September 2021 • Photography Marc Gewertz

‘Odi’ Bakchis (Nissan #723) won the first Formula Drift event on the streets of Long Beach in almost three years. Runner up was Fredric Aasbo in the Rockstar Energy Toyota, while Vaughn Gittin Jr. took third in the Monster Energy Ford.

Yes, it’s been three shy of 900 days since 1000+hp Formula DRIFT PRO Championship cars have raced in our backyard and we were down—and we were not alone.

A huge, Covid-tired crowd turned out to enjoy the action that used three turns of the Long Beach Grand Prix course, but not the entire track. Thirty-three FD PRO drivers attempted to qualify for the 32 spots and, sadly, Josh Reynolds was eliminated after two incomplete runs in his Drift Force/Nexen Tire F22 Eurofighter BMW.

In the final, Lithuanian Bakchis had it down, filling each drift zone more than Norwegian Aasbo. The win moved Bakchis to fourth in the FD PRO Championship standings, 43 points from the lead and with a chance of taking the 2021 title.

After his win Odi said: “I needed this win really badly, and it’s a huge confidence boost. We won the first round and fought hard all season but had some bad luck in the middle, so earning first place is a tremendous boost. But we had to earn it; we had to battle through some tough competitors, most of whom were former Champions. But I was able to step it up as needed, and the team did a phenomenal job keeping the car together. I’m stoked with this win and hope to keep the momentum going into the Irwindale Finals.”

The final round of the Formula DRIFT PRO and Link ECU PROSPEC Championships is scheduled for October 22-23 at Irwindale Speedway, CA. Please visit formulad.com for the competition schedule, ticket information, driver profiles, special content and the event livestream.

Meanwhile, the big news in FD world is that FD co-founder and president Jim Liaw, is on his farewell tour before heading to Performance Racing Industry in 2022. Jim will be handing over the FD reins to co-founder Ryan Sage.