Formula Drift can throw all the telemetry, transponders, and fancy new scoring jargon it likes at the sport, but Long Beach still comes down to the same old essentials: nerve, smoke, and whether your car survives close personal contact with a wall.
Round 1 of the 2026 PRO Championship delivered exactly the sort of derangement the Streets of Long Beach know and love. Conor Shanahan won, Fredric Aasbo took second, Jack Shanahan landed third. James Deane, the reigning five-time champion who topped qualifying, was sadly dumped out in the Top 16 before most people had properly settled into the afternoon. The script got a jolly good shake up.
That was before one bothers with the new stuff. New Tracks, broadcast arrangements, the Hall of Fame monument, and rejigged judging. Then, a thrilling day full of stoppages meant that by the time Shanahan reached the Final he had already lived through drama galore. In other words, Formula Drift is back, mad and smokey.
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ABOVE: Long Beach winners, smoke, and a day of proper Formula Drift chaos
The new toys
Formula Drift has spent the off-season rearranging the furniture. Three new venues are joining the eight-round calendar, Stafford Springs, Indianapolis Raceway Park, and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. All of them bring double-header PRO and PROSPEC weekends. Racer Network is now the exclusive broadcast partner, which means the series has shinier distribution and proper polish to go with the tyre smoke.
The more important change is the Universal Drift Scoring Method from Race Data Labs. UDSM now handles 80% of a PRO driver’s qualifying score by measuring line and angle through transponders and telemetry, leaving the judges to score the last 20% for driving style. Sport has become slightly dull as regulation protections sloly eliminate the fun. Drifting reduced to a spreadsheet would be as joyful flat beer. In tandem, the system becomes a judging aid. It helps officials see through the smoke, to produce broadcast graphics that tell viewers what happened without requiring a load of nonsense.
Long Beach also hosted the unveiling of the permanent Formula Drift Hall of Fame monument. Designed by Technical Director Kevin Wells, it is built around stacked tyre treads with a reproduction of the famous carbon-fibre trophy on top. The 2026 inductee was 2011 PRO Champion Daijiro Yoshihara, whose name now joins the others near the circuit. If the sport is going to keep reinventing itself every few years, it deserves a nod to the people who helped drag it out of adolescence.
Qualifying behaved. Competition did not.
Deane topped qualifying on 89 points in the O’Reilly and Pennzoil Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD, grabbing the lead with the last run of the session. Jack Shanahan went second on 88.46 in a Pulsar Turbos E82 BMW his team had built in just 16 days, much less like preparation and more like a stress disorder with sponsors. Chris Forsberg planted the Destined Industries Nissan Z in third and remains a properly dangerous nuisance whenever things get exciting.
Ryan Tuerck was fourth on the same day he celebrated a birthday and announced he will leave the series at the end of the year. Ben Hobson looked strong, then spun away the chance to improve. Rookie Cole Richards qualified 12th and immediately signalled that he was not here to make up numbers.
Deane was knocked out in the Top 16 by Diego Higa. Matt Field was gone early. LZ found walls instead of rhythm and was bundled out by Ryan Litteral. Any bookmaker who had written the afternoon in pen would have been reaching for the whisky before sunset. The clever bit about Long Beach is that she flatters nobody. If you arrive carrying attitude, the place still expects you to prove it in front of concrete.
The Shanahan brothers supplied the theatre
Conor and Jack came into the opening round with proper momentum after finishing first and third in the 2025 European Drift Masters Championship. Jack had also won the final round of the 2025 FD PRO season at Long Beach, which is a handy way to stroll into California looking as though the place ought to know your name. Both men also arrived with new cars. Conor had joined Jerry Yang Racing in the Red Bull and GT Radial Toyota GT86, while Jack struck out in the Pulsar Turbos BMW E82. Both looked immediately serious.
Conor’s day nearly ended in the Top 32 against Ken Gushi. As he prepared to transition into Zone 6, the rear of his GT86 swung into the front of Gushi’s GR86 and pushed it into the wall. The Toyota was hauled back to the paddock looking about as composed as a contestant after a bad spray tan. Jerry Yang Racing, plus several other teams, scrambled through the ten-minute repair window, then burned the optional five-minute Competition Time Out as well. Even then a suspension arm broke as Conor tried to leave the pits, which was the sort of detail that usually means the story ends there.
It did not end there. After a period of consultation, deliberation, and what I imagine was some highly colourful muttering over the rulebook, the judges ordered both heats to be rerun once the car was properly repaired. Shanahan edged out Gushi, then dealt with Simen Olsen, Diego Higa, and rookie Cole Richards to reach the Final. By then he had already survived enough nonsense for one weekend to justify a quiet lie down in a dark room.
Jack’s route was almost as strong until an engine problem bit him after a fierce Top 8 duel with Aurimas Bakchis that went One More Time. Rather than risk dropping oil on the track before facing Aasbo in the Top 4, Jack withdrew and took third. Sensible, sporting, and probably maddening given what might have followed. A Shanahan versus Shanahan final at Long Beach would have been enough to make the promoters faint with delight.
Instead, Conor met Aasbo. The final was close, scrappy, and tense in exactly the right way, with the win decided by the tiniest errors in line and angle. Shanahan held on and took the round. Aasbo, to be fair, still walks away with 40 points and the quiet satisfaction of seeing Deane stuck down on 13 after his early exit. Jack’s 32 keeps him very much in touch, and Cole Richards leaving Round 1 fourth overall gives the rookie battle a proper jolt of interest before the circus moves on.
Ryan Sage called this the most ambitious season in Formula Drift’s 23-year history, and perhaps it is. But all the new systems, graphics, and organisational polish still ended up serving the same essential spectacle: men in absurdly powerful cars hurling themselves at a street circuit lined with walls while everybody else tries to decide whether this is genius, madness, or both. Long Beach delivered an answer as she usually does. It is both. Quite gloriously so.
Round 1 Formula Drift PRO standings
| Position | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conor Shanahan | 50 |
| 2 | Fredric Aasbo | 40 |
| 3 | Jack Shanahan | 32 |
| 4 | Cole Richards | 30 |
| 5 | Aurimas Bakchis | 20 |
| 6 | Branden Sorensen | 20 |
| 7 | Diego Higa | 20 |
| 8 | Dylan Hughes | 20 |
| 9 | James Deane | 13 |
| 10 | Chris Forsberg | 11 |
| 11 | Ryan Tuerck | 10 |
| 12 | Hiroya Minowa | 10 |
| 13 | Ben Hobson | 10 |
| 14 | Simen Olsen | 10 |
| 15 | Jeff Jones | 10 |
| 16 | Ryan Litteral | 10 |
Auto Cup after Round 1
| Make | Points |
|---|---|
| Toyota | 60 |
| BMW | 32 |
| Ford | 23 |
| Nissan | 21 |
| Chevrolet | 0 |
Tire Cup after Round 1
| Brand | Points |
|---|---|
| GT Radial | 80 |
| Kenda | 51 |
| Kumho | 42 |
| Nitto | 23 |
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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