James Deane Wins Formula DRIFT Round 4 in the First All-Irish Podium in Series History
Deane, Jack Shanahan, and Conor Shanahan swept the podium at Stafford Motor Speedway — and Deane now leads the championship.
James Deane won Round 4 of the 2026 Formula DRIFT PRO Championship at Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut, driving his O'Reilly / Pennzoil Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD to a podium that, for the first time in the series' history, was swept entirely by Irish drivers: Deane took first, Jack Shanahan was second in his Pulsar Turbos-backed E82 BMW, and Conor Shanahan third in his Red Bull / GT Radial / JYR Toyota GT86.
The win moved Deane into the championship points lead — 149 to Aurimas "Odi" Bakchis's 127, with Branden Sorensen, Jack Shanahan, and Conor Shanahan bunched closely behind. The season so far has been anything but predictable: Conor Shanahan won the Long Beach opener over three-time champion Fredric Aasbo, Vaughn Gittin Jr. took Road Atlanta over Deane, and Bakchis won Orlando in a Subaru BRZ after switching out of his Nissan S15 chassis entirely.
The series continues on to Indianapolis, Seattle, Las Vegas, and a return to Long Beach — meaning a genuinely tight four-way points battle, now led by one half of an all-Irish sweep, still has most of the season left to play out.
Wekfest San Jose 2026 Packed the Convention Center With Liberty Walk, RWB, and VIP Builds
The tour's home-turf Bay Area stop drew a curated floor spanning GT-Rs, widebody Supras, time-attack cars, and full VIP sedans on June 28.
Wekfest Japan Draws 500 Curated Cars to Nagoya for Golden Week
From a widebody FD RX-7 to an ADRO-kitted A90 Supra, this year's show reinforced why Wekfest's Japan stop still matters to a scene it helped export.
Formula DRIFT Launches Its Own In-House Content Studio
FD Studios signed Larry Chen Photography — the series' official photographer since 2012 — as its first outside creator partner.