DEANE WINS ROUND 2 OF 2025 FORMULA DRIFT PRO CHAMPIONSHIP IN ATLANTA, TALASKA WINS PROSPEC OPENING ROUND

In a reversal of fortunes from Round 1, four-time Champion Deane beats three-time Champion Aasbo in dramatic OMT Final. Talaska claims his first PROSPEC victory

As the original venue for the first ever Round of Formula DRIFT, Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta has become a special place for drift teams and fans. Its natural amphitheater, high-speed approach and changeable weather adds to the spectacle. It’s also where the Link ECU PROSPEC Championship joins the 2025 party, adding another level of drama to the Atlanta weekend. And if that wasn’t enough to entertain fans, this weekend marked the inaugural Formula DRIFT x Gridlife joint event, guaranteeing additional full course action throughout the FD weekend.

Despite the almost overwhelming sights and sounds, it would be mother nature who grabbed the headlines, transforming from sunny skies on Friday into almost continuous rain on Saturday. And since Formula DRIFT is an all-weather sport, the show doesn’t stop for a wet track. Instead, the drivers displayed their prodigious skill in tackling the conditions behind the wheel of the most powerful cars in motorsports this side of the NHRA.

In addition to the wet track for PRO competition, the drivers also had to adapt to several minor changes made to the course for the 2025 season. The position of a number of outside zones, inside clips plus the Touch & Go were adjusted, primarily to keep drivers out of the grass and gravel to enhance safety.

PROSPEC SEEDING BRACKET QUALIFICATION

With the introduction last year of competitive, tandem qualification via a Seeding Bracket, the Link ECU PROSPEC class of 2025 would have to negotiate a Top 16 battle on Thursday to earn the right to compete on Friday. And with the first 24 places locked in based on Final Standings from 2024, the majority of drivers in the Top 16 Seeding Bracket were series Rookies.

Among the new arrivals were two female drivers – Collete Davis (USA) and Chellee Hansen (USA) – plus a 13 year-old – Camren Sorensen (USA). They were joined by fellow Rookies Brian Hoplamazian (USA), Joshua “Jerry” Johnson (USA), Ryan Kaufman (USA), Feras Qartoumy (USA), Carsen Ruger (USA), Justin Ruth (USA) and Collin Zielinski (USA). 

The winner of the Seeding Bracket was Camren, the third Sorensen sibling in the Formula DRIFT series, joining sister Amanda in PROSPEC and brother Branden in PRO. As the youngest driver to ever compete in the series, the teenager performed flawlessly in the Sorensen Motorsports / Spyder E46 BMW to win the Bracket and claim position 25 in the PROSPEC competition heats on Friday.

To finish second, Collete Davis had to overcome technical issues with her Collete Racing E46 BMW during qualification, including a handbrake problem during the Top 8 battle against Jerry Johnson. However, both Johnson and Adam Heishman (USA) also suffered mechanical problems during their battles with Davis, allowing her to advance. She would lose the Final to Sorensen by a narrow margin.

Third place Chellee Hansen, wife of FD PRO driver Rudy Hansen (USA), scored a dominant win in the first heat driving the Team Hansen Supercharged Nissan S13 for the first time in competition. She was knocked out of the Final 4 by Sorensen

A new rule introduced for the 2025 season sees PRO and PROSPEC drivers receive three points per heat win in the Seeding Bracket, with Sorensen scoring 12 points thanks to his four wins.

Unfortunately, Hoplamazian and Ruger failed to win their heat and were eliminated from competition with the lowest rankings.

All teams in the Link ECU PROSPEC Championship must use Link engine management and GT Radial tires.

PROSPEC COMPETITION

With the Rookies shining in Seeding Bracket Qualification, there was inevitable speculation about whether they could transform their success into podium positions. And while the fairy tale wasn’t written that way, Rookie Collin Zielinski did battle his Fitment Industries Nissan S14.5 into the Top 8 heats where he was defeated by Cory Talaska (USA). 

Zielinski finished the night as the highest placed Rookie in eighth, and with his points tally from qualifying he jumped to fifth overall in the title race, leading the Rookie of the Year title chase by one point from Sorensen.

Unfortunately for Zielinski, Talaska was experiencing his greatest Formula DRIFT weekend since joining the PROSPEC Championship in 2021. En route to his first career win, Talaska beat Rookie Heishman in the Top 32 before receiving a bye run through the Top 16 after Kelsey Rowlings (USA) was unable to repair the Drift Chick Nissan S14 following her Top 32 encounter with Jayce Habich (USA).

