Rain Didn’t Dampen Hot-lanta: Formula Drift Round 2 at Road Atlanta

With round one at Long Beach far behind everyone, Georgia was on everyone’s mind as the drivers of Formula Drift wondered if the heat would play a significant role at Road Atlanta. The 2004 OG circuit of FD would throw a curveball at the drivers with rain impacting practice and the final heats to crown the latest winner. But the downpour wouldn’t throw the top drivers in points off their game as we see some repeats from FDLB.

Before We Go Further

If you like the content on Carbage and want to see more or just want to contribute, be sure to support this site on Patreon. We know that even asking for $1 per month in the time we’re all having now is a lot to ask of you all but know that it will go to some amazing photographers this year as we cover the 2025 Formula Drift season and possibly beyond. And, yes, you have read that right: Carbage is hiring photographers for individual rounds the 2025 season. We need some amazing photographers for many rounds of the 2025 FD season. If you or someone you know would be interested, let them know to let us know at staff@carbage.online and provide examples of your past work.

Pro Seeding

Road Atlanta is quite a popular round considering it is the first event that takes place under artificial light and has a true festival atmosphere. That brought out a new but experienced driver to join those who didn’t finish high enough in the previous round to solidify a place in the Top 20. Drivers like Andy Hateley, Ryan Litteral, Tommy Lemaire, Dan Burkett, Federico Sceriffo, and Dmitriy Brutskiy needed to qualify due to their 21st and under placement from Long Beach, but the notable name that would join them was Vaughn Gittin, Jr, head honcho of RTR Vehicles.

The two-time Formula Drift champion is still enjoying his semi-retirement from drifting competition but came out to one of his favorite East Coast rounds to take part. He would meet up with long-time rival, Daigo Saito, in Seeding but Gittin would end up being defeated by Saito due to straightening at the first inner clip. This may have been due to a mechanical issue, as Daigo only briefly touched Gittin after he had already “shut down.” Despite that loss, Gittin was one of the 12 drivers allowed to enter Top 32 competition but that meant he would end up facing fellow RTR driver, James Deane right of the bat.

Taking the top of the Seeding win went to Austin Matta and Connor O’Sullivan, as both drivers dramatically improved their performance over Long Beach. Each driver was knocked out of their respective first seeding competition round but would take the top two spots at Road Atlanta. Getting the win, Matta would earn 12 precious points in towards his 2025 season while O’Sullivan gained nine. The next two spots were also improvements over their Round 1 performance as Derek Madison would be credited for third place while Rudy Hansen got fourth, each gaining six points versus their Long Beach performance of fifth and sixth, respectively, and only earning three points each.

Pro Takes the Saturday Main Event Stage

Topping off a full three days of motorsports, Formula Drift would round out the action at Road Atlanta following Gridlife track runs. Rain had started the day but would clear out just about in time for Top 32 and allowed the track to mostly dry out. One of the big battles to start the day were RTR teammates James Deane and Vaughn Gittin, Jr. While Deane was in the long haul for the season and looking to win a championship, “the boss” didn’t let up on his Pro driver. Despite a close battle, James Deane would take the win against Gittin, eventually moving right on to the Final Four and counting on his Irish Drifting Championship experience to deal with a track that would later become rainsoaked.

While he might be the former youngest driver in Formula Drift competition, Hiroya Minowa just shines like a well-polished veteran. His first battle would be against Rudy Hansen but perhaps his biggest challenge would be the most consistent driver in FD, Chris Forsberg. Well, normally consistent, but the rain completely changed track conditions when Minowa and Forsberg met in the Top 16. During his lead run, Forsberg made an uncharacteristic mistake and drifted off the wet track. It was only just better during his follow run after Forsberg obliterated the first clipping point. He was able to keep up a good run afterwards, but it was too little, too late and Minowa would move on to the Great Eight against Aasbo.

After watching his little brother and sister run ProSpec, Branden Sorensen would take his success from Long Beach and find himself in the Great Eight once again. After defeating Tommy Lemaire and Rome Charpentier, he would face off against a rather tough veteran, Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis.  Odi was able to utilize his rally racing prowess and take it to Sorensen (who has some off-road racing experience himself). Despite Odi hitting Sorensen in the keyhole during his follow run, the rally vet would move on to the Final Four with a better and consistent lead run. This would also be a bit of revenge for Odi as Sorensen was able to defeat Bakchis at Long Beach.

When he is on it, Jeff Jones can prove to be someone to watch out against in competition. He would once again find himself in the Top 16 but would face off against a rather dominating James Deane. Jones would have a slight straightening leading into the uphill and lose ground to Deane. Despite this, Jones was able to gather back and catch up to the Irishman out of the keyhole and into the downhill and offer a much better result over Round One. Deane would end up taking the win and facing off against another California boy, Matt Field.

Field’s day began by defeating Derek Madison and Conor Shanahan but would eventually face off against Deane in the Great Eight. However, just like Jones, Field would find it tough to defeat a wet weather specialist. He could, however, take solace in the fact that he had a better round than Long Beach by finishing in the Great Eight.

