TUERCK WINS ROUND 6 OF 2024 FORMULA DRIFT PRO CHAMPIONSHIP IN SEATTLE
If you think the 2024 Formula DRIFT PRO Championship couldn’t serve up and more wild twists and crazy turns, then Round 6: Type S Throwdown kept you on the edge of your seat as big names took an early bath, old names returned to glory, and new names continued to shine.
For veteran Ryan Tuerck (USA) it was a return to form after two and a half years off the top spot. He rose to the occasion at the challenging Evergreen Speedway course, finally getting to grips with the new Toyota six-cylinder turbo engine in his Rain-X Toyota GR Corolla.
But knocking on the door of his first win was 14 year-old sensation Hiroya Minowa (Japan). Thousands of hours on the simulator helped him slide the Enjuku Racing / Cusco / Yellowspeed Racing Toyota GT86 into another second place podium, continuing his climb up the Formula DRIFT PRO Championship table after the majority of points leaders exited early.
PRO SEEDING BRACKET
In the K&N Seeding Bracket, the first 24 competition places were set by the results of the previous Round in St Louis. Positions 25-32 were then determined by competitive Top 16 tandem runs on Friday. The new format has replaced solo qualifying runs to provide lower ranked drivers with more competitive seat time and guarantee maximum entertainment for spectators.
The top eight finishers from the Seeding Bracket advanced to Saturday’s competition heats, and with a handful of “no shows” at this round, only three drivers were eliminated.
Finishing on top was Mike Power (USA) in the Power Racing Nissan S15, with Alec Robbins (USA) second in the Robbins Race Co Nissan 350Z, while Robert Thorne (USA) brought home the ASM E46 BMW M3 in third.
Power’s jubilation dissolved into frustration after an unfortunate wreck during practice prematurely ended his weekend. It resulted in a Top 32 bye run for series Rookie Conor Shanahan (Ireland) and his Red Bull / Garagistic E36 BMW.
Rudy Hansen (USA), Dmitriy Brutskiy and Andy Hateley (USA) were the drivers eliminated from the Seeding Bracket, while reigning Formula DRIFT Link ECU PROSPEC Champion Ben Hobson (USA) retired from competition before the Seeding Bracket. After hitting his head in a practice accident, the team decided to withdraw Hobson rather than risking further injury to himself or fellow competitors. It’s another disappointment in what continues to be a difficult season for Hobson.
PRO COMPETITION
With three Rounds remaining, a number of leading contenders saw their hopes dashed early as the Championship pressure continued to mount. Among those who came unraveled were Simen Olsen (Norway), who made a premature exit from Top 32 competition after his Feal Suspension Nissan S14.9 was eliminated by Jeff Jones (USA) in the Evol Auto Works / Prisma Labs / BIG Drift Energy Nissan 370Z. It was a rare mistake by Olsen that led to his downfall in what has been a difficult time for the Team Feal driver, who had been a force to reckon with during the opening rounds. Olsen dropped from fifth to seventh in the table, 174 points behind the leader and with an outside chance of claiming the 2024 title.
More tears were shed during the Top 16 heats as several contenders were banished to their trailers. This included Champion-elect James Deane (Ireland) who looked capable of claiming a sixth consecutive win at Evergreen for the RTR Motorsports team - Chelsea DeNofa won the previous three Seattle rounds and Vaughn Gittin Jr took two prior to that.
With a bye run through the Top 32, Deane’s first competitive tandem battle was against giant-killer Jones. And what might have been easy work for Deane in the AutoZone Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD went haywire as he overcooked his initiation in Outside Zone 1 (OZ1). The resulting off-course excursion and a composed Jones was enough to take the win.
Placing ninth, Deane received 24 points from Seattle to maintain his lead in the standings by a slightly reduced 104-point margin over Aurimas Bakchis (Lithuania) in second. Deane has stood on every 2024 podium and remains favorite to be the first driver to win four FD PRO Championships.
Jones continued his trail of destruction, beating Jhonnattan Castro (Dominican Republic) in the Top 8 before losing to Tuerck in the Final 4. However, fourth place for Jones was his best result of the season, and best finish since taking third at Irwindale in 2022.
With Deane out of the picture, his rivals needed to claw back some points and Fredric Aasbo (Norway) was eager to repeat the performance that got him on the podium in Round 5. However, the driver of the Rockstar Energy Toyota Racing GR Supra suffered an early demise in the Top 16 when Trenton Beechum (USA) emerged victorious in his Nexen Tire / Clonex Racing E46 BMW. Aasbo’s premature departure in tenth place dropped him from third to fourth in the standings, giving him an outside crack at his fourth FD PRO crown.
