10 Things We Learned from 2025 Formula DRIFT Orlando

Hiroya Minowa and his Enjuku Racing / BC Racing / Jerry Yang Racing GT86 entered Round 3 tied for 8th place in the series with Matt Field, Conor Shanahan, and three-time Formula DRIFT Champion Chris Forsberg (2009, 2014, 2016). Being a sophomore driver and tied with the likes of these drivers in the chase for a championship is a testament of it's own, let alone for a 15-year old. 

At each round you can see Minowa getting more acclimated with the tracks and the other drivers driving style. Minowa podiumed at two tracks last year (St. Louis and Seattle), so he still has those to look forward to while he currently sits in third place behind four-time Formula DRIFT Champion James Deane (2017-2019, 2024) and three-time Formula DRIFT Champion Fredric AAsbø (2015, 2021, 2022). For now, we'll just help him celebrate his third time on the podium with his first ever Formula DRIFT event win in Orlando.

Jhonnattan Casto has had some amazing battles in his career (some in Orlando), but none of them earned him a spot on the podium until now. Castro entered Round 3 tied in 5th place and you could tell during practice that he was going to have a stellar event. Luckily for Castro his Metaldom Toyota GR86 was running great on Kenda Tires and it allowed him to focus on his driving in order to take out some top level drivers on the way to his first ever podium landing him in second place. Castro now heads to New Jersey sitting in a respectable 4th place in the series. 

Aurimas 'Odi' Bakchis entered this round in third place and after taking third place on the podium he leaves tied for third in the series with fellow podium finishers, Hiroya Minowa and Jhonnattan Castro. Bakchis did gain 10 points in the overall championship closing the gap on 1st and 2nd place thanks to early exits by both Deane and Aasbø. Bakchis continues to dominate in his Feal Suspension GT Radial S14.9 with amazing chase runs and this weekend is just more proof of why he's consistently in the chase for the championship year after year. 

Rome Charpentier has been campaigning his Garagistic / Pedal Commander / Kumho Tire BMW 1-series for two seasons now and it looks like he's getting more and more comfortable in it. Jarod DeAnda mentioned in his livestream commentary that he ran into Rome at the airport and said he was still fighting some issues, but based on Rome's performance against James Deane you would never know it. You can watch the battle again here.

Branden Sorensen was another driver that was doing great during practice and should have been a safe bet for finishing on the podium. Unfortunately after taking out Dylan Hughes in the Top 16, Sorensen and his U.S. Air Force / Sorensen Motorsports BMW met up with Jhonnattan Castro. It started off like a great battle in the making until Sorensen loaded up his suspension too much and spun after the transition in the power alley setting up for Inner Clip #2. Despite his exit in the Top 8, Sorensen is still having a great season and is currently sitting in 6th place. 

Rookie Jack Shanahan came out swinging in his Kumho Tires BMW 1 Series on Friday night and won the Seeding Bracket which is impressive for his first time driving the oval track. During Top 32, Shanahan was paired up with Dylan Hughes, who historically has done well at Orlando Speed World. Unfortunately for Shanahan, this battle came down to a few mistakes in his chase that prevented him from advancing. With each event Shanahan is looking more and more comfortable and we're certain its just a matter of time before we see him on the podium this season. 

Ken Gushi was another driver who was driving great this weekend. Unfortunately for Gushi, he ran into transmission issues twice in his KGMS Toyota Gazoo Racing GReddy Performance with Kenda Tires; once during practice and a second time in his battle with fellow Kenda Tires driver Jhonnattan Castro. The two were poised to put on a great show, but unfortunately for Gushi, after he transitioned the transmission went out on him at Inner Clip #2 ending his run early and giving Castro an easy win.

Nick Noback has had a rough season so far trying to get out of the Top 32 in his Kenda Tires Noback Racing BMW E46 and it looked like he might take out three-time Formula DRIFT Champion Fredric Aasbø for a brief moment. Noback did a good job chasing Aasbø, but unfortunately during run #2 he got a little too deep into Outer Zone 1 on his lead run and debeaded his left rear tire after making contact briefly with the wall. Hopefully he can shake this Top 32 exit trend by the next round. 

Rookie Tommy Lemaire was finally able to show off what his XPN / Kumho Tires Corvette C7 could do during Friday's Seeding Bracket. Lemaire's entries into OZ1 were big, dynamic, and exciting leaving people in awe! The crowd loved it and it made us all want to go out a buy a Corvette. We can't wait to see him do it again in New Jersey.

Chris Forsberg continues to impress us in his NOS Energy Drink Nisan Z NISMO this season. While he's yet to make it on the podium, Forsberg is definitely showing more focus and determination that he has shown in recent years. This round Forsberg made it to the Top 8 and lost to third place finisher Odi Bakchis after making a couple mistakes. However, this earned him a 7th place finish and kept him in 8th place overall in the series.