Whatever the changes made between his Top 16 finish at Long Beach and his Final Four appearance at Road Atlanta, Jhonnattan Castro and his team found the edge they needed. In his run to the Final Four, Castro would face off against Federico Sceriffo, Adam LZ, and eventually Ryan Tuerck in the Great Eight. With the rain falling, Castro had a rough entry into the first rear zone and lost some ground during his follow run against Tuerck. That all changed going uphill towards the keyhole as Castro made up all the ground and went to the door of Tuerck who had a bit of dirt drop at the touch-and-go. Castro keep the pressure up and only just lost ground again before the final outer zone. On his follow run, Tuerck would contact Castro’s rear bumper and stall out entering the first outer zone. Castron would be able to continue and finish out his run with the judges ruling that the contact was Tuerck’s fault. This gave Castro the unanimous vote to move on to the Final Four.

The Final Four

With the finales set, our four drivers would take part on a wet and soggy Georgia night. First pair up were Fredric Aasbo in the Rockstar Energy Drink Toyota Supra Mk IV facing off against Odi Bakchis in the Feal Suspension Nissan 240SX S14. Both drivers have tons of experience in adverse conditions with Aasbo’s experience from driving on the snow and ice of Norway and Bakchis’ coming from his rally racing background. With a track as slick as Road Atlanta can get in the wet, they both were going to need it to put on a good show and move on to the Finals. Aasbo, the three-time FD champion, would lead against Bakchis first and Odi came in swinging with an aggressive entry and making contact against the Norwegian. It continued to cost him as Odi lost ground transitioning into the uphill run.

Coming through the keyhole, Odi started to gain what he lost, closing by sacrificing angle and how deep he went into the third outer zone compared to Aasbo. He then just cut the left hander going into the downhill transition but lost a bit of ground again just before the final outer zone. Odi would call a competition time out to check over his S14 before going back out for his lead run. After Deane and Castro made their initial runs, Odi and Aasbo came back out to finish their pairing. Aasbo was undeterred by the pause and came out aggressive against Odi and consistently stayed on proximity against him. This consistent and closer run by the Norwegian gave him the unanimous win and Aasbo would move on to the finals.

While we didn’t break off the run, the reality is that James Deane in the Autozone Ford Mustang RTR and Jhonnattan Castro in the Metaldom Toyota GR86 would face off against each other during Odi’s competition timeout. Castro’s performance has been stellar in this round, but he was now facing off against a wet track experienced driver in Deane. But somebody forgot to tell Deane he was the damp surface expert as he nearly slid too far following his aggressive entry in the lead. Castro took full advantage and stayed right on without following the Irishman’s nearly disastrous line.

Transitioning downhill, Deane did pick up momentum and started to gap Castro until the Dominican took a shallow line to hit the next transition but lost ground again just before the final outer zone and finish. During his follow run, Deane would make some contact with Castro coming into the downhill section but not enough to disturb Castro’s line. While Castro did have a good lead run and decent follow run, two of the three judges agreed to an OMT. Again, we’re not doing the pauses, but this allowed Odi and Aasbo to finish their run before doing the Deane and Castro OMT.

Learning from his mistake, Deane was able to remain aggressive on entry without sliding off line in his lead run, but Castro would be the one to make the mistake this time. Coming into the uphill section, Castro went too far inside of the corner and clipped the tall rumble strips. This forced his car to pull nose in and high center against the bumper. Normally, this probably wouldn’t have been a huge issue on a dry track, but the rear couldn’t keep up in grip on the wet and spun the Dominican around. By making a complete follow run, James Deane would end up going into the finals to face off against Fredric Aasbo again.

Odi, by way of his qualifying position, would be credited with third place and 30 points. This also means that he and Branden Sorensen are tied for third in points with 50 a piece after Round 3. Jhonnattan Castro, however, would greatly benefit from his Final Four appearance. Combined with his 10 points from his Top 16 appearance at Long Beach, the 30 points from Road Atlanta gives him 40 total and is tied for fifth with Ryan Tuerck and Adam LZ.

The Finals of Wet-lanta

With the Finals set for a Long Beach rematch, Fredric Aasbo and James Deane would take three OMT runs over the single one between them in the previous round. With the track just continuing to get wetter, the final OMT saw both drivers put down incredible runs despite the inclement conditions. The decision came down to who made the least mistakes during their respective runs. Aasbo kept a tidy line through the course while Deane just remained on the door and bumper of the Norweigen.

Deane kept an aggressive run during his lead, but this is where Aasbo showed a bit of struggle, sacrificing the driving line for proximity going up the hill and into the keyhole. Aasbo was able to bring back some angle, but Deane was still holding a consistent line through to the exit and transition to the downhill sprint. Finishing out the final outer zone, the winner finally seemed clear, and the slugfest was finally finished after six grueling individual runs. James Deane would take the win and get some revenge against his OMT loss to Aasbo at Long Beach. It wasn’t fully unanimous, though, as only two of the three judges agreed that Deane won, and the second judge looked for another OMT. But the majority rules and Deane gets the Road Atlanta win.

With the back and forth between Round One and Two, Deane and Aasbo are tied for first place in the 2025 championship points standings at 90 apiece. Currently, Toyota has a 31-point lead over Ford in the Auto Cup standings, with Toyota at 140 and Ford at 109. Nissan (92), BMW (90), and Chevrolet (30) round out the manufacturers being fully represented in Formula Drift. The 2025 Tire Cup standings show Kenda with the lead by only two points over Nitto at 142 to 140. GT Radial (100 points) and Kumho (29 points) round out the four brands.

The next round of the 2025 Formula Drift Championship takes place at Orland Speed World on May 30th to 31st. With Aasbo and Deane tied, this championship still has a long way to go before we can say that only these two are our favorites for the crown. But they are putting on a very commanding performance thus far and the rest of the field needs to start making some headway before it is too late.