The 2025 season of the Formula Drift championship starts off every year in Long Beach, California, on the weekend before the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. This unique relationship gives Formula Drift one of the only street circuits it takes on as part of its championship season while the rest took place on permanent road courses or oval tracks. Who would tame the bumpy, changing surfaces and walls of the streets and start their 2025 season with maximum points?
Before We Go Further
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Seeded Qualifying
Qualifying in FD has changed from the hours long process to a seeding system based on the results of the previous round for the top 20 drivers. Of course, the start of the season technically means there isn’t a previous round, but Formula Drift bases the seeding on the previous year’s final round. With the top 20 set, there are drivers that still need to qualify for every round but that has been changed several years ago to a qualification bracket where drivers compete against one another rather than two individual rounds. This also shows why this has been a mostly welcome change to the weekend schedule from your author’s previous years of covering the sport. For 2025, 13 drivers looked to solidify their spot into the storied Long Beach round.
This also marked the first in 10 years that Daigo Saito would compete on US soil. The legendary driver from Japan still draws a crowd and will always be an ever-present threat to the championship, but started Round One with a 31st seed, defeated by Jack Shanahan who would eventually seed into the 27th position.
Unfortunately, Ferrari fans would be disappointed as Federico Sceriffo failed to qualify for the Long Beach round. It wouldn’t be without a great effort, but Rudy Hansen would knock out Sceriffo in the first round of seeding. Hansen would eventually settle for a 26th seeding.
Another fan favorite, Andy Hateley, marked his return to Pro competition and brought another BMW along with him, having traded his E30 BMW 3-series for an E46 for competitive driving. His effort brought about a 23rd seed position and gained six points for his top four finish in seeding competition. Dmitry Brutskiy and Derek Madison would round out the top five of seeding competition.
The top dogs of seeding were Daniel Stuke and Ben Hobson. Stuke has been rising star since his professional debut in 2024 and is a very active driver outside of Formula Drift competition in his home state of Oklahoma and Full Lock Drift. By winning over Ben Hobson, whose second place seeding was seen as redemption over his 2024 efforts, Stuke gained 12 points and a number 21st seed position. Hobson would start the year with 9 points and Round One with a 22nd seeding positon.
Top 32 Competition Highlights
Formula Drift rookies Jack Shanahan in the Kumho Tires BMW 1-Series and Tommy Lemaire would end up knocked out in Top 32, though this was a double tough round for Lemaire. The XPN/Kumho Tires Corvette C7 wouldn’t make the field after a crash before seeding qualifying. Lemaire would end up borrowing the BMW E36 3-series sedan that Rome Charpentier once piloted, with Rome moving on to the Garagistic Racing BMW 1-Series. Thanks to their qualifying finishes and points, the pair are tied at 3 apiece. Fellow rookie, Austin Matta in the Race Treads Nissan 240SX S14 was also knocked out in Top 32, but would gain no points as he was also knocked out by Daniel Stuke in the first round of seeding qualifying.
In what seems like a repeat for Daigo Saito, the 2012 champion’s year would start off tough for his team in 2025. Saito’s Bathing Ape/Enjuku Racing GR86 experienced an engine failure during his Top 32 run against Odi Bakchis. Bakchis would finish in the Great Eight, credited with 20 points towards the 2025 championship.
Top 16 Highlights
Thanks to new rules in points, Ben Hobson and his Pennzoil Ford Mustang RTR will start the year with 19 points towards his 2025 season despite being knocked out in the Top 16. Normally, drivers who are knocked out in this round would only see 10 points awarded in their 2025 championship run, but with Hobson finishing second in seeding qualifying, he gained nine additional points and currently sits tenth. A far better start than his 2024 season where he didn’t even qualify for Round One.
Daniel Stuke in the Mspek Performance Nissan Silvia S15 would also be knocked out in Top 16, but his 12 points in seeding qualifying and 10 points for his Top 16 finish would earn him 22 points and place him fifth in 2025 standings.
While the start of his 2025 season is on par with 2024, Matt Field in the Borla Performance Chevrolet Corvette is still probably upset with himself at getting knocked out in the Top 16. Though, the driver that took him out would go on to the Final Four and be credited with fourth place and 30 points towards the 2025 championship.
