Rookie Driver Wins His First Formula Drift Race in New Jersey, Pro Battles Are Up Next

After two decades of competition, only ten drivers have taken home the coveted trophy. Forsberg, Aasbo, and Deane have won three titles each, with the latter having done so in three consecutive years. The Irish wonder-kid is back in the game after being focused on his European journey for the past few years.

Driving a chassis that's entirely new for him, the Ford Mustang RTR, he is still adapting to the new conditions. But he's still up there with all the big boys. But we'll get back to this topic by the end of the story. First, look at how things went down for the Prospec drivers, who are also fighting for their championship this weekend.

FD Pro Spec Qualifying

Whereas the Pro Series drivers must attend eight rounds in 2023, things are slightly less complicated for the Prospec competitors. Only four events are scheduled for them; the one in Englishtown, New Jersey, is the second. 45-year-old Rudy Hansen from Pocatello, Idaho, won the first race in Atlanta, putting him at an advantage in the year's second event.

Ben Hobson and Alex Jagger went off to a good start of the season, too, as they finished P2 and P3 in Atlanta. But you can still win the battle and lose the war if you're not consistent throughout it all. Prospec drivers were the first to burn rubber on the Englishtown layout on Thursday morning. That's because they only had three hours of practice before heading into the Knockout qualifying.

Some of the drivers in Prospec are already quite skilled and could take on the Pro Series next year, so it's worth looking at the live replay of both qualifying and the battles. Ben Hobson took P1 for the second time in two races, scoring 91.3 points. 15-year-old Jayden Martorana from Canada might be one of the most fantastic kids in drifting today, as he drove his Chevrolet Corvette to P2 in qualifying on Thursday.

Dmitriy Brutskiy was third overall, proving he still has it to win a third Prospec championship this year. With 39 drivers on site, only 32 would advance to the battles on Friday.

FD Pro Spec Battles

19-year-old Cole Richards surprised everyone by winning the final battle against the series veteran Dmitriy Brutskiy. The Scion FRS driver is still a Prospec rookie, as this is his first year in the series. And given his age, he couldn't even enjoy his podium champagne. But he is probably excited to be sitting in third overall in the series rankings, just 32 points behind the leader.

And that man happens to be Rudy Hansen, benefiting from his strong start to the year. He lost his battle against Faruk Kugay in the Top8, who would eventually finish P4 at Englishtown. We couldn't forget about the third most successful driver of the day. Andy Hateley is also a Formula Drift veteran, and it's not unusual to see him on the Prospec podium these days.

He was third overall last year, just 29 points behind the 2022 champion, Robert Thorne. But instead of us spoiling the action for you, you could watch the race and see how it all went down instead.

FD Pro Qualifying

Now let's move on to the most exciting part of the weekend, the Pro class! Watching these guys handle the knockout qualifying session is like turning the heat up to 11: more speed, more angle, more smoke, and more excitement. Some of them have been drifting for as long as we can remember, and it's no wonder they're almost god-like behind the wheel of a race car.

The Norwegian Hammer took P1 in qualifying with a solid run worth 94 points. He is still the man to beat this year, and there's a good chance he will still be on top of the game for several years. With the GR Supra in P1, Ryan Tuerck drove his GR Corolla to a P2 finish with 92 points. Dylan Hughes and Matt Field were not all that far behind, scoring 89.6 and 89 points, respectively.

Forsberg, Deane, Taguchi, and Reeder all managed to get inside the Top 10 spots of the qualifying session, as they are some of the favorite drivers for scoring another FD victory. Chelsea Denofa was off to a rough start of the weekend, having some issues during his first qualifying run.

Still, he managed to secure a spot inside the Top32, albeit in P27. But we all know that he can still pull through a get a podium finish by the end of the event. For once, all the drivers that showed up in New Jersey will get a chance during the Top32 battles set to start soon.

FD Pro Predictions

As always, we love to look at the brackets and make some pre-race predictions of our own. And we'll share them with you as well, so be sure to let us know where you stand on the topic. On the left side of the bracket, Fredric Aasbo will compete against Ken Gushi in one of the first Pro battles of the weekend.

Both of them are series veterans, and Gushi is a very talented guy. But we don't think he can stop the Norwegian Hammer's charge. That means Aasbo will probably race against Aurimas Backchis in the Top 16, given the Lithuanian driver can eliminate Diego Higa from the competition. And we estimate that Aasbo will be up against Kazuya Taguchi in the Top 8. And that's it for the upper left bracket of the Pro battles.

Robert Thorne might have just won the Prospec championship last year, but winning against Matt Field might be impossible for him, at least for now. Matt Field could be racing against Chris Forsberg in the Top 8, at least if Alex Golovnya from Ukraine doesn't have a say. It would be exciting to see a match-up between him and Taguchi in the Top 4, but that would be rare.

Now let's move on to the right bracket. The young Branden Sorensen has got it in him to take out Ryan Litteral and maybe even Ryan Tuerck. But if that does happen, he will most likely compete against James Deane in the Top 8. So he will need all the luck he can get to turn that battle into a victory. If we'd have to wage a bet on the whole thing, Deane will at least make it to the Top 4.

But New Jersey might be the grounds for his first Formula Drift win with RTR. If Chelsea Denofa manages to keep his cool and drive to the full extent of his abilities, the first three tandem battles should be easy for him. Fresh from his success in Orlando, we don't see why he couldn't do it all over again in New Jersey. But of course, he will have one more difficult test before that, as he will likely encounter James Deane later.

Let's look at the current Pro Series standings with that out of the way. After three races this year, we have three different winners: Matt Field (Long Beach), Vaughn Gittin JR (Atlanta), and Chelsea Denofa (Orlando). Still, it's Fredric Aasbo who is in the lead with a total of 196 points. Denofa and Field are close behind in P2 and P3, less than 20 points away.

James Deane is fourth overall but has some catching up to do, as he's down 50 points compared to Aasbo. He also has to worry about a few drivers like Forsberg, Backchis, and Tuerck, to name a few. The fate of the 2023 season will be more transparent by the end of this day. But we'll report with more info on how the action unfolded soon.