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2023 Formula Drift season

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The 2023 Formula Drift season (officially titled and stylized as the Formula DRIFT PRO Championship) was the twentieth season of the Formula D series. The season began on April 8 at Long Beach and concluded on October 14 at Irwindale Speedway after eight events.

To coincide with its twentieth anniversary celebrations, the series announced a number of additions to be made throughout the year. These include the inauguration of a Formula Drift Hall of Fame, the unveiling of a monument to the series in downtown Long Beach, increased prize money for event winners and the series champion, and the launch of an officially sanctioned podcast.[1]

Chelsea DeNofa won the drivers' championship with three round wins; he was the only driver to score multiple victories during the season. Ahead of the Title Fight weekend at Irwindale Speedway, DeNofa make a shock announcement via his Instagram page that he intended to step back from Formula Drift for the foreseeable future.[2] He mentioned that he had made the decision earlier in the season and wanted to make the announcement early in order to enjoy his final weekend regardless of the championship outcome. He plans to continue with other drifting projects. Longtime judge Ryan Lanteigne also announced his retirement ahead of the final weekend.


Entries

[edit]
Team No. Car Tires Driver Round(s)
Alec Robbins Racing 35 Nissan 350Z Kenda United States Alec Robbins[3] All
ASM 8 BMW M3 E46 GT Radial United States Robert Thorne[4]  R  All
BARBARIUS USA 357 Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06 GT Radial Brazil João Barion[5] All
Beechum Racing 999 BMW M3 E46 Nexen United States Trenton Beechum[6] All
Cash Racing 16 BMW M3 E46 Vitour United States Jonathan Hurst[7] All
Diego Higa Racing Team 169 Toyota GT86 GT Radial Brazil Diego Higa[8]  R  All
Drift Cave Motorsports 777 Chevrolet Corvette C6 GT Radial United States Matt Field[9] All
The Drift Force 33 Toyota GR86 Nexen Switzerland Joshua Correa Reynolds[10] All
Feal Suspension Race Team 707 Nissan Silvia "S14.9" GT Radial Norway Simen Olsen[11] All
723 Nissan Silvia S15 GT Radial Lithuania Aurimas Bakchis[12] All
FFF DRIFTING DEPARTMENT 117 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano Nexen Italy Federico Sceriffo[13] 2–8
Forsberg Racing 64 Nissan Z GT Radial United States Chris Forsberg[14] All
Garagistic Racing 171 BMW M3 E36 Vitour United States Rome Charpentier[15] All
Get Nuts Lab 808 Nissan Silvia S15 Kenda United States Forrest Wang[16] All
The Heart of Racing 26 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT Radial New Zealand Darren Kelly[17] All
HGK Motorsports 80 BMW M3 E92 GT Radial Latvia Kristaps Blušs[18] 2–8[a]
Huragan Racing 738 Toyota GR Supra
Toyota GT86[b] 		GT Radial Ukraine Oleksii Holovnia[19]  R  All
J Castro Racing - JCR 17 Toyota GR86 GT Radial Dominican Republic Jhonnattan Castro[20] All
Jeff Jones Racing 818 Nissan 370Z GT Radial United States Jeff Jones[21] All
Jerry Yang Racing 123 Toyota GT86 GT Radial Japan Kazuya Taguchi[22] All
Kyle Mohan Racing 99 Mazda RX-8 Vitour United States Kyle Mohan[23] All
Mspek Performance 527 Nissan Silvia "S14.9" Vitour United States Daniel Stuke[24] All
Noback Racing with Jerry Yang Racing 54 BMW M3 E46 GT Radial United States Nick Noback[25] All
Outlaw Garage 82 Chevrolet Corvette C6 Kenda United States Taylor Hull[26] All
Papadakis Racing 151 Toyota GR Supra Nitto Norway Fredric Aasbø[27] All
411 Toyota GR Corolla Nitto United States Ryan Tuerck[28] All
Power Racing 919 Nissan Silvia S15 GT Radial United States Mike Power[29] All
RTR Motorsports 5 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD Nitto United States Adam LZ[30] 1, 3–5
25 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD Nitto United States Vaughn Gittin, Jr.[31] 2, 6–8
88 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD Nitto United States Chelsea DeNofa[32] All
130 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD Nitto Republic of Ireland James Deane[33] All
Ryan Litteral Racing x Colab Garage 909 Nissan Silvia S15 GT Radial United States Ryan Litteral[34] 2–8
Sorensen Motorsports 513 BMW M3 E92 Nitto United States Branden Sorensen[35] All
Team Japan Auto 153 Toyota Supra A80 Kenda Norway Ola Jæger[36] All
Team Karnage 43 Dodge Viper ZB II Nexen Republic of Ireland Dean Kearney[37] All
Three's Racing 21 Toyota GR86 Nexen Japan Ken Gushi[38] All
Travis Reeder Motorsports 77 BMW M3 E46 GT Radial United States Travis Reeder[39] All
_Whip._ 129 BMW M3 E46 GT Radial United States Dylan Hughes[40] All
R Eligible for Rookie of the Year