With a change to his engine program, Jhonnattan Castro in the Metaldom Toyota GR86 would end up finishing in the Top 16. The new engine is based on the same engine in the Toyota GR Supra but built with Supertech Performance internals among a slew of other changes. Regardless, a Top 16 exit is still better than his performance in 2024 and seems like the changes are working.
At only 15 years old, Hiroya Minowa in the Enjuku Racing Toyota GT86 is living the dream of most young sim racers around the world. He’s also proving he has experience beyond his age thanks to his Top 16 finish at Long Beach, a notorious course for many veterans of drifting. He’s well on his way to cementing a long legacy, but those stories do come with hiccups along the way as Minowa finished in the Great Eight in 2024.
Great Eight Highlights
2024 started out great for Odi Bakchis in the Feal Suspension Nissan 240SX S14 by finishing Long Beach in the Final Four. 2025 would be less so after being knocked out in the Great Eight by the same driver that knocked out Matt Field in a unanimous decision against Odi.
Christ Forsberg in the NOS Energy Nissan Z would be knocked out in Top 16 by fan favorite, Adam LZ in the Drift Garage BMW 3-Series E36, in a One More Time (OMT) run. While a Great Eight is most likely a disappointment for Forsberg, he’s still showing that he will be a tough veteran to compete against in 2025. This is also “revenge” for Adam LZ, as Adam was knocked out in Top 32 by Forsberg in 2024. Though, that revenge did cost LZ a valve stem and a tire after Forsberg made contact with Outer Zone Three, straightened out, and made just enough impact with LZ to rip it out.
Conor Shanahan in the Red Bull Toyota GT86 has been drifting for over a decade but made his name famous thanks to Top Gear at the age of 14. A Great Eight exit would be exciting for anyone at his age of 21 and will mark as an improvement over his Top 32 exit in 2024.
Still rockin’ in the ‘rolla, Ryan Tuerck finished out Round One with a Great Eight appearance in the Rain X Toyota GR Corolla and one of the only RWD conversions in the field for 2025. The driver who took him out would be his Toyota teammate, Fredric Aasbo in the Rockstar Energy Toyota GR Supra.
Final Four
With the Final Four set, two drivers would be guaranteed a podium spot due to their seeding positions. Only Branden Sorensen, the surprise standout of Long Beach, would be the only one that would have to fight to make it on the steps. While he made an impressive performance for only his fifth year as a Formula Drift Pro driver, Sorensen in the Air Force BMW 4-Series F32, would have to battle against three-time Formula Drift champion, Fredric Aasbo. Despite such a heroic effort put on by the younger veteran, Aasbo would take the win, and Sorensen was off the podium and would settle for fourth place at Long Beach.
The battle between former RTR teammates James Deane in the Auto Zone Mustang RTR and Adam LZ, now in the Drift HQ E36 and back as his own team for the full 2025 effort, took place during the Final Four. While LZ’s chase run put him right by the door of Deane, LZ’s lead run would be marked against by a shallower line at all three Outer Zones, but Outer Zone 1 was particularly shorter. A unanimous decision by the judges meant that Adam LZ was on the podium but would have to settle for third place.
Final Battle
2024 champion, James Deane in the Auto Zone Mustang would get there intact versus 2024. An engine fire during 2024’s Media Day made the RTR team scramble to get Deane’s Mustang back to running condition in less than a week of time. 2025 was much smoother sailing having gained the number one seed thanks to his results at Round Eight and coming back as the reigning champion.
But his ultimate battle wouldn’t be an easy one going against Fredric Aasbo in his Rockstar Supra and he truly proved that by taking Deane to a OMT in the finals. In what Deane was hoping would be a victorious repeat for Long Beach, he would just be edged out of that OMT and take second place while Fredric Aasbo would take the win in a hard-fought battle of Ford vs Toyota. This would also be Aasbo’s revenge against Deane, who took the Norwegian out in the Great Eight in 2024 and mark only the second time Aasbo finished on the podium in Round One.
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The next round of the 2025 Formula Drift season heads to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. The series will be joined by its Prospec series along with the Gridlife series with Time Attack, GLTC Touring Cup, and Rush SR racing. It all takes place on Mother’s Day Weekend on May 8th to the 10th.
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