Road Atlanta has been a Formula D fan favorite quite literally since Day 1. It was Road Atlanta that hosted the very first Formula DRIFT round back in 2004. And ever since, fans keep making the pilgrimage to back to Braselton, GA to see the sport of drifting continue to evolve.

This year, the Link ECU PROSPEC Championship joined the weekend lineup…

Adding even more tire-shredding battles to the mix. And for the first time ever, Formula DRIFT teamed up with Gridlife for a full-on motorsports party. However – it’s almost guaranteed that at least one day will see rain, and this year was no different. Georgia weather is crazy. One could feel the sweat dripping from their brow on Thursday & Friday. The stagnant air caused the track to hold-in smoke long after runs were completed. But on Saturday, the same crowd was in jackets & under umbrellas… as the temps dropped more than 30 degrees, Not only that – but a persistent wind & rain made for an all but miserable trackside experience. It may have been the lowest-attended main event in over a decade. Not because of the action, but because of the temperamental weather. Additionally…

The course saw a few updates this season…

Some of the zones & clips got shifted around to keep the cars out of the grass and gravel. Whether it was the changes, the moody weather, driver error, or just everything combined… no fewer than six cars ended up smacking the wall at the base of the hill. Most of these incidents were on the way back up (on the return). But a couple were on the initial descent as well. And it removed several drivers from the competition early & entirely, with severely mangled cars.

On the PROSPEC side…

The Link ECU PROSPEC series is a stepping stone to the PRO series. And in PROSPEC, rookies had to battle through a Top 16 seeding bracket on Thursday… just to make the main show on Friday. With most of the 2024 top finishers already locked in, the bracket became a proving ground for fresh talent. Among the standout newcomers were two female drivers: Collete Davis and Chellee Hansen. There was also young-gun Camren Sorensen. And if you were there (or watched the live stream), you were reminded about 100 times that he was just 13-years-old. Baffling for sure – yet his age clearly proved to be a non-factor, as he & his E46 bested the rest of the field to earn the top qualifying spot in the seeding. Davis and Hansen finishing 2nd & 3rd, respectively.

As Friday rolled around…

Spectators & fans were eager to see if the rookies could carry that momentum to the main PROSPEC show. And while no newcomer made the podium, Collin Zielinski put in a solid run. He reached Top 8 in his Fitment Industries Nissan S14.5 before falling to Cory Talaska. His performance earned him 8th place and Rookie of the Round title, giving him a narrow lead in the Rookie of the Year chase (just one point ahead of Sorensen). 13-year-old Camren Sorensen reached Top 16 before bowing out to Adam Knapik. But thanks to his seeding bracket points, he’s now sixth in the standings, right behind Zielinski in the rookie race.

For the PROSPEC Top 16…

Cory Talaska proved an unstoppable force, earning his first win of the series since he began competing in 2021. He beat 2-time PROSPEC champion Dmitriy Brutskiy in a close final.

“After all the testing, the car felt amazing. We found speed & confidence… and it paid off.” -Talaska.

Brutskiy took 2nd – a strong result after failing to qualify for Pro competition in Atlanta. Cody Buchanan grabbed 3rd, scoring his first podium after joining PROSPEC in 2023. Josh Stuart finished a career-best 4th, in just his 5th round, driving the StuartFamDrifting C6 Corvette.

On the PRO side…

Austin Matta, Connor O’Sullivan, and Derek Madison stood tall on the podium at the conclusion of the seeding bracket. One of the most hotly anticipated pairings in seeing was between 2-time FD champion Vaughn Gittn Jr. and drifting legend + 2012 champ, Daigo Saito. Although seeding and most of Top 32 took place in the dry, Top 16 was either fully wet and/or patchy conditions. Thankfully, the event didn’t turn into Formula Sight Lap, due to conditions being the same in practice earlier Saturday.

As much as everyone was excited for the Gittin/Saito battle…

Fans were even more hyped for the Gittin/James Deane battle in Top 32 that occurred as a result of the seeding bracket. The RTR boss fell to his Mustang stablemate by a small margin, marking Deane’s first step toward his eventual podium. In true RTR stable fashion, the battles were arguably some of the best of the evening.

The rain held out just long enough to complete the driver intros for Top 16…

As the legendary Road Atlanta horseshoe became its own game of luck for the sixteen hopefuls vying for the title. Jhonnattan Castro saw a career-best (since 2012) finish of 4th, looking strong through the entire competition until he got just a bit too aggressive coming out of Outer Zone 2 (in the wet) during his one-more-time battle with Deane in the Final Four. Castro’s solid finish bumped him from 16th to 5th in points.

Fredric Aasbo had stormed past Nick Noback, Simen Olsen, Hiroya Minowa and Odi Bakchis on his way to the finals, where he would battle James Deane. Bakchis would round out the event with a respectable 3rd place finish.

In the finals…

James Deane met his familiar rival, Fredric Aasbo, for an all-European showdown. The two had already clashed in Round 1, and the rematch lived up to the hype. With both drivers masters of slippery conditions (Aasbo from training on ice, and Deane from Irish rain) the judges called a one-more-time (OMT) and everyone thought a winner had been decided. Deane, Aasbo, and Bakchis’ cars lined up at the top of the horseshoe, and media stormed the track in anticipation of a final decision. Only to have… a last-minute second OMT called! Drivers got back in their cars, and those left in attendance were treated to a total of SIX runs between Deane & Aasbo… with Deane taking his RTR Mustang to the top of the podium.

“This was my first win of the year & I’m absolutely delighted. The Ford Mustang RTR was killing it all weekend. We had no issues with the car despite crazy one-more-time battles with Castro and two with Fredric in the Final. I honestly didn’t know which way the decision was going to go, but we gave our best and I’m super-happy heading to Orlando for Round 3.” -Deane

After Round 2 at Road Atlanta…

Heading to Orlando, Deane is tied with Aasbo for 1st in the PRO championship, with Bakchis and Branden Sorensen tied for 2nd. Castro, Ryan Tuerck and Adam LZ are locked in a 3-way tied for third. After the first PROSPEC round, Talaska leads the standings, followed by Brutskiy in 2nd & Buchanan in 3rd, tied with Josh Stuart.