Bakchis Scores Second at Formula DRIFT New Jersey 2024

Following a challenging round in Orlando, the action went red hot for Team ENEOS at the fourth round of the Formula DRIFT PRO Championship series. Facing intense heat and humidity, Feal Race Team’s Odi Bakchis and Simen Olsen were ready to step away from a series of problems that followed them from Atlanta to Orlando, while Fredric Aasbo was keen to get back to his winning ways following an early departure in the Top 32. Faruk Kugay was also determined to push hard for the second round of the PROSPEC Championship.

PROSPEC

After his P12 finish at Road Atlanta, Faruk Kugay fired up his ENEOS-protected DEVSPEED / ENEOS Oil Nissan S14 for the Englishtown gauntlet. Faruk qualified P12 based on his previous round’s results, facing series rookie Luis Lanz in the Top 32. He fought hard through the heat, but was unable to advance, ending his weekend early. However, he still managed to make magic happen back at home: he flew immediately to California to attend Raceworz Sonoma with his ENEOS E-type!

“This sport is truly incredible!” said Faruk. “Working through heat related obstacles we were able to get our S14 setup where we wanted it. Unfortunately a couple small mistakes in our top 32 battle ended our competition early. Being resilient means acting. I flew home to help host 10,000 drag racing and drifting fans at Raceworz — what a wild weekend!”

PRO

After a premature departure during the Top 16 in Orlando, Simen Olsen struggled again in Englishtown, facing engine issues before the Top 32 even got under way. The team decided it was better to save the Feal Suspension Nissan S14.9’s motor for St Louis as a precaution. As a result, Olsen dropped from second to fourth in the overall points standings.

Fellow Norwegian Fredric Aasbo was amped to get back on track after Orlando, and as fate would have it, would face Diego Higa once again in the Top 32 for a highly anticipated rematch. He passed Higa with flying colors, but would match up against Round 3 winner Conor Shanahan for the hottest pairing of the event (pun intended). After two One More Time (OMT) calls, the pilot of the Rockstar Energy Toyota Racing GR Supra took the win, advancing to the Great 8 where he was eliminated by Adam LZ following another dramatic OMT battle.

“The fight against Conor was about going all in,” Aasbo said. “This is the reason why we drift, and I hope the fans enjoyed it. This is the most fun you can have with cars, and with all of those OMTs, it felt like running an entire season in a single dayI”

But it was Feal Suspension’s team leader who turned the heat up past maximum for Team ENEOS: having finished third in the first two rounds, he finally stepped up to the next spot on the podium, which was insanely remarkable following the fire that occurred in Atlanta and a catastrophic engine failure that occurred during practice in Orlando. Bakchis had the Feal Suspension / GT Radial Nissan S15 back into fighting shape, and he defeated Frederico Sceriffo, Ryan Tuerck, Ken Gushi and Adam LZ on his path to the Final.

The Final saw Bakchis line up against James Deane, one of the series most intimidating drivers. It was a fierce battle, but Deane took the win on a split decision from the judges, a choice that came down to the smallest mistakes made by Bakchis, who consistently performs at the highest level.

“When people say we’ve had ups and downs these past couple rounds, we really had our downs,” Bakchis explained. “My team kept pushing me to get it done, and here we are on the podium after all the hard work, it’s paying off. Thank you to ENEOS for helping us to get where we are, we’re going to continue pushing!”

Following Englishtown, Olsen is fourth in the overall standings with 238 points, Aasbo moved up to third with the narrowest of margins with 240 points, and Bakchis inched up to second with 280 points. Kugay dropped down to P22 in the overall PROSPEC standings with 42 points.

NEXT RACE

Team ENEOS heads to World Wide Technology Raceway for Round 5 of the Formula DRIFT PRO Championship and Round 3 of the PROSPEC Championship from July 18-20, 2024.