Driver changes

[edit]
  • Dan Burkett was unable to raise sponsorship to fund a 2023 campaign, and elected to sit out the season while concentrating on finding a new sponsor for 2024.[41]
  • Three-time champion James Deane will return for the first time since 2019, signing with RTR Motorsports.[42]
  • 2013 champion Michael Essa will not return to the series, having taken a position building cars for Daily Driven Exotics.
  • Joshua Love returned to the PROSPEC series for 2023.[43]
  • Adam LZ will drive a reduced schedule in 2023, participating in four rounds. Two-time champion Vaughn Gittin, Jr. will drive in the remaining four rounds, returning to the series after stepping back at the end of the 2021 season.[44]
  • Justin Pawlak will step back from the series, in order to focus on his son Jaxsen's drifting career.

Other changes

[edit]
  • For 2023, the limit of 37 full-season entries was removed.
  • Falken Tire ended its partnership with Formula Drift.[45][41]
  • GT Radial renewed its partnership with the series through 2025.[46]
  • Kenda Tire became a new official supplier on a two-year agreement.[47]
  • Vitour Tires became a new official supplier on a two-year agreement.[48][49]

Schedule

[edit]
Round Title Circuit Location Date Winner Car
1 Streets of Long Beach Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California April 8 United States Matt Field Chevrolet Corvette C6
2 Road to the Championship Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia May 13 United States Vaughn Gittin, Jr. Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD
3 Scorched Orlando Speed World Orlando, Florida May 27 United States Chelsea DeNofa Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD
4 The Gauntlet Englishtown Raceway Park Englishtown, New Jersey June 24 United States Adam LZ Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD
5 Crossroads World Wide Technology Raceway St. Louis, Missouri July 15 Lithuania Aurimas Bakchis Nissan Silvia S15
6 Throwdown Evergreen Speedway Monroe, Washington August 12 United States Chelsea DeNofa Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD
7 Elevated Utah Motorsports Campus Grantsville, Utah September 16 United States Chelsea DeNofa Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD
8 Title Fight Irwindale Speedway Irwindale, California October 14 United States Nick Noback BMW E46 M3
Sources:[50][1][51][52][53]

Championship standings

[edit]

Scoring system

[edit]

During qualifying, drivers perform solo runs which are judged on parameters such as line, angle, style and "X-factor", all defined within the sporting regulations, and awarded a numerical score up to 100. These scores are ranked to determine the qualifying classification and populate the brackets for the competition phase. Only 32 spots in the main event are available. In addition, the top three qualifiers earn three, two and one championship points respectively.

The qualifiers proceed through a series of competition heats, with those eliminated in the first round (Top 32) receiving 16 points and classifying 17th through 32nd, the second round (Top 16) receiving 32 points and classifying 9th through 16th, the third round (Great 8) receiving 48 points and classifying 5th through 8th, and the fourth round (Final Four) classifying 3rd and 4th, receiving 76 and 64 points respectively. In the Final, the runner-up receives 88 points and the winner 100 points. Final classification within each round is then determined by highest qualifying position; for example, of the two drivers eliminated in the Final Four, the driver who qualified higher is awarded 3rd position and the final place on the podium.

The scoring system for the competition phase returned to that used in 2020, with a wider spread between the points awarded for each position compared to 2021 and 2022.[54]

In the event of a tie on points, the driver who classified higher in the most recent round will be awarded the higher position.[55]

Qualifying stage

[edit]
Position  1st   2nd   3rd 
Points 3 2 1

Competition stage

[edit]
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th–8th   9th–16th   17th–32nd 
Points 100 88 76 64 48 32 16