Team Feal boss Bakchis started the season strong, just like Olsen, and has maintained his Championship aspirations despite a catastrophic mid-season car fire and subsequent engine blow-up for his Feal Suspension / GT Radial Nissan S15. By sheer determination, Bakchis won an intense Top 16 One More Time (OMT) battle with Branden Sorensen (USA) in the US Air Force / Sorensen Motorsports E90 BMW M3. However, Bakchis succumbed to a double OMT contest in the Great 8, where he lost by a narrow margin to Tuerck.
Finishing fifth on the night, Bakchis narrowed the points deficit to Deane and continues to hold second overall. As the strongest challenger to the Irishman, Bakchis urgently needs some 100-point wins under his belt from the two remaining rounds.
Seattle became a turning point for Ryan Tuerck’s season. He looked supremely confident in the Rain-X Toyota GR Corolla and defeated some leviathans of the sport to reach the podium. Among them were Ryan Litteral (USA) in Top 32, Matt Field (USA) in Top 16, Bakchis in Top 8 and Jeff Jones in the Final 4. Sadly, we were robbed of a competitive Final after electrical issues forced Minowa to retire.
The well-deserved victory was Tuerck’s first win since Long Beach 2022. The 100-point windfall propelled him from 15th to eighth place. And while mathematically unable to claim the 2024 title, he could become a factor in teammate Aasbo’s aspirations if Tuerck is able to eliminate some of the Norwegian’s rivals in the last two rounds.
“We arrived in Seattle tired of trying the same thing and beating our heads against the wall,” explained an emotional Tuerck after receiving his carbon fiber FD PRO trophy. “We decided to think outside the box and tried things we’d never considered before… and it worked!
“The car felt amazing during practice, so I think we’re finally able to become a race-winning contender again. I want to get back in there with the rest of the field at the top of the table. It’s disappointing we didn’t earn every heat, especially the Final, but I was consistent and this was some of the best driving I’ve done in years. I can’t wait to continue this in Utah!”
Round 6 saw teenage Minowa rise again, swiftly heading to the Final by dispatching Federico Sceriffo (Italy), Jonathan Hurst (USA), Kazuya Taguchi (Japan) and Adam LZ (USA) before meeting Tuerck in the Final. With the stage set for perhaps the most exciting duel of the day, a radio malfunction pointed to a wider electrical issue that curtailed his fun. Despite a Competition Time Out to assess and rectify the issue, Minowa called it a day at the start line.
Finishing second, Minowa’s back-to-back podiums in the Enjuku Racing / Cusco / Yellowspeed Racing Toyota GT86 popped him into third over Aasbo. Sitting on 364 points, 132 behind Deane, Minowa is a solid contender for Rookie of the Year, unless Shanahan can turn around his season before the Final Round at Irwindale. You also have to suspect Bakchis and Deane might be concerned for their positions with two Rounds remaining.
Third-place LZ wasn’t expected in Seattle but miraculously reappeared in the LZMFG E36 BMW v2.0; a replica of the car he destroyed after slamming onto the barriers in St Louis in a titanic battle with Minowa.
Having declared his 2024 FD PRO season over, LZ sourced another E36 chassis from a friend, then his team worked feverishly between the Rounds to prepare the car for combat. They also took the opportunity to provide chassis enhancements and electric power steering. But with zero seat time before arriving in Seattle, LZ demonstrated his drifting prowess, taking the new E36 to third place and his second podium of the season. The popular YouTuber also climbed from seventh to fifth in the overall standings.
“Going into Round 6, there was a target on James Deane’s back. His rivals needed to gain some ground and it happened in a big way!” said Ryan Sage, President of Formula DRIFT. “James went out in the Top 16 and we saw Ryan Tuerck finally return to the podium after driving flawlessly all day. And you can’t ignore how Minowa continues to raise the level of talent in the series, finishing second again – you have to wonder what could have been if his car was working properly for the Final…
“And Adam LZ surprised us all by coming back from his horrific incident in St Louis. He continues to make a name for himself as a truly an awesome driver who never gives up. And with all the action and incidents, you have to wonder what could happen in Utah, both in the PRO Championship and who will claim the 2024 PROSPEC title?”
After Round 6, Toyota and Nitto continue to lead the 2024 Formula DRIFT PRO Auto and Tire Cups, respectively.
NEXT ROUND
Formula DRIFT PRO Round 7 and the Link ECU PROSPEC Final Round 4 will take place at Utah Motorsport Campus Raceway on August 29-31. Please visit formulad.com for the competition schedule, ticket information, driver profiles, special content, and the event livestream
