The 2021 Formula D season (officially titled Formula Drift Pro Championship) was the eighteenth season of the Formula D series. The season began on May 8 at Road Atlanta and concluded on October 23 at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale after eight events. Toward the end of the season, three of Formula Drift's longest-serving members announced a departure from the series, all of whom had been part of Formula Drift since is inaugural season in 2004. Co-founder and series President Jim Liaw left to take up a new position at Performance Racing Industry, but retained a role in the series; his place was taken by Vice President and fellow co-founder Ryan Sage. 2011 champion Daijiro Yoshihara announced his retirement from the series ahead of the finale. 2010 and 2020 champion Vaughn Gittin, Jr. announced that he would step back from the series to give attention to other interests, including his participation in the ULTRA4 Racing Series, but he intended to participate again in the future. His seat at RTR Motorsports was filled by Adam LZ in 2022.
Entries Team No. Car Tires Driver Round(s) Alec Robbins Racing 35 Nissan 350Z Federal Alec Robbins All Asphalt Anarchy 82 Cadillac ATS-V Nexen Taylor Hull All Bakchis Motorsports 723 Nissan Silvia S15 Falken Aurimas Bakchis All Beechum Racing 999 Ford Mustang Nexen Trenton Beechum 1–3, 5–8 BUY NOW JAPAN 530 Nissan Silvia S15 Nexen Wataru Masuyama 1–4, 6–8 Cash Racing 16 Infiniti G37 Nexen Jonathan Hurst All Drift Cave Motorsports 777 Chevrolet Corvette C6 Falken Matt Field All Drift Force 33 BMW F22 Nexen Joshua Correa Reynolds 1–6 91 BMW F22 Nexen Yves Meyer 1–7 Dylan Hughes Racing 129 BMW M3 E46 GT Radial Dylan Hughes All Essa Autosport 101 BMW M3 E46 GT Radial Michael Essa All FFF Drifting Department 117 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano Nexen Federico Sceriffo 1–3, 5–8 Forsberg Racing 64 Nissan 370Z GT Radial Chris Forsberg All Garagistic 171 BMW M3 E36 Federal Rome Charpentier All Gas Factory 9 Subaru BRZ Falken Daijiro Yoshihara All Jeff Jones Racing 818 Nissan 370Z GT Radial Jeff Jones All Jhonnattan Castro 17 Toyota GT86 FederalNexen Jhonnattan Castro 1–7 Jonathan Nerren Racing 23 Nissan Silvia S14 Federal Jonathan Nerren 1–7 KGMS Greddy Toyota Gazoo Racing 21 Toyota GR Supra Nexen Ken Gushi 1–5, 7–8 Kyle Mohan Racing 99 Mazda RX-8 Federal Kyle Mohan All LZMFG 5 Nissan Silvia S15 Nitto Adam LZ All Papadakis Racing 151 Toyota GR Supra Nitto Fredric Aasbø All 411 Toyota Corolla (E210) Nitto Ryan Tuerck All Pawlak Racing 13 Ford Mustang Falken Justin Pawlak 1–3, 5–8 RAD Industries 34 Toyota Supra A80 GT Radial Dan Burkett All RTR Motorsports 25 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D Nitto Vaughn Gittin, Jr. All 88 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D Nitto Chelsea DeNofa All Ryan Litteral Racing 909 Nissan Silvia S15 GT Radial Ryan Litteral 1, 3, 5–8 Simen Olsen Drifting 707 Toyota GR Supra Federal Simen Olsen All Sorensen Motorsports 513 BMW M4 F82 Nexen Branden Sorensen All Team Karnage 43 Dodge Viper ZB II Nexen Dean Kearney All Travis Reeder Motorsports 77 BMW M3 E46 GT Radial Travis Reeder All Upgarage ISR PerformanceGT Radial Jerry Yang Racing 123 Nissan Silvia S15 GT Radial Kazuya Taguchi All
Schedule Round Title Circuit Location Date Winner Car 1 Royal Purple Road to the ChampionshipPresented by O'Reilly Auto Parts Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia May 8 Aurimas Bakchis Nissan Silvia S15 2 Scorched Orlando Speed World Orlando, Florida May 22 Chelsea DeNofa Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D 3 The AutoZone GauntletPresented by TYPE S Englishtown Raceway Park Englishtown, New Jersey June 19 Matt Field Chevrolet Corvette C6 4 Borderlands Lake Erie Speedway Erie, Pennsylvania July 10 Chelsea DeNofa Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D 5 Throwdown Evergreen Speedway Monroe, Washington July 31 Chelsea DeNofa Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D 6 Crossroads World Wide Technology Raceway Madison, Illinois August 28 Fredric Aasbø Toyota Supra 7 AutoZone Streets of Long BeachPresented by TYPE S Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California September 18 Aurimas Bakchis Nissan Silvia S15 8 TYPE S Title Fight Irwindale Speedway Irwindale, California October 23 Aurimas Bakchis Nissan Silvia S15Sources:
Championship standings Scoring system The championship points system was altered for 2021, with points no longer awarded for qualifying positions. Points are awarded to the top 32 qualifiers for each event. The qualifiers proceed through a series of competition heats, with those eliminated in the first round (Top 32) receiving 35 points and classifying 17th through 32nd, the second round (Sweet 16) receiving 52 points and classifying 9th through 16th, the third round (Great 8) receiving 67 points and classifying 5th through 8th, and the fourth round (Final Four) receiving 80 points and classifying 3rd and 4th. In the Final, the runner-up receives 91 points and the winner 100 points. Final classification within each round is then determined by highest qualifying position; for example, of the two drivers eliminated in the Final Four, the driver who qualified higher is awarded 3rd position and the final place on the podium.
