The 2019 Formula D season (officially titled Formula DRIFT Black Magic Pro Championship) was the sixteenth season of the Formula D series. The season began on April 6 at Long Beach and concluded on October 19 at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale after eight events.

James Deane won his third consecutive championship with the Worthouse Drifting team, and his teammate Piotr Więcek placed fourth in points. However, the team and both drivers would leave Formula Drift at the end of the season: it was announced in 2020 that Worthouse had withdrawn from the series and that both its drivers were pursuing other opportunities.[1] Deane would return to the series in 2023.

Driver Travis Reeder made Formula Drift history by becoming the first driver to compete with an electric vehicle. His team Napoleon Motorsports developed a fully electric Chevrolet Camaro dubbed the Chevrolet Camaro EL1. Reeder was unable to run it during the opening round at Long Beach since the event's fire safety teams had not been given training on electric vehicle fires.[2][3] He practiced with the car during the second round at Orlando but competed with his regular Nissan 240SX S13. The car made its first competitive appearance in the third round at Road Atlanta, and he campaigned it until the finale at Irwindale when minor issues forced him to revert to his S13.

Two drivers also made history during the season by scoring a perfect 100 on a qualifying run, something that had only been previously achieved by Tanner Foust at Sonoma Raceway in 2006. Justin Pawlak recorded a perfect score during the fourth round at Wall Speedway, and James Deane recorded a perfect score during the seventh round at Texas Motor Speedway.[4][5]

Two drivers made a one-off appearance at Long Beach: Mitch Larner, renting a Toyota 2JZ powered Nissan 240SX S14 from fellow competitor Forrest Wang, and Manuel Vacca, driving a BMW E46.[6]

Entries

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Team No. Car Tires Driver Round(s)
Asphalt Anarchy 82 Cadillac ATS-V Achilles Tires   Taylor Hull[7] All
Bakchis Motorsports 723 Nissan Silvia S14 Falken   Aurimas Bakchis[8] All
Bridges Racing 43 Dodge Viper ZB II Achilles Tires   Dean Kearney[9] All
Chris Forsberg Racing 64 Nissan 370Z Nexen   Chris Forsberg[10] All
Coffman Racing 959 Nissan 240SX S13 Achilles Tires   Matt Coffman[11] 1–6
Drift Cave Motorsports 46 Nissan 240SX Achilles Tires   Patrick Goodin[12] 1–7
777 Chevrolet Corvette C6 Falken   Matt Field[13] All
Enjuku Racing 352 Nissan Silvia S14 Achilles Tires   Kevin Lawrence[14] All
Essa Autosport 101 BMW M3 E46 Achilles Tires   Michael Essa[15] All
FFF Drifting Department 117 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano Nexen   Federico Sceriffo[16] All
Get Nuts Lab 11 Nissan 240SX S14 Achilles Tires   Mitch Larner[17]  R  1
808 Nissan Silvia S15 Achilles Tires   Forrest Wang[18] All
Greddy Racing/Ken Gushi motorsports 21 Toyota GT86 Achilles Tires   Ken Gushi[19] All
Hohnadell Racing 118 Nissan 240SX S14 Nexen   Alec Hohnadell[20] 1–3
HP Garage 19 BMW M3 E46 Achilles Tires   Manuel Vacca[21]  R  1
Huddy Racing 129 BMW M3 E46 Achilles Tires   Dylan Hughes[22]  R  1–7
Jeff Jones Racing 818 Nissan 370Z Nexen   Jeff Jones[23] All
Jhonnattan Castro 717 Subaru BRZ Nexen   Jhonnattan Castro[24] All
Kazuya Taguchi 123 Nissan GT-R
Nissan Silvia S15[a]
Achilles Tires   Kazuya Taguchi[25] All
KORUWORKS 909 Nissan 350Z Nexen   Ryan Litteral[26] All
Kyle Mohan Racing 99 Mazda RX-8 Nexen   Kyle Mohan[27] All
Meeks Drift 316 Cadillac ATS-V Nexen   Austin Meeks[28] All
Nando Drift Team 357 Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06 Achilles Tires   João Barion[29]  R  1–3, 6–8
Napoleon Motorsports 77 Nissan 240SX S13
Chevrolet Camaro EL1
Nitto   Travis Reeder[30]  R  All
Papadakis Racing 151 Toyota Corolla (E210) Nexen   Fredric Aasbø[31] All
Pawlak Racing 13 Ford Mustang Falken   Justin Pawlak[32] All
RAD Industries 34 Toyota Supra A80 Nexen   Dan Burkett[33] All
RTR Motorsports 25 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D Nitto   Vaughn Gittin, Jr.[34] All
88 Ford Mustang RTR Nitto   Chelsea DeNofa[35] All
Ryan Tuerck Racing 411 Toyota GT86 Nitto   Ryan Tuerck[36] All
SSG Motorsport 111 Nissan Silvia S14 Nexen   Sebastien Gauthier[37]  R  1–4, 6–8
Stratton Racing 33 Chevrolet Corvette C6 Achilles Tires   Dirk Stratton[38] All
Team DAI. 9 Subaru BRZ Falken   Daijiro Yoshihara[39] All
Team IMR 17 BMW M3 E46 Nitto   Alex Heilbrunn[40] 1–4
Worthouse Drift Team 130 Nissan Silvia S15 Falken   James Deane[41] All
215 Nissan Silvia S15 Falken   Piotr Więcek[42] All
R Eligible for Rookie of the Year

