EVENT DETAILS
Date: Thursday, May 7, 2026
Location: Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA
Event: Qualification for Formula DRIFT PRO Championship Round 2, and Seeding Bracket for Link ECU PROSPEC Championship Round 1
RESULTS FROM FD PRO QUALIFYING
- Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) – Feal Suspension / GT Radial / Subimods Subaru BRZ
- James Deane (Ireland) – O’Reilly / Pennzoil Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD
- Branden Sorensen (USA) – Sorensen Motorsports / Quad Lock BMW
RESULTS FROM FD PROSPEC QUALIFYING
- Braden Lons (USA) – MSPEK Performance Nissan S13
- Sam Maghmoumi (Lebanon) – 961 Motorsport E36 BMW
- Tyler Mayer (USA) – Popeye Energy / Yellow Speed Racing Nissan S13
PRO NOTES
- For the 2026 season, the Formula DRIFT PRO Championship has returned to solo qualifying runs, with each driver taking the best score from their two runs
- The running order for Qualifying was decided by the reverse of the Championship ranking from Round 1, with winner Conor Shanahan running last
- Formula DRIFT PRO Qualifying utilizes the 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 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% of the overall score – is subject to nuance and requires an ability to ascertain the degree of difficulty. Subsequently, the Style score continues to be assessed and awarded by the existing panel of three Formula DRIFT judges
- The RDL systems has been incorporated into all PRO and PROSPEC competition cars and will provide the same physical data to the judges to reference during competition. It will be able to objectively measuring the proximity between vehicles, comparative angle between drivers, comparative speed, deceleration values and more. In the case of collisions, USDM will provide data to help reveal which driver was at fault and if a driver put any tires off the track
- During Qualification, USDM provides on-screen speed and drift angle data, and shows how much of each drift zone was filled, helping spectators gain a better insight
- With 33 drivers attempting to qualify for the Top 32 Competition places, Ben Hobson (USA) in the Pennzoil Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD failed to score on his first run and could only muster 58.2 points at his second attempt, which was insufficient to progress into Saturday’s Competition Heats
- Bakchis led the Qualifying points table after being awarded 83.43 points on his first run. He outscored five-time and reigning FD PRO Champion Deane who achieved 82.13 points, while third place Sorensen was agonizingly close on 82.1 points
- Winner of Round 1, Connor Shanahan (Ireland) driving the Red Bull / GT Radial / JYR Toyota GT86, qualified in a lowly 24th position with 70.63 points. Fredric Aasbo (Norway) who placed second in Long Beach qualified sixth with 78.7 points
- The leading Rookie was again Cole Richards (USA) driving the Richards Racing Toyota GT86 to 13th position
- The top qualifier receives four Championship points, while second place receives three, third gets two points and all other drivers receive one
PROSPEC NOTES
- For 2026, the Formula DRIFT PROSPEC Championship drivers voted to retain the competitive tandem Seeding Bracket Qualifying format. The teams appreciated the additional competitive track time afforded to the lower ranked drivers
- With the top 20 places determined by the 2025 Championship standings, 13 drivers competed for the remaining 12 places in Top 32 competition. They included 11 Rookies who had no previous ranking
- The 2026 PROSPEC Rookies include Ayden Copham (USA), Braden Lons (USA), Christian Cotrone (USA), Dustyn Farrell (USA), Jason Webb (South Africa), Kabott, Cardoso (USA), Krzysztof Krutul (Poland), Levi Wait (USA), Matt Rusiecki (USA), Matt Shulman (USA), Sean Booth (USA) and Tyler Mayer (USA)
- The top Rookie qualifier was 15 year-old Lons who placed first in the Seeding Bracket, beating the more experienced Maghmoumi in a hard fought Final. Mayer placed third thanks to his higher ranking chosen at random prior to qualifying
- Unfortunately, Christian Cotrone failed to qualify for the opening round in the Howards Cams C6 Corvette but will get another chance in Round 2 at Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford Springs, CT on June 18-20
- PROSPEC drivers receive three Championship points for every heat they win, giving Lons a 12-point advantage going into the Competition Heats on Friday
FD PRO ROUND 2 TOP 16 QUALIFYING RESULTS*
| POSITION | NAME | POINTS |
| 1 | Aurimas Bakchis | 4 |
| 2 | James Deane | 3 |
| 3 | Branden Sorensen | 2 |
| 4 | Chris Forsberg | 1 |
| 5 | Adam LZ | 1 |
| 6 | Fredric Aasbo | 1 |
| 7 | Matt Field | 1 |
| 8 | Jack Shanahan | 1 |
| 9 | Rome Charpentier | 1 |
| 10 | Dylan Hughes | 1 |
| 11 | Dan Stuke | 1 |
| 12 | Vaughn Gittin Jr | 1 |
| 13 | Cole Richards | 1 |
| 14 | Wataru Masuyama | 1 |
| 15 | Diego Higa | 1 |
| 16 | Federico Sceriffo | 1 |
FD PROSPEC ROUND 1 SEEDING BRACKET RESULTS*
| POSITION | NAME | POINTS |
| 1 | Braden Lons | 12 |
| 2 | Sam Maghmoumi | 9 |
| 3 | Tyler Mayer | 6 |
| 4 | Dustyn Farrell | 6 |
| 5 | Jason Webb | 3 |
| 6 | Kabott Cardoso | 3 |
| 7 | Levi Wait | 3 |
| 8 | Matt Shulman | 3 |
| 9 | Jacob Duncan | 0 |
| 10 | Matt Rusiecki | 0 |
| 11 | Sean Booth | 0 |
| 12 | Ayden Copham | 0 |
| 13 | Christian Cotrone | 0 |
TOP 32 PROSPEC COMPETITION BRACKET FOR ROUND 1
* Preliminary standings. Final results pending official confirmation
