Last weekend, Formula DRIFT made its seventh stop of the eight-round 2026 championship season in Las Vegas. This city needs no introduction, but alongside its famous casinos and nightlife, Vegas also hosts a few key events in the automotive and car culture space.
The world’s largest automotive trade show, SEMA, takes place each year at the Las Vegas Convention Center, showcasing the latest products, trends, and innovations. Look forward to coverage from the show in a few weeks. Las Vegas also hosts two major NASCAR races, an NHRA race, and, of course, the annual F1 race along the Las Vegas Strip, among many other automotive events throughout the year.
Las Vegas lives and breathes car culture and racing. It’s the reason why Formula DRIFT needed to put the city back on its championship calendar after a 14-year hiatus. Back in 2012, I was still ‘borrowing’ my dad’s cameras without his knowledge to snap photos of cars at various meets around Los Angeles.
I was excited heading into the weekend, as I’m sure the drivers were too. Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) revamped its Bullring short-track oval ahead of Formula DRIFT’s arrival, laying fresh, smooth asphalt across the entire track. Previously, the drift layout was on the other side of LVMS, in a parking lot, so this is a major upgrade. Also, for size reference, the LVMS facility is about 1,600 acres. You can basically fit the country of Monaco into it twice, with room for Vatican City as well.
Side note: LVMS is right next to Nellis Air Force Base, which is where the U.S. Air Force hosts many training exercises. So aside from race car sounds, you have the sounds of jets taking off and landing daily. I thought this F-22 Raptor approaching the landing strip, with the track’s concession stand flags in the foreground, was an amusing sight.
Coming into the weekend, a few storylines were taking shape. Las Vegas local Branden Sorensen was keen to make an impression in front of his home crowd. Points leader and defending champion James Deane was looking to extend his lead, while Conor Shanahan, coming off a win in Seattle, aimed to close the gap to his fellow Irishman. Finally, Odi Bakchis was hoping for a problem-free weekend to get back into the championship chase.
Formula DRIFT runs a three-day format, starting Thursday and ending Saturday, with the first day usually the longest as both Pro and Pro-Spec (the equivalent to Rally2 or F2) competitors are on track for practice and qualifying. Twenty-hour Thursdays are the norm for our FD photo team, but it’s nothing seven coffees won’t fix… right?! In contrast, my Thursdays are usually a bit more quiet; I keep to myself and do my best to conserve energy for the busy days ahead.
Luckily, due to the layout of this new track, getting around the course and paddock was quite easy. In the Las Vegas heat, saving every single percentage of energy stacks up by the time 3:00am hits and you’re still sitting in front of the computer editing photos, and hoping your last brain cell continues to operate.
Being a new track (number three for Formula DRIFT this season), I knew there was little point in shooting the first practice session, as drivers would be getting accustomed to the layout. So for the first two hours, I spent my time just hovering around the staging area.
Heading into qualifying, livestream chat centered on Branden Sorensen, the local kid, and sure enough, he delivered. FD has two qualifying runs, with the highest score counting. Branden took first place on his opening qualifier – and remained there. I’m pretty sure this was the first time he’s ever qualified at the very top of the table.
After an eventful season-ending Friday for the Pro-Spec class, Saturday finally arrived. Game day.
The Top 32’s first major battle of note was between Odi Bakchis and Shinji Minowa. Odi had a clean lead run with Shinji tapping him on the last transition before the finish line. This allowed Odi to take a look at his car before his chase run. Returning to the start line, both drivers took off, with Shinji out front, but he knocked the cones, which called for an immediate restart. Unfortunately, Odi didn’t see the restart lights flashing and slammed into the back side of Shinji’s car, going all four wheels off the ground on impact. Because the contact happened after the call for a restart, both drivers were able to assess and repair any damage. Luckily, it was minimal. The pairing returned to the track, but no one could have predicted what happened next. While in the burnout box, warming up his tires, Odi blew his motor. It was a huge setback, as Odi was already trailing behind the top three drivers, and this effectively ended his 2026 championship chase.
