10 Things We Learned from 2025 Formula DRIFT St Louis

St. Louis kicked off the second half of the season and we get that some drivers might not care for this year's seeding format up to this point, but maybe it's because under the old system of qualifying some of those drivers that could qualify high would gain an advantage by being paired up in tandem against low qualifying drivers in Top 32. Therefore they might not have a hard battle until Top 16 or even Top 8. 

Now that the system is entirely based on tandem, some of those previously high qualifying drivers are getting paired up with other drivers that might not have been great at qualifying and are good at tandem in Top 32, making their journey to Top 16 and above harder than in previous years. Plus losing in Top 32 doesn't earn any points this year and potentially causes them to have to battle in the seeding bracket the next round making their road to success a lot harder than previous years. 

Whatever the case, this season you can't deny that this year has had some exciting battles in both PRO and PROSPEC. Not only that, it's been rewarding consistent driving and what we all love with drifting, which is tandem action. Currently there is a three-way tie with Nate Chen, Cole Richards, and Dmitriy Brutskiy in PROSPEC and a two-way tie with James Deane and Fredric Aasbø in PRO, showing just how close the rest of the season is going to be.

Despite what your thoughts are on the seeding bracket and no qualifying, there's no denying that this format makes for great tandems and forces drivers to be more consistent, especially in the lead, with less mistakes. We can't wait to see what battles are left in the remainder of the season. 

James Deane came into Round 5 at St. Louis just a mere 10 points behind Fredric Aasbø in the championship standings. After Aasbø went out in the Top 4 and an all Irish final battle with Jack Shanahan, Deane took the top spot in St. Louis. Now both Deane and Aasbø are tied going into Seattle with 180 points.

Jack Shanahan has had several moments this season where we could see a brief sparkle of his talent, but it wasn't until St Louis where we could see him truly shine. After battling to the Top 4 in the Seeding Bracket on Thursday and then all they way to second place in the Main Bracket on Saturday, it's clear why he's a champion in other series around the world. After this event, Shanahan now leads the Rookie of the Year chase by 26 points over Connor O'Sullivan heading into Round 6.

Fredric Aasbø is driving great this season. And while he's currently tied with James Deane for first place heading into Seattle, he's managed to do this while driving a little more exciting. Traditionally Aasbø has always been a very calculated driver, similar to Deane, but this season he appears to be taking a few more chances and risks. As seen with his battle against Matt Field, Aasbø manages to pull off an exciting initiation that had the crowd on their feet. While a mistake in the chase against Deane would later take Aasbø out in the Top 4, it was still great to see him driving a little more aggressive, whether intentional or not, we're here for it. 

We touched on Dylan Hughes looking great at New Jersey and having an early exit due to mechanical issues in our previous Top 10, but this event Hughes doubled-down showing that he's back to his old ways. Hughes took out championship contender Hiro Minowa in the Top 16 and continued to work his way through the bracket. Hughes would end up making it to the Top 4 where he would lose to Jack Shanahan and walk away with a 4th place finish. Hughes usually does well at his home track in Seattle and has landed on the podium two times previously (3rd in 2021 and 2nd in 2023). Maybe this is the year he lands on the top spot next month in front of his friends and family. 

Adam LZ has been on one this season and had it not been for Jack Shanahan's stellar performance in St Louis, LZ might have made it further in the bracket past the Top 8 and gained more ground on the championship. Either way, even with the early exit, LZ still remains in third place for the championship with 120 points, just 60 points behind series leaders James Deane and Fredric Aasbø. 

Nate Chen started the season off rough in Atlanta with a driveline issue that prevented him from making it past the Top 16. However, since Atlanta, Chen as been able to make it to the podium the last two rounds (2nd in New Jersey and 1st in St Louis) tying him for first with Cole Richards and Dmitriy Brutskiy going into the final round at Utah.

Jerry Johnson debuted a hot new livery for St. Louis and it did not disappoint. Johnson's car has been fast on track, but now it appears fast even off the track. Johnson would end up going out in the Top 8 after losing to Cody Buchanan. His fifth place finish on the night leaves him with 65 points after three rounds and just 13 points ahead Collete Davis in the chase for the PROSPEC Rookie of the Year. 

Many folks noticed early on that Daigo Saito was missing from the St. Louis round. Saito made a post [now removed] on Instagram which goes into how he had Visa issues upon entering the U.S. and had to return back to Japan via Amsterdam which made for a long trip in the air. 

However, Saito's Toyota GR86 still managed to get on track and turn some laps over the weekend. Shinji Minowa, father of Formula DRIFT driver Hiro Minowa, was at the event to spot for his son and was able to hop in the GR86 and do some demo laps for the crowd. For those unfamiliar with the older Minowa, he's been drifting for over 20 years with team "HEYMAN" and has competed in both D1Gp and Formula DRIFT Japan. 

Last year, St Louis's first turn was notorious for destroying cars with the last minute implementation of jersey barriers delineating the edge of the track. This year, the barriers were gone, but drivers managed to dig out a huge rut in the grass just off the edge of the track that never seemed to recover no matter how many times the track replaced the dirt and packed it back down. This rut caused a lot of anguish for drivers who ended up dropping a tire just a little too far off the track and usually ended up ruining their runs. Notable drivers that lost their battles as part of this rut that affected their runs were Camren Sorensen, Dmitriy Brutskiy, Odi Bakchis, and Matt Field. 

We're hoping the track takes a look at this and makes note to install rumble strips in Outer Zone 1 for next year's event to prevent this from stripping us of some amazing battles.