Cole Richards wins Round 2 of Formula DRIFT Link ECU PROSPEC Championship while Brutskiy leads the title chase
EVENT DETAILS
Date: Friday, June 20, 2025
Location: Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ
Event: Formula DRIFT Link ECU PROSPEC Championship Round 2 Competition Results
RESULTS FOR FD PROSPEC ROUND 2
- Cole Richards (USA) – Koruworks / Richards Racing Toyota GR86
- Nate Chen (USA) – NCR Toyota 86
- Dmitriy Brutskiy – Never Settle BMW
NOTES
- As the only purpose-built drift arena in the United States, Englishtown Raceway always delivers heart-pumping action, and the 2025 Link ECU PROSPEC Championship Round 2 was no exception
- For Richards it was a welcome return to the podium after he won in New Jersey in his 2023 Rookie year and claimed second in Utah. And while 2024 turned out to be a challenging season, he was reserved but optimistic about this victory. The result bumped Richards from 12th in the Championship to second
- Richards defeated Chen in the Final, but Chen achieved his first podium since joining PROSPEC in 2021. It was a close decision but the judges voted in favor of Richards’ superior lead run. Chen’s points haul took him from tenth to fourth in the title chase
- Third place went to double PROSEPC Champion Brutskiy, who was knocked out of the Top 4 by Richards. However, the BMW driver’s consistency means he’s now leading the Link ECU PROSPEC Championship by a ten point margin over Richards
- Fourth place was claimed by Jerry Johnson (USA) who won Thursday’s Seeding Bracket. With three points available for each heat win during qualifying and ten for competition heats, the 2025 Rookie amassed 42 points from the weekend and jumped from 20th to sixth
- Thanks to his impressive performance, Johnson also took the lead in the Rookie of the Year title chase
- It was a tough event for the other PROSPEC Rookies. Chellee Hansen (USA) flipped her Team Hansen Supercharged Nissan S13 in the Seeding Bracket but the team was able to effect repairs for the competition heats. However, she was eliminated from the Top 32 by Trevor Root (USA) in the Trevor Root Racing BMW E36
- Rookie Collete Davis (USA) had the Collete Racing E46 BMW punted onto the safety barriers in her Top 16 battle with Nik Jimenez (USA). The driver of the Good Night Garage Nissan Z surged into Outside Zone 3 and pushed his rear quarter into Davis’ front fender. The impact was sufficient to leave her BMW straddling the barrier. Despite a valiant effort supported by a number of teams, including her next opponent Brutskiy, The BMW failed to exit the burnout box for the Top 8 heat and Davis was eliminated
- Thirteen year-old Rookie Camren Sorensen (USA) was looking forward to his Top 32 heat against big sister Amanda, but the differential on his Sorensen Motorsports / Spyder E46 BMW failed on the starting line and the team was unable to repair it in the allotted time
- PROSPEC Championship leader after Round 1, Cory Talaska (USA), was knocked out of the Top 16 by Amanda Sorensen (USA) in the US Air Force / Sorensen Motorsports BMW. She was then eliminated from the Top 8 by Chen. Talaska dropped from first to third as a result but on equal points with Richards
- All teams in the Link ECU PROSPEC Championship must use Link engine management and GT Radial tires
FD PROSPEC ROUND 2 TOP 16 DRIVER POSITONS
| POSITION | DRIVER | POINTS |
| 1 | Cole Richards | 50 |
| 2 | Nate Chen | 40 |
| 3 | Dmitriy Brutskiy | 30 |
| 4 | Jerry Johnson | 30 + 12 |
| 5 | Cody Buchanan | 20 |
| 6 | Amanda Sorensen | 20 |
| 7 | Alex Jagger | 20 |
| 8 | Collete Davis | 20 + 3 |
| 9 | Cory Talaska | 10 |
| 10 | Josh Stuart | 10 |
| 11 | Trevor Root | 10 |
| 12 | Collin Zielinski | 10 |
| 13 | Nik Jimenez | 10 |
| 14 | Dustin Miles | 10 |
| 15 | Chris Leonard | 10 |
| 16 | Allen Boss | 10 + 3 |
FD PROSPEC TOP 16 DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
| POSITION | DRIVER | POINTS |
| 1 | Dmitriy Brutskiy | 70 |
| 2 | Cole Richards | 60 |
| 3 | Cory Talaska | 60 |
| 4 | Nate Chen | 50 |
| 5 | Cody Buchanan | 50 |
| 6 | Jerry Johnson | 45 |
| 7 | Josh Stuart | 40 |
| 8 | Collin Zielinski | 33 |
| 9 | Collete Davis | 32 |
| 10 | Trevor Root | 30 |
| 11 | Camren Sorensen | 22 |
| 12 | Amanda Sorensen | 20 |
| 13 | Alex Jagger | 20 |
| 14 | Nik Jimenez | 20 |
| 15 | Hooman Rahimi | 20 |
| 16 | Adam Knapik | 20 |
