Conor Shanahan won Round 7 of the 2026 Formula DRIFT PRO Championship at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on September 26, beating Matt Field in the Final and taking over the championship lead with one round remaining. Shanahan arrived in Las Vegas five points behind James Deane and left with 212 points, a 47-point advantage over Deane, after the points leader retired from the Top 32 without completing a run when his Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD developed an engine problem. Deane said it was his first engine issue since joining the team. Jack Shanahan finished third in his E82 BMW, with Dan Stuke fourth, and Field’s second-place finish in the Corvette moved him to seventh in the standings.
Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis also went out in the Top 32 after an incident at the start of his heat with Shinji Minowa. Minowa tapped a cone leaving the line, which triggered a restart, but Bakchis was unable to see the restart lights and hit the rear of Minowa’s Toyota GT86 when he braked. Formula DRIFT gave both teams time for repairs, but the engine in Bakchis’ Subaru BRZ failed when he returned to the line, and while he remains fifth in the standings, he is out of title contention. Fredric Aasbo lost his Top 32 battle to Andy Hateley’s E46 BMW, a result Aasbo attributed to his own driving, and he stays sixth overall with no remaining path to a fourth championship. Top qualifier Branden Sorensen, who received a bye through the Top 32, lost his Top 8 heat to Field and placed fifth on the night, holding third in the standings 48 points behind Conor Shanahan.
The Final 4 paired the Shanahan brothers, with Conor advancing after Jack dropped two tires off course in Zone 4, leaving Jack third on the night and fourth in the championship at 162 points. Shanahan and Field had posted the highest proximity ratings of the night on the series’ Universal Drift Scoring Method telemetry, averaging two to three feet from their opponents, and the judges awarded the Final to Shanahan unanimously. Heading into the Final Round, Deane, Sorensen, and Jack Shanahan can only take the title by winning the round while Conor Shanahan scores no points, and a single heat win for Conor Shanahan would clinch the 2026 PRO Championship. Behind the top four, Bakchis sits fifth at 131 points, Aasbo sixth at 128, and Field seventh at 119.
Cole Richards placed tenth in his Toyota GT86 and sits 11th overall, extending his lead in the Rookie of the Year standings to 41 points over Cody Buchanan. The weekend also closed out the Link ECU PROSPEC Championship on Friday, where Dmitriy Brutskiy clinched his third PROSPEC title, the first three-time champion in the class, and Braden Lons won Final Round 4. Amanda Sorensen, sister to Branden and Camren, ran a drift demo with Flavor Flav in her Sorensen Motorsports BMW, and he joined the commentary team afterward. Ford leads the Auto Cup with 282 points to Toyota’s 245, and GT Radial leads the Tire Cup at 470 over Kenda at 290. The PRO Championship concludes with the Shoreline Showdown in Long Beach on October 23 to 24, where Conor Shanahan won the season opener in April, but at a different venue.
