June 23, 2025 by Formula DRIFT

In addition to the high-adrenaline action on the purpose-built drift arena at Englishtown Raceway, one of the biggest talking points from the weekend was the storm that ripped through the venue on Thursday evening following the conclusion of the PROSPEC qualifying Seeding Bracket.

With high winds and torrential rain bringing down trees and causing havoc throughout the paddock area, the New Jersey Round of the 2025 Championship became only the third time in FD history that a decision was taken to postpone the proceedings. 

With many PRO Championship teams unable to service their cars in the devastated paddock area, and bent metal structures presenting a potential hazard to spectators, the PRO Seeding Bracket was rescheduled for Friday morning. Following a big clean-up effort, teams and spectators were greeted by sunny skies and a cool breeze for the start of qualifying. The action continued through until the PRO Championship winners were crowned by Saturday evening and everybody returned home safely.

PROSPEC SEEDING BRACKET QUALIFICATION
The Link ECU PROSPEC Seeding Bracket Qualification locked in the first 20 places based on finishing positions from Round 1. The remaining 15 drivers then battled for 12 competition places in competitive tandem runs.

The winner was Rookie Jerry Johnson (USA), whose Cage Kits / LVRY Motorsport Toyota GT86 took a beating on its way to the Final. Not only was he knocked off the track by DJ Stubstad (USA) in their Top 4 battle, but Johnson also attempted to climb over the Mayfield Gardens Nissan S13 of Brian Hoplamazian (USA) when a false start triggered confusion and a collision in the Final. Unfazed, Johnson completed both runs with enough speed and determination to take the win.

Rookie Hoplamazian also reached the Final the hard way; competing in two One More Time (OMT) battles before eventually losing to Johnson. However, both he and Johnson gained valuable Championship points in their bid to claim the Rookie of the Year title, since each Seeding Bracket heat win is rewarded with three points. This gave Johnson a total of 12 points from qualification.

In further drama, Chellee Hansen (USA) was pulled from her Team Hansen Supercharged Nissan S13 after it rolled onto its side following a collision with Carsen Ruger (USA) in the Top 16 heats. 

Surging towards Hansen to regain proximity in Outside Zone 2 (OZ2), Ruger hit the rear of Hansen's Nissan, pushing it off the track. Her rear tire then appeared to dig into the dirt, pitching the car onto its roof before settling on its side. Both drivers were unable to repair their cars in the allotted time, which meant Ruger was eliminated after causing the collision. Hansen qualified for Friday competition but was unable to advance in the Seeding Bracket.

Unfortunately, Ruger, Sam Maghmoumi (Lebanon) and Kasey Kohl (USA) failed to win their Top 16 Seeding heats and were eliminated because they had the lowest rankings.

PROSPEC COMPETITION
Round 2 of the Link ECU PROSPEC Championship was won by Cole Richards (USA) in the Koruworks / Richards Racing Toyota GR86. It was a welcome return to the podium after he previously won the New Jersey Round in his 2023 Rookie year, also claiming a second place in Utah that year. And while 2024 turned out to be a challenging season, he was reserved but optimistic about the 2025 victory. 

'The start of the weekend was absolutely terrible,' Richards explained after the podium ceremony. 'We fried the alternator and wiring but the boys worked so hard this weekend to put everything back together. We had no spare parts and we're very thankful to everybody in the paddock who was willing to give up their spares to help somebody succeed and take it to the podium. They gave up parts they might need and that meant so much to us. In practic, we then had belt problems and were losing power steering. So, it was scary going into the Top 32 because we had no idea if the belt would come off. Luckily, it held together and we're very grateful for that. But we're going to return home and build a better car for St Louis and hopefully stand on the box again. I want to thank my team, family and girlfriend who all support me so much, which means the world to me.'

Richards' path to the Final began by defeating Hoplamazian in the Top 32, followed by Trevor Root (USA), Cody Buchanan (USA) and double PROSPEC Champion Dmitriy Brutskiy in the Top 4. In the Final, Richards met Nate Chen (USA) driving the NCR Toyota 86, which was using a naturally-aspirated Dart 440ci V8 for the first time and to good effect.

