | Chris Forsberg | 308 |
| 13 | Trenton Beechum | 294 |
| 14 | Jeff Jones | 294 |
| 15 | Ken Gushi | 294 |
| 16 | Jonathan Hurst | 280 |
2024 AUTO CUP TOP 5 STANDINGS
| Toyota | 872 |
| Ford | 692 |
| GM | 602 |
| Nissan | 490 |
| BMW | 434 |
2024 TIRE CUP STANDINGS
| Nitto | 1102 |
| GT Radial | 1038 |
| Kenda | 686 |
| Vitour | 646 |
| Kumho | 462 |
| Nexen | 448 |
ROUND 4 FD PROSPEC TOP 16 DRIVER POINTS
| POSITION | DRIVER | POINTS |
| 1 | Dmitriy Brutskiy | 100 |
| 2 | Margaritis Katsanidis | 84 |
| 3 | Austin Matta | 70 |
| 4 | Cody Buchanan | 70 |
| 5 | Tommy Lemaire | 56 |
| 6 | Rudy Hansen | 56 |
| 7 | Jayden Martorana | 56 |
| 8 | Joshua Love | 56 |
| 9 | Justin Chesnutt | 42 |
| 10 | Shawn Illingworth | 42 |
| 11 | Cory Talaska | 42 |
| 12 | Nik Jimenez | 42 |
| 13 | Dustin Miles | 42 |
| 14 | Faruk Kugay | 42 |
| 15 | Richard Advani | 42 |
| 16 | Chris Leonard | 42 |
2024 FD PROSPEC TOP 16 CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
| POSITION | DRIVER | POINTS |
| 1 | Tommy Lemaire | 296 |
| 2 | Connor O´Sullivan | 270 |
| 3 | Austin Matta | 238 |
| 4 | Cody Buchanan | 238 |
| 5 | Joshua Love | 210 |
| 6 | Dmitriy Brutskiy | 198 |
| 7 | Nate Chen | 196 |
| 8 | Margaritis Katsanidis | 182 |
| 9 | Jayden Martorana | 182 |
| 10 | Rudy Hansen | 168 |
| 11 | Justin Chesnutt | 168 |
| 12 | Amanda Sorensen | 168 |
| 13 | Shawn Illingworth | 154 |
| 14 | Cory Talaska | 154 |
| 15 | Nik Jimenez | 154 |
| 16 | Cole Richards | 154 |