Next, James Deane lined up with Rudy Hansen. Statistically, this is an easy win for James. No sweat. Or so he thought. James made a near-perfect lead run and was eager to back it up with a solid chase. Rudy, leading, clipped a cone, called for a restart, and straightened out. James didn’t see the restart lights right away, and kept drifting for a few seconds before slowing down. As he came to a stop, his Mustang’s engine shut off, so his spotter had to call a competition time-out – a one-off, five-minute break per event to fix the car.
Returning from the paddock, Rudy headed to the burnout box as usual, while James went straight to the line, his motor sounding as though it was running on one or two fewer cylinders than its full eight. As he pulled up to the start line, the car idled for about 30 seconds before falling silent. At this point, James removed his helmet and climbed out; he and his RTR Mustang were done for the weekend.
Although he had enough points to come away from the event with the championship lead intact, James knew the Shanahan brothers would not hold back in their efforts to close or completely wipe the gap.
Conor had quite the weekend himself; he qualified second and lined up against his old teammate Rome Chapentier for the Top 32. Rome wasn’t competing in his usual FD Pro BMW E36, but instead in his turbo M50-powered BMW 1 Series that Jack Shanahan ran last year in the Pro championship. While Rome currently uses this car in the Hot Pit Pro-Am championship, the 1 Series wasn’t fully set up for Formula DRIFT and, from my amateur drifting eyes, looked quite grippy on course.
In professional drifting, the Top 16 is the main event – everything before it is just the prologue. I always enjoy shooting FD’s opening ceremonies; drivers use this time to engage with a few hundred VIP fans on track, and the announcers introduce all the drivers who won their Top 32 match-ups as they prepare for the real battles to come.
We had a special guest at the event, with Public Enemy rapper Flavor Flav stopping by the track. “Yeah, boyeeeee!!” as Flavor Flav would say. Okay, back to the drifting…
As Branden Sorensen qualified first, he had a bye into the Top 16, where he lined up against rookie Cole Richards. Cole is relatively new to professional drifting, but he is insanely talented and already a Top 10 contender at any FD Pro event. Unfortunately for him, Branden proved to be the better driver on the day and took the win.
Conor, meanwhile, lined up against Adam LZ. While simple and very textbook, Adam’s car is easily one of my favorites to shoot. I love this photo of Adam and Conor flying past me, both left-foot braking and locking their front wheels in unison. That battle could have gone either way, but Conor ultimately took the win.
In the Great 8, I was eager to see the face-off between Branden and Matt Field. Matt had a wild weekend, and carrying the momentum from Seattle, he ultimately ended Branden’s chances of a podium finish in front of his home crowd. The pair hugged it out afterward.
One battle I was really looking forward to was between the Shanahan brothers. I knew it was going to be an epic one, and it did not disappoint. I don’t know what those Irishmen put in their water, but whatever it is, give me some.
As a photographer, I love it when FD drivers – especially the European ones who compete in Drift Masters – hop out of their cars after a battle and let their personalities shine. At this event, I was able to capture a little BTS moment as Conor and Jack relived their battle. These images of two brothers casually nerding out together over the superhuman tandem they had just pulled off are some of my favorites.
Conor eventually lined up in the final with Matt Field, who by his own standards, hasn’t had the best 2026 season. Usually a regular on the podium, he’s found himself further back in the championship standings this year. Whether it’s been driver error or a mechanical issue, Matt’s been steadily working through it, wrapping up the previous round in Seattle in 4th place and following that up with a 2nd-place finish in Las Vegas – two crucial results he needed.
First place confirmed it: Conor Shanahan is a loose and unstoppable cannon right now. There’s only one round of the 2026 Formula DRIFT Pro championship to go, and heading into the final round, Conor brings a 47-point lead over James Deane. According to my terrible math skills, all he needs to do is win his Top 32 battle in Long Beach, and the title is his.
But anything is possible. Just look at what happened to James and his Mustang… It’s not over until it’s over, and there are still four drivers who could win it all. I know the Jerry Yang Racing team behind Conor, the RTR team behind James, the Sorensen Motorsport team behind Branden, and Jack’s mini gang of friends will all be rolling up their sleeves every morning for the next three weeks to make sure their cars are ready to do battle at Formula DRIFT’s 2026 Shoreline Showdown.