After a close battle, it was Richards' ability to fill all three Outer Zones while in the lead that seemed to separate the two drivers. The result bumped Richards from 12th in the Championship to second. And while Chen would have undoubtedly relished the victory, second place was his first podium since joining PROSPEC in 2021. His points haul took him from tenth to fourth in the title chase.

Third place went to Brutskiy in the Never Settle BMW, whose consistency meant he leads the FD Link ECU PROSPEC Championship by a ten point margin over Richards.

Fourth place was claimed by Rookie Jerry Johnson (USA) who amassed 42 points from the weekend and jumped from 20th to sixth while simultaneously leading the Rookie of the Year title chase.

Apart from Johnson, it was a tough event for the Rookies. Chellee Hansen's team was able to repair her rolled car for competition but she was eliminated from the Top 32 by Root. 

Rookie Collete Davis (USA) had the Collete Racing E46 BMW punted onto the safety barriers in her Top 16 battle with Nik Jimenez (USA). The driver of the Good Night Garage Nissan Z surged into Outside Zone 3 and pushed his rear quarter into Davis' front fender. The impact was sufficient to force her BMW onto the barrier. And despite a valiant effort supported by a number of teams, including her next opponent Brutskiy, the BMW failed to reach the starting line for their Top 8 heat and she was eliminated.

Thirteen year-old Rookie Camren Sorensen (USA) had been looking forward to his Top 32 heat against big sister Amanda, but the differential on his Sorensen Motorsports / Spyder E46 BMW failed on the starting line and the team was unable to repair it in the allotted time.

Amanda Sorensen (USA) in the US Air Force / Sorensen Motorsports BMW advanced to the Top 16 where she defeated Cory Talaska (USA) who had been leading the PROSPEC Championship after his Round 1 win. Talaska's early exit meant he dropped from first to third on equal points with Richards. Sorensen was eliminated from the Top 8 by Chen on his march to the Final.

PRO SEEDING BRACKET QUALIFICATION
The Type S PRO Seeding Bracket got underway early on Friday morning following its postponement on Thursday evening in response to the violent storm that wreaked havoc throughout the venue. 

Thirteen drivers were competing for a place in Saturday's competition heats, but with only 12 places available, there had to be a loser. In this case it was Federico Sceriffo (Italy) who was eliminated after he lost his first battle against Nick Noback (USA). 

The PRO Seeding Bracket was won by Rookie Jack Shanahan (Ireland) driving the Kumho Tires BMW 1 Series after a fierce battle with the XPN / Kumho Tires Corvette C7 of Tommy Lemaire (Canada). The Irishman was awarded the victory thanks to a superior chase run, boosting his chances for the Rookie of the Year title over fellow newbie Lemaire thanks to Shanahan's 12-point haul. 

Third place went to Dan Burkett (USA) in the RAD Industries Mk4 Toyota Supra. He lost to Lemaire in their Top 4 heat but had a higher ranking than Noback, who lost to Shanahan.

PRO COMPETITION
In an extraordinary coincidence, repeating Richards' feat in PROSPEC, Adam LZ (USA) also repeated his first FD win at Englishtown Raceway in 2023 to claim the 2025 victory.

Driving the Drift HQ E36 BMW, LZ was an unstoppable force throughout the competition heats. It started with triumph over Burkett who had an unfortunate spin on their first run.

LZ then met three-time FD PRO Champion Chris Forsberg (USA) in the NOS Energy Drink Nissan Z NISMO. Again, fortune favored LZ when the Nissan's driver's front tire debeaded in OZ2 and despite some impressive car control, Forsberg left the track in OZ3.

The Top 8 battle with Daniel Stuke (USA) in the MspeK Performance Nissan Silvia was decided by LZ's strong chase run, which filled the zones where Stuke had failed in his attempt to keep pace with LZ. And it was a similar story in the Top 4 against Connor O'Sullivan (USA) in the OSully Racing / US Army BMW. He'd been forced to compromise parts of the three outer zones in an effort to gain proximity to LZ, who then filled every zone and sent O'Sullivan packing. 