Zielinski had a torrid Top 8 run against Talaska, losing the drive belt off his Nissan. The driver of the Talaska Creative E36 BMW 2JZ then scored a tight Top 4 victory over Cody Buchanan (USA) in the SRD Auto / Bumz Eyewear Nissan 350Z. Buchanan would claim his first podium in third. 

Reaching the final was new territory for Talaska, who had never previously gone past the Top 8. He’d also never beaten double PROSPEC Champion Dmitriy Brutskiy in the Never Settle BMW. But those personal records were broken in Atlanta. Following two close runs, Talaska claimed the victory with a strong lead run and less mistakes in the chase position.

“We came into the event dialed after a lot of testing,” Talaska explained to us, carbon fiber winner’s trophy in hand. “We spent a lot of time getting the car hooked up and found a lot of pace, which allowed us to get up the hill pretty fast and keep winning battles. If we can take this momentum to New Jersey, we’ll definitely have a lot of fun!”

Second place was fitting reward for Brutskiy’s efforts and commiseration for failing to qualify for PRO in Atlanta. As the only double PROSPEC Champion in the sport’s history, winning the title back-to-back in 2020 and 2021, he’s again attempting to compete in both FD Championships this year. 

Third place Buchanan joined PROSPEC in 2023 and would score the same number of points as the third place finisher (placing fourth) in the 2024 Championship standings. Despite his ability, FD ATL represented his first podium with hopefully more to come.

Josh Stuart (USA) finished fourth in only his fifth PROSPEC Round driving the StuartFamDrifting C6 Corvette

Sorensen reached the Top 16 where he was eliminated by Adam Knapik (USA). His 16th position in competition was transformed into sixth in the Championship standings thanks to his points haul from qualification.

Zielinski (USA) was the highest placed Round 1 Rookie, finishing eighth. And again, his points tally moved him to fifth overall, leading the Rookie of the Year title chase by one point from Sorensen.

PRO SEEDING BRACKET QUALIFICATION

The Formula DRIFT PRO Championship locks in the first 20 competition places from the finishing positions at the previous round. A competitive Seeding Bracket Qualification format then fixes the remaining 12 places.

Fourteen drivers competed in the Top 16 Seeding Bracket at Road Atlanta and only Dan Burkett (USA) and Dmitriy Brutskiy failed to qualify. The Type S PRO Seeding Bracket was won by Austin Matta (USA) in the Austin Matta Motorsports Nissan S14 after a tough Final battle with Connor O’Sullivan (USA). Both drivers called a Competition Time Out after a collision on their first run and the judges awarded the win to Matta on a split decision after their second run.

Derek Madison (USA) claimed third in the Coilover Depot / Silver’s North America Nissan S14 although one of the most anticipated qualifying heats was between former FD PRO Champions Daigo Saito (Japan) and Vaughn Gittin Jr (USA). With both drivers pushing each other to the limit, Saito was awarded the win. Gittin Jr still qualified for Saturday’s Top 32 thanks to his ranking.

PRO COMPETITION

Weather was the wild card for the FD PRO Competition heats. Rain during practice left a wet track, although sighting laps were deemed unnecessary because the drivers had experienced it. The track then dried quickly through most of the Top 32 Competition heats but rain returned for the Top 16 and got heavier into the final heats, resulting in lurid slides, reduced speed and spotlighted incredible individual skill.

Perhaps the most anticipated duel of the Top 32 heats was the between RTR Motorsports teammates four-time FD PRO Champion James Deane (Ireland) and double Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr (USA). The contest was the epic showdown everybody wanted, with Deane clinching a narrow win on his way to the podium. 

Deane’s familiarity with wet conditions in Ireland certainly assisted him on his path to the podium. And while his battle with Gittin Jr saw essentially dry tarmac, conditions deteriorated for the remainder of the event.

In the Top 16, the driver of the AutoZone Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD dominated Jeff Jones (USA) in the Evol Auto Works / Prisma Labs / BIG Drift Energy / Nissan 370Z. However, Matt Field (USA) was a different proposition in the Top 8 where the Borla Performance / GT Radial / Heat Wave Visual / Leen Customs / Drift Cave Motorsports Corvette set a blistering pace. However, Deane’s RTR Mustang was its equal, allowing him to set an almost perfect lead run and find more proximity in the chase.

In the Top 4, Jhonnattan Castro (Dominican Republic) refused to submit. The driver of the Metaldom GR86 scored his best ever result since joining the series in 2012 and forced the judges to request One More Time (OMT), which is reserved for when it’s impossible to pick a winner based on the previous two runs.

On their second runs, Castro had an unfortunate spin in the treacherous conditions. And while Deane put a wheel off the course on his chase run, it wasn’t enough to prevent him reaching the Final against his arch adversary, Fredric Aasbo (Norway). The points haul for Castro propelled him from 16th overall to fifth.

