What It Takes To Win: 2025 Formula DRIFT Link ECU PROSPEC Championship

Collete Davis comes into the final round in 7th place with 52 points, 48 points behind first place.

The only chance for Davis is to have Chen, Richards, and Brutskiy all lose in Top 32. If any of them win their first battle, they earn 10 pts giving them 110 pts on the season and her chances are mathematically over. If Davis is lucky, and Chen, Richards, and Brutskiy all lose in Top 32, the rest of the drivers in the chase are all on the same side of the bracket as each other. This could potentially help Davis out if they end up battling each other, making her road to the finals possibly easier. In the event that Chen, Richards, and Brutskiy all lose in Top 32, Davis would need Buchanan (80 pts) to lose no later than the Top 8, which would award him 20 pts. As long as Buchanan doesn't advance any further than the Great 8, he would end the season with 100 pts.

Should the aforementioned all happen, Davis would then need both Talaska (70 pts) and Johnson (65 pts) to lose no later than the Top 4, which would award both drivers 30 pts; leaving Talaska with 100 pts and Johnson with 95 pts on the season. As long as Talaska and Johnson don't advance any further than the Final 4, the only chance for Davis to win the championship is to win the event (50 pts) and finish out the season with 102 pts. This crazy scenario has a lot of 'what-ifs', but If all of those things happen, Davis could win both the championship and Rookie of the Year. 

Jerry Johnson comes into the final round leading the Rookie of the Year chase (just 13 pts more than fellow rookie Collete Davis) in 6th place with 65 points, putting him 35 points behind first place. Johnson has a couple more options than Davis to win the championship, but he still needs a lot to happen for that.

The first scenario requires Johnson to make it to the Finals and he needs Chen, Richards, and Brutskiy to all go out in Top 32. However, Johnson would also need Buchanan (80 pts) to lose no later than the Top 8, which would award him 20 pts. As long as Buchanan doesn't advance any further than the Great 8, he would end the season with 100 pts. Should the aforementioned happen, Johnson would then need Talaska (70 pts) to lose no later than the Top 4, which would award Talaska 30 pts and leave him with 100 pts on the season. As long as Johnson can make it to the finals, he would earn 40 pts and finish out the season with 105 pts earning him the championship and Rookie of the Year. All that's left at that point is Davis, and even if Davis wins the event, the most she could earn would be 50 pts, giving her a season total of 102 pts.

The second scenario requires Johnson to win the event and requires Chen, Richards, and Brutskiy to lose their battles by Top 16, as they will only earn 10 pts, leaving them with 110 pts in the season. Johnson would also need Buchanan (80 pts) to lose no later than the Final 4, which would award him 30 pts. As long as Buchanan doesn't advance any further than the Final 4, he would end the season with 110 pts. Should the aforementioned happen, Johnson would then need Talaska (70 pts) to lose no later than the Finals; which would award Talaska 40 pts and leave him with 110 pts on the season. If Johnson can win the Finals, he would earn 50 pts and finish out the season with 115 pts earning him the championship and Rookie of the Year. All that's left at that point is Davis, and even if Davis wins the event, the most she could earn would be 50 pts, giving her a season total of 102 pts.

Cory Talaska comes into the final round in 5th place with 70 points, putting him 30 points behind first place. Talaska has a slightly better chance than Johnson thanks to his 5 point lead over Johnson.

The first scenario requires Talaska to make it to the Final 4 and he needs Chen, Richards, and Brutskiy to all go out in Top 32. However, Talaska would also need Buchanan (80 pts) to lose no later than the Top 8, which would award him 20 pts. As long as Buchanan doesn't advance any further than the Great 8, he would end the season with 100 pts. Should the aforementioned happen, Talaska would then need Johnson (65 pts) to lose no later than the Final 4, which would award Johnson 30 pts and leave him with 95 pts on the season. All that's left at that point is Davis. Talaska would need Davis to lose no later than the Finals, which would award her 40 pts and leave her with 92 points on the season. As long as Talaska can make it to the Final 4, he would earn 30 pts and finish out the season with 100 pts. Even though Talaska would be tied with other drivers at 100 pts, he would get the lead in the event of a tie as the highest finishing driver, thus earning him the championship.

The second scenario for Talaska requires him to make it to the Finals and requires Chen, Richards, or Brutskiy to lose their battles by Top 16, leaving them with 110 pts in the season. Talaska would also need Buchanan (80 pts) to lose no later than the Final 4, which would award him 30 pts. As long as Buchanan doesn't advance any further than the Final 4, he would end the season with 110 pts. Should the aforementioned happen, Talaska would then need Johnson (65 pts) to lose no later than the Finals; which would award Johnson 40 pts and leave him with 105 pts on the season. As long as Talaska can make it to the Finals, he would earn 40 pts and finish out the season with 110 pts. Even though Talaska would be tied with other drivers at 110 pts, he would get the lead in the event of a tie as the highest finishing driver, thus earning him the championship.

The third scenario for Talaska requires him to win the event and requires Chen, Richards, or Brutskiy to lose by the Great 8, as they will only earn 20 pts, leaving them with 120 pts in the season. Talaska would also need Buchanan (80 pts) and Johnson (65 pts) to lose no later than the Finals, which would award Buchanan or Johnson with 40 pts. As long as Buchanan or Johnson don't advance any further than the Finals, Buchanan would end the season with 120 pts or Johnson would end the season with 105 pts. However, if Johnson was to win the event, he would end up with 115 pts and that would mean that Talaska couldn't win the event and would end up with a maximum of 110 pts. If Talaska can win the event, he would earn 50 pts and finish out the season with 120 pts. Even though Talaska would be tied with other drivers at 120 pts, he would get the lead in the event of a tie as the highest finishing driver, thus earning him the championship. All that's left at that point is Davis, and even if Davis wins the event, the most she could earn would be 50 pts, giving her a season total of 102 pts.

