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.
Conor Shanahan Needs One Heat Win at Long Beach. James Deane Needs Almost Everything Else.
An engine let go in the Top 32 at Las Vegas and turned a five-point deficit into a 47-point lead. Formula DRIFT settles its 2026 title on 23-24 October, under floodlights, on the same street course where the season started.
Brutskiy Takes a Third PROSPEC Title as Formula DRIFT Returns to Las Vegas After 14 Years
He clinched the championship without winning the round — a rival's broken front suspension did it for him. Then Conor Shanahan's PRO win blew the title race open with one event left.
Matt Field Won Adam LZ's Party
The LZ World Tour's UK round drew more than 12,000 people to Castle Combe. The man whose name is on the event qualified third and went out in the first round.