The Final would be LZ's toughest challenge, facing three-time FD PRO Champion Fredric Aasbo (Norway). The driver of the Rockstar Energy Toyota GR Supra had previously dispatched the AutoZone Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD of four-time Champ James Deane (Ireland) in an intense OMT battle that showcased the Norwegian's skill and tenacity. But Aasbo made an uncharacteristic mistake in the chase position, hitting the wall in OZ1, which caused him to miss most of OZ2 as he struggled to regain composure. He caught LZ in OZ3 but ran shallow to achieve the proximity and it was game over.

'I had so much fun driving here,' said a jubilant LZ after collecting his winner's trophy. 'I wanted to put on a show and drive as hard as I could, but was trying to be logical and not push too hard, which paid off. The plan is to do the same thing in the next round. We've got good setup notes and I feel we're learning more about the car every time, so we'll try to keep the momentum going.'

LZ accumulated enough points from his win to jump from ninth in the standings to third.

After the Final, Aasbo joked about being exhausted from his Top 4 heat against Deane, but that was only part of the story. He had to vanquish former FD Champion Daigo Saito (Japan) in the Top 32, followed by FD veterans Dylan Hughes (USA) and Matt Field (USA) along the way. However, Aasbo's legendary consistency meant he extended his championship lead to 20 points over Deane thanks to his appearance in the Final. 

Deane similarly seemed grateful for his third place finish after surviving a crash-landing in the Top 16 when his RTR Mustang climbed onto the hood of the Garagistic / Pedal Commander / Kumho Tire / BMW 1 Series driven by Rome Charpentier (USA). Both drivers were lucky to escape with relatively minor damage and Deane advanced to meet teenager Hiroya Minowa (Japan) in the Top 8 heats. As the winner of the previous Round with the reputation as a giant slayer, Minowa was no pushover but Deane has now beaten him on each of their three encounters.

After succumbing to Aasbo in the Top 4, Deane's points tally meant he remained second in the championship standings. Minowa dropped one place to fourth overall.

Rookie O'Sullivan finished fourth, recording his best finish since being promoted from the PROSPEC Championship. The result meant he jumped from 29th to 11th in the championship table and leads the Rookie of the Year chase, 12 points from closest rival Jack Shanahan (Ireland) in 19th.

Fans gave Jeff Jones (USA) perhaps the loudest cheer of the night when he approached the starting line in his Evol Auto Works / Prisma Labs / BIG Drift Energy / Nissan 370Z. The car had been crushed under a fallen tree during Thursday afternoon's storm but the FD teams rallied around and helped Jeff repair the damage. Sadly, he lost his Top 32 heat to Daniel Stuke (USA).

In the 2025 Formula DRIFT Auto Cup, Aasbo again helped Toyota maintain its lead while BMW passed Nissan into second. In the Tire Cup, GT Radial passed Kenda to take the lead.

'We're now halfway through the season and this was one of the most spectacular events so far,' said Ryan Sage, President of Formula DRIFT. 'We've now crowned different winners at each of the four PRO Championship events, and we're also starting to see how PROSPEC is coming together to create what should be a very compelling event at Round 3 in St Louis.

'Seeing both Cole Richards and Adam LZ back up wins they scored in New Jersey in 2023 was amazing. But we're also seeing Fredric Aasbo and James Deane continue to provide some of the most incredible battles we've ever seen. And we must congratulate Connor O'Sullivan for reaching fourth and showing he's here to stay.'

ROUND 4 FD PRO TOP 16 DRIVER POINTS

2025 FD PRO TOP 16 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

2025 AUTO CUP TOP 5 STANDINGS

 2025 TIRE CUP STANDINGS

FD PROSPEC ROUND 2 TOP 16 DRIVER POSITONS

 FD PROSPEC TOP 16 DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS