Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis won Round 3 of the 2026 Formula DRIFT PRO Championship in Orlando, his first win in the Subaru BRZ and his first victory since Round 7 of 2024. The result moved him to the top of the standings, eight points ahead of James Deane.
Rain arrived before qualifying and continued through the weekend, leaving drivers with wet, damp, or dry conditions across both qualifying and the competition heats. With 32 drivers entered, each needed only to complete a qualifying run to reach the Top 32, and Orlando produced the third different winner in three rounds on a calendar that added three new tracks this year.
Formula DRIFT resized and repositioned the Inside and Outside Zones for Round 3 after reviewing data from the season’s first two events. The change worked alongside the Universal Drift Scoring Method (UDSM) from Race Data Labs, which automates the objective portion of scoring and tracks a car’s position even when water spray hides it from view. UDSM accounts for 80 percent of a qualifying score, covering Drift Line and Car Angle, with the remaining 20 percent for Driving Style awarded by the three-judge panel. With the zones placed where most drivers were running, Orlando produced the highest average qualifying scores of the season despite the wet session.
Three-time PRO champion Chris Forsberg took the top qualifying position with 85.83 points in the Destined Industries Nissan Z, earning a four-point bonus toward the title. Rookie Cole Richards qualified second with 85.6 points in the Richards Racing Toyota GT86, and three-time champion Fredric Aasbo placed third with 84.7 points in the Rockstar Energy Toyota GR Supra. Championship leader Conor Shanahan qualified 23rd in the Red Bull / GT Radial / JYR Toyota GT86, which paired him against five-time champion James Deane, who qualified 10th in the O’Reilly / Pennzoil Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD.
Deane defeated Shanahan in the Top 32, and with no competition points Shanahan fell from first to fifth in the standings. Deane went on to beat Adam LZ in the Top 16, Matt Field in the Great 8, and Aasbo in the Final 4 to reach the final.
Bakchis advanced by defeating Simen Olsen in the Top 32, Dan Burkett in the Top 16, Jack Shanahan in the Great 8, and Branden Sorensen in the Final 4, driving the Feal Suspension / GT Radial / Subimods Subaru BRZ he moved to this season from his Nissan S15. In the final, a mistake by Deane on the transition into Zone 3 gave Bakchis the gap he needed to take the win. Deane finished second, and Aasbo took third to move up to fourth in the standings. Bakchis said the team focused on second-half pace and tire preservation through the changing conditions.
Sorensen finished fourth in the Sorensen Motorsports / Quad Lock BMW and climbed to third overall. Forsberg placed fifth after losing to Sorensen in the Great 8 and sits eighth in the standings. Richards finished ninth, again the leading rookie, and holds ninth overall.
The Top 32 match between Jack Shanahan in the Pulsar Turbos E82 BMW and Derek Madison in the Team Infamous / Coilover Depot / Kenda Tire Nissan S14.9 required two repeated sets of runs before the judges reached a decision. It ended when Madison made contact with Shanahan in Zone 1, tearing off his bumper and throwing a drive belt, which brought the Nissan to a stop. Shanahan advanced and finished sixth on the night, rising to sixth overall. Ford continues to lead Toyota in the Auto Cup, and GT Radial leads the Tire Cup.
Special thanks to Enjuku Racing for sponsoring this coverage.
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