Cody Buchanan comes into the final round in 4th place with 80 points, putting him 20 points behind first place. Buchanan has the most options outside of the drivers tied for first.

The first scenario has Buchanan requires him to make it to the Great 8 and he needs Chen, Richards, and Brutskiy to all go out in Top 32, which would allow Buchanan the easiest win by being able to lose in the Great 8 and potentially still win the championship. However, Buchanan would also need Talaska (70 pts) to lose no later than the Top 16, which would award him 20 pts and leave Talaska with 90 pts. (Note: If Talaska makes it to the Final 4 and Buchanan doesn't make it past the Great 8, they would be tied at 100 pts and Talaska would win the championship as the higher finishing driver.) Buchanan would then need Johnson (65 pts) to lose no later than the Final 4; which would award Johnson 30 pts and leave him with 95 pts on the season. All that's left at that point is Davis. Buchanan would need Davis to lose no later than the Finals, which would award her 40 pts and leave her with 92 points on the season. As long as Buchanan can make it to the Great 8, he would earn 30 pts and finish out the season with 100 pts. Even though Buchanan would be tied with other drivers at 100 pts, he would get the lead in the event of a tie as the highest finishing driver, thus earning him the championship.

The second scenario for Buchanan requires him to finish in the Final 4 and requires Chen, Richards, or Brutskiy to lose their battles by Top 16, leaving them with 110 pts in the season. Buchanan would also need Talaska (70 pts) to lose no later than the Finals, which would award him 40 pts. As long as Talaska doesn't win in the Finals, he would end the season with 110 pts. Should the aforementioned happen, Buchanan would then need Johnson (65 pts) to lose no later than the Finals; which would award Johnson 40 pts and leave him with 105 pts on the season. As long as Buchanan can make it to the Final 4, he would earn 30 pts and finish out the season with 110 pts. Even though Buchanan would be tied with other drivers at 110 pts, he would get the lead in the event of a tie as the highest finishing driver, thus earning him the championship.

The third scenario for Buchanan requires him to make it to the Finals and requires Chen, Richards, or Brutskiy to lose by the Great 8, as they can only earn 20 pts, leaving them with 120 pts in the season. Buchanan would also need Talaska to not win the event. If Talaska was to win the event, he would end up with 120 pts and the best Buchanan could do would be second place and end up with 120 pts. Even though Buchanan would be tied with Talaska at 120 pts, Talaska would get the lead in the event of a tie as the highest finishing driver, thus earning him the championship. All that's left at that point is Johnson and Davis, and even if Johnson or Davis win the event, the most either of them could earn would be 50 pts, giving Johnson 115 pts and Davis 102 pts.

The last scenario for Buchanan requires Buchanan to win the event and requires Chen, Richards, or Brutskiy to make it no further than the Final 4. Losing in the Final 4 will earn any of them 30 pts, leaving them with 130 pts in the season. If Buchanan wins the event, he would earn 50 pts leaving him also with 130 pts. With an event win, Buchanan would break the tie as the highest finishing driver, thus earning him the championship. 

Nate Chen, Cole Richards, and Dmitriy Brutskiy all come into the final round tied for first place, putting them 20 points ahead of the next driver.

Let's start with the elephant in the room. Even though all three drivers are tied with 100 pts, technically Nate is in first, Cole is in second, and Dmitriy is in third. There is a tie-breaker clause in the rulebook that states "If a tie occurs in the points standings- the tie breaker will be the finish rank of the most recent round." Therefore, the current standings are based on the results from St. Louis. However, with them all having the same number of points going into the final round, we're just going to treat it as a three-way tie, because unless they all go out at the same time (i.e. Top 16), that won't make a difference this event as they'll earn different points. Now let's get down to business.

For Chen, Richards, and Brutskiy the task is pretty simple, finish ahead of one another and the remaining drivers. All any of them have to do is make it one round further in the bracket and they win the championship. Easy right?

Where it gets tricky is if Chen, Richards, or Brutskiy go out early and one of the other drivers make it ahead of them in the bracket. For example, if Buchanan can make it just 2 rounds past Chen, Richards, and Brutskiy, then he would tie them and take the championship based on the tie breaker clause, as they'll end up with the same amount of points, but Buchanan would have made it further. The other 3 drivers still have a shot at the championship as we stated earlier in the article, so we won't delve into them again.

So the real challenge boils down to the Chen, Richards, and Brutskiy beating each other. If any of them can make it to the Finals, they'll earn 40 pts and mathematically eliminate the rest of the drivers from contention, including Buchanan even if he wins the event. Based on the Main Event Bracket, Chen is by himself on one side and Richards and Brutskiy are together on the other, therefore if both Richards and Brutskiy make it to the Final 4, their battle will end one of their chances for the championship there. Depending if Chen make it to the Finals, the overall champion would be decided by the winner there.

Are you confused yet? So are we, that's why we're just going to tune into the Formula DRIFT livestream and watch it all unfold this weekend!