If 22 or fewer drivers are present, an alternative qualifying format is used in which a Last Chance Bracket (LCB) is populated by the drivers who qualify from 15th down. The top two LCB qualifiers enter the competition heats as normal, while the remaining LCB qualifiers (3rd down to a maximum of 8th if 22 drivers are present) receive 35 points, equivalent to the 17th–32nd positions at a regular event.
In the event of a tie on points at the end of the season, the driver who classified higher in the most recent round will be awarded the higher position.
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th–8th 9th–16th 17th–32nd LCB 3rd–8th Points10091808067523535
Pro Championship standings PosDriverATLORLENGLESEVSWWTLBHIRWPts 1 Fredric Aasbø 9 2 3 2 12 1 2 2 648 2 Matt Field 2 5 1 3 4 6 11 4 617 3 Aurimas Bakchis 1 4 9 6 18 8 1 1 614 4 Chelsea DeNofa 14 1 5 1 1 12 5 7 605 5 Vaughn Gittin, Jr. 3 6 25 4 15 4 3 3 554 6 Ryan Tuerck 10 9 4 13 2 2 12 8 537 7 Chris Forsberg 18 10 2 27 6 13 4 6 479 8 Dylan Hughes 15 22 11 5 3 3 13 12 470 9 Kazuya Taguchi 16 7 7 8 23 14 27 5 442 10 Michael Essa 21 20 12 10 5 7 6 9 427 11 Jeff Jones 4 11 18 17 8 19 15 14 408 12 Travis Reeder 13 12 6 16 7 20 18 19 395 13 Dean Kearney 7 8 8 20 16 26 26 23 393 14 Justin Pawlak 6 3 17 11 9 9 11 390 15 Simen Olsen 31 15 15 25 10 22 25 16 348 16 Alec Robbins 23 14 16 18 27 5 32 29 346 17 Daijiro Yoshihara 20 26 10 29 29 10 10 17 331 18 Jonathan Hurst 30 21 24 21 9 21 14 15 331 19 Branden Sorensen 11 17 13 22 17 11 21 25 331 20 Dan Burkett 17 13 26 15 19 16 24 26 331 21 Adam LZ 8 24 32 9 21 29 22 24 329 22 Yves Meyer 5 16 28 7 22 25 30 326 23 Rome Charpentier 22 19 22 12 20 23 23 10 314 24 Kyle Mohan 28 31 30 26 31 30 16 13 314 25 Taylor Hull 24 27 27 11 24 18 17 18 297 26 Wataru Masuyama 25 29 21 24 15 8 21 294 27 Jhonnattan Castro 12 18 20 23 28 17 7 294 28 Ken Gushi 19 23 19 28 13 28 20 262 29 Trenton Beechum 27 28 29 14 31 31 28 262 30 Jonathan Nerren 32 30 23 14 25 24 19 262 31 Federico Sceriffo 29 25 14 30 DNQ 29 27 227 32 Joshua Correa Reynolds 26 32 31 19 26 28 210 33 Ryan Litteral NC DNQ 32 27 20 22 140Sources:In-line notationBoldTop qualifierRookie of the YearRookie
Auto Cup standings Auto Cup points are awarded each round to the two drivers with the highest classified finish for each manufacturer. To be eligible, both the chassis and engine must have been constructed by that manufacturer. PosManufacturerATLORLENGLESEVSWWTLBHIRWPts 1 Toyota 9 2 3 2 2 1 2 2 1200 10 9 4 13 12 2 7 5 2 Ford 3 1 5 1 1 4 3 3 1187 6 3 17 4 11 9 5 7 3 Nissan 18 10 2 27 6 13 4 6 619 NC 32 27 20 22 4 Chevrolet 2 5 1 3 4 6 11 4 617 5 BMW 21 20 12 10 5 7 6 9 427 6 Dodge 7 8 8 20 16 26 26 23 393 7 Mazda 28 31 30 26 31 30 16 13 314 8 Cadillac 24 27 27 11 24 18 17 18 297 9 Ferrari 29 25 14 30 DNQ 29 27 227 Source:
Tire Cup standings Tire Cup points are awarded each round to the two drivers with the highest classified finish for each tire manufacturer. PosTireATLORLENGLESEVSWWTLBHIRWPts 1 Nitto 3 1 3 1 1 1 2 2 1413 8 2 4 2 2 2 3 3 2 Falken 1 3 1 3 4 6 1 1 1248 2 4 9 6 11 8 9 4 3 GT Radial 4 7 2 5 3 3 4 5 1118 13 10 6 8 5 5 6 6 4 Nexen 5 8 8 7 9 11 7 15 937 7 16 13 11 10 15 8 16 5 Federal 12 14 15 12 10 5 16 10 796 22 15 16 14 ? 22 19 13 Source:
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