Aasbo, the driver of the Rockstar Energy Toyota GR Supra, had defeated Nick Noback (USA), Simen Olsen (Norway), Hiroya Minowa (Japan) and Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) on his way to the Final, proving he thoroughly deserved the place. He’d beaten Deane in the Final at Round 1 and there was a sense of unfinished business in the air. The Norwegian’s preference for practicing on ice during the winter combined with the Irishman’s comfort in the rain meant there was little to choose between them. So much so, the judges had to request OMT on two occasions as they struggled to find a weakness in each driver’s performances. 

After six runs, they were finally able to separate the two and Deane got the nod, bumping him up to equal first in the 2025 FD PRO Championship standings alongside Aasbo. 

“This was my first win of the year and I’m absolutely delighted,” Deane told us as he stepped from the podium. “The Ford Mustang RTR was killing it all weekend. We had no issues with the car despite crazy One More Time battles with Castro and two with Fredric in the Final. I honestly didn’t know which way the decision was going to go but we gave our best and I’m super-happy heading to Orlando for Round 3.”

Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) secured a strong third thanks to his exemplary car control in the Feal Suspension / GT Radial Nissan S14.9. The result placed him level on Championship points with Branden Sorensen (USA), who finished fifth on the night. 

Connor O`Sullivan was the top Rookie in Atlanta, finishing 22nd on the night and sitting 21st overall. With nine points, he leads the Rookie of the Year title race into Round 3, ahead of Jack Shanahan.

In the 2025 Formula DRIFT Auto Cup, Toyota continued to hold first place while Kenda remained in the lead of the Tire Cup.

“We had a wet ’n wild event at Road Atlanta after we’d met some new faces in PROSPEC, creating one of the best fields we’ve seen,” said Ryan Sage, President of Formula DRIFT. “We had great competition throughout the weekend but the weather can always be a factor here. It undoubtedly had an influence on the PRO competition but we again saw James Deane and Fredric Aasbo battle it out in the Final. This time, James got the win after two One More Times, which makes the Championship very interesting with the leading protagonists on equal points. We also saw some Seeding Qualifiers make it into the higher Championship positions, which further contributed to the great vibe we always enjoy in Atlanta.”

ROUND 2 FD PRO TOP 16 DRIVER POINTS

POSITION	DRIVER
1	James Deane
2	Fredric Aasbo
3	Aurimas Bakchis
4	Jhonnattan Castro
5	Branden Sorensen
6	Ryan Tuerck
7	Hiroya Minowa
8	Matt Field
9	Adam LZ
10	Conor Shanahan
11	Chris Forsberg
12	Dylan Hughes
13	Ken Gushi
14	Simen Olsen
15	Jeff Jones
16	James Deane

2025 FD PRO TOP 16 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

POSITION	DRIVER	POINTS
1	James Deane	90
2	Fredric Aasbo	90
3	Aurimas Bakchis	50
4	Branden Sorensen	50
5	Jhonnattan Castro	40
6	Ryan Tuerck	40
7	Adam LZ	40
8	Hiroya Minowa	30
9	Matt Field	30
10	Conor Shanahan	30
11	Chris Forsberg	30
12	Dan Stuke	22
13	Dylan Hughes	20
14	Ken Gushi	20
15	Ben Hobson	19
16	Austin Matta	12

2025 AUTO CUP TOP 5 STANDINGS

Toyota	140
Ford	109
Nissan	92
BMW	90
Chevrolet	30

2025 TIRE CUP STANDINGS

Kenda	142
Nitto	140
GT Radial	100
Kumho	29

FD PROSPEC ROUND 1 TOP 16 DRIVER POSITONS

POSITION	DRIVER
1	Cory Talaska
2	Dmitriy Brutskiy
3	Cody Buchanan
4	Josh Stuart
5	Hooman Rahimi
6	Trevor Root
7	Adam Knapik
8	Collin Zielinski
9	Nate Chen
10	Nik Jimenez
11	Cole Richards
12	Kelsey Rowlings
13	Luis Lanz
14	Jack Davis
15	Matthew Bystrak
16	Camren Sorensen

FD PROSPEC TOP 16 DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

POSITION	DRIVER	POINTS
1	Cory Talaska	50
2	Dmitriy Brutskiy	40
3	Cody Buchanan	30
4	Josh Stuart	30
5	Collin Zielinski	23
6	Camren Sorensen	22
7	Hooman Rahimi	20
8	Trevor Root	20
9	Adam Knapik	20
10	Nate Chen	10
11	Nik Jimenez	10
12	Cole Richards	10
13	Kelsey Rowlings	10
14	Luis Lanz	10
15	Matthew Bystrak	10
16	Collete Davis	9