Pro Championship standings

[edit]
Pos Driver LBH ATL ORL ENG WWT EVS UTA IRW Pts
1 United States Chelsea DeNofa 73 12 12 15 7 1 13 17 480
2 Lithuania Aurimas Bakchis 18 33 9 8 1 53 13 22 445
3 United States Matt Field 1 6 14 3 14 91 2 22 427
4 Norway Simen Olsen 12 25 8 2 3 62 32 11 419
5 Republic of Ireland James Deane 62 7 7 4 18 3 91 3 413
6 Norway Fredric Aasbø 3 10 2 171 2 10 7 21 399
7 United States Ryan Tuerck 51 18 51 52 11[c] 4 4 4 392
8 United States Chris Forsberg 17 2 13 10 4 11 8 6 360
9 United States Dylan Hughes 21 5 4 93 12 2 18 10 329
10 Japan Kazuya Taguchi 24 19 33 11 81[d] 8 5 13 304
11 United States Rome Charpentier 2 28 21 6 27 7 25 18 264
12 United States Nick Noback 29 30 30 28 92 16 31 11 249
13 Dominican Republic Jhonnattan Castro 11 23 27 13 5 13 15 14 240
14 United States Jonathan Hurst 4 15 11 22 6 26 29 DNQ 224
15 Republic of Ireland Dean Kearney 14 27 32 27 103 15 11 16 209
16 United States Forrest Wang 8 92 12     30 22 5 194
17 United States Branden Sorensen 19 22 22 14 30 18 12 7 192
18 United States Travis Reeder 20 24 6 12 19 17 10 24 192
19 Japan Ken Gushi 13 29 29 16 13 DNQ 28 93 177
20 United States Robert Thorne  RY  28 32 25 30 16 28 14 12 176
21 United States Daniel Stuke 10 14 10 18 24 24 21 25 176
22 United States Trenton Beechum 15 26 26 31 22 19 6 26 176
23 United States Vaughn Gittin, Jr.   11       23 23 15 167
24 Latvia Kristaps Blušs   4 16       26 8 160
25 United States Taylor Hull 16 16 23 19 25 21 32 20 160
26 United States Alec Robbins 9 13 18 26 26 27 27 29 160
27 United States Adam LZ 30   20 1 20       148
28 Brazil Diego Higa  R  22 17 28 20 DNQ 12 16 19 144
29 United States Jeff Jones 23 11 24 23 23 DNQ 20 23 128
30 Brazil João Barion DNQ DNQ DNQ 7 17 20 19 28 112
31 United States Ryan Litteral   DNQ 17 21 15 14 17 DNQ 112
32 United States Mike Power 27 20 19 25 28 29 30   112
33 United States Kyle Mohan DNQ 31 DNQ 32 21 22 24 27 96
34 Norway Ola Jæger 26 21 DNQ 29 29 25 DNQ 30 96
35 New Zealand Darren Kelly DNQ 8 15         80
36 Ukraine Oleksii Holovnia  R  25 DNQ 31 24       48
37 Switzerland Joshua Correa Reynolds DNQ             0
In-line notation
Superscript number Qualifying position
(Top 3 only)
Bold Top qualifier
 RY  Rookie of the Year
 R  Rookie

Auto Cup standings

[edit]

Auto Cup points are awarded each round to the two drivers with the highest classified finish for each manufacturer. To be eligible, both the chassis and engine must have been constructed by that manufacturer.

Pos Manufacturer LBH ATL ORL ENG WWT EVS UTA IRW Pts
1 United States Ford 62 11 12 1 7 1 13 3 1048
73 7 7 4 18 3 91 15
2 Japan Toyota 3 10 2 52 2 4 4 4 837
51 17 51 16 5 10 7 93
3 United States Chevrolet 1 6 14 3 14 91 2 20 619
16 16 23 7 17 20 19 22
4 Japan Nissan 17 2 13 10 4 11 8 6 472
    17 21 15 14 17 DNQ
5 United States Dodge 14 27 32 27 103 15 11 16 209
               
6 Japan Mazda DNQ 31 DNQ 32 21 22 24 27 96
               
7 United Kingdom Aston Martin DNQ 8 15           80
               

Tire Cup standings

[edit]

Tire Cup points are awarded each round to the two drivers with the highest classified finish for each tire manufacturer.

Pos Tire LBH ATL ORL ENG WWT EVS UTA IRW Pts
1 GT Radial 1 2 33 2 1 2 2 11 1275
11 33 4 3 3 53 32 22
2 Nitto 3 11 12 1 2 1 13 3 1249
51 7 2 4 7 3 4 4
3 Vitour 2 14 10 6 6 7 21 18 536
4 15 11 18 24 22 24 25
4 Nexen 13 26 26 16 103 15 6 93 402
14 27 29 27 13 19 11 26
5 Kenda 8 92 12 19 25 21 22 5 386
9 13 18 26 26 25 27 20

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ HGK Motorsports were unable to import their equipment to the United States in time for the opening round.
  2. ^ HGK Motorsports were unable to import their equipment to the United States in time for the opening round. Holovnia will instead pilot a Toyota GT86 at this round.
  3. ^ Tuerck received a bye run during the Top 16 at St. Louis, but he suffered an engine failure and was unable to complete the run. It was deemed that he had not advanced past the bracket, and so he was awarded a Top 16 finish. His position within the bracket was determined by qualifying results, as usual.
  4. ^ Taguchi was the highest qualifier of the drivers eliminated in the Top 16 at St. Louis, of which there were nine due to Tuerck's incomplete bye run.

References

[edit]
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