Schedule

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Round Title Circuit Location Date Winner Car
1 O'Reilly Auto Parts The Streets of Long Beach
Presented by Permatex
Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California April 6   Aurimas Bakchis Nissan Silvia S14
2 AutoZone Scorched
Presented by Black Magic
Orlando Speed World Orlando, Florida April 27   Aurimas Bakchis Nissan Silvia S14
3 O'Reilly Auto Parts Road to the Championship
Presented by Permatex
Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia May 11   Fredric Aasbø Toyota Corolla (E210)
4 The Advance Auto Parts Gauntlet
Presented by Black Magic
Wall Stadium Wall Township, New Jersey June 8   Ryan Tuerck Toyota GT86
5 Permatex Throwdown
Presented by AutoZone
Evergreen Speedway Monroe, Washington July 20   Piotr Więcek Nissan Silvia S15
6 Pep Boys Crossroads
Presented by Rain-X
World Wide Technology Raceway Madison, Illinois August 10   James Deane Nissan Silvia S15
7 Advance Auto Parts Showdown
Presented by Rain-X
Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, Texas September 14   Chelsea DeNofa Ford Mustang RTR
8 Auto Zone Title Fight
Presented by Rain-X
Toyota Speedway at Irwindale Irwindale, California October 19   Ken Gushi Toyota GT86
Sources:[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][5][50]

Championship standings

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Scoring system

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Points were awarded for qualifying and for the main event. During qualifying, drivers performed solo runs which were judged on parameters such as line, angle, fluidity and commitment and assigned a numerical score up to 100. These scores were then ranked to determine the qualifying classification and hence populate the brackets for the competition phase. Up to 6 points were then awarded for the top 32 qualifiers.

The qualifiers proceed through a series of competition heats, with those eliminated in the first round (Top 32) receiving 16 points, the second round (Sweet 16) receiving 32 points, the third round (Great 8) receiving 48 points, and the fourth round (Final Four) receiving 64 points and classifying 3rd and 4th. Of the two drivers eliminated in the Final Four, the driver who qualified highest is awarded third place and the final step on the podium. In the Final, the runner-up receives 80 points and the winner 100 points. Final classification within each round is then determined by highest qualifying position; for example, of the two drivers eliminated in the Final Four, the driver who qualified higher is awarded 3rd position and the final place on the podium.

Qualifying stage

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Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th–8th   9th–16th   17th–32nd 
Points 6 5 4 3 2 1

Competition stage

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Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th–8th   9th–16th   17th–32nd 
Points 100 80 64 64 48 32 16

Pro Championship standings

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Pos Driver LBH ORL ATL WNJ EVS WWT TEX IRW Pts
1   James Deane 62 1110 34 35 22 11 21 36 565
2   Fredric Aasbø 410 91 11 22 1418 22 411 1310 513
3   Aurimas Bakchis 15 15 55 116 1213 57 52 48 497
4   Piotr Więcek 73 63 66 67 11 34 63 67 482
5   Ryan Tuerck 177 1615 23 19 93 46 829 53 443
6   Chris Forsberg 38 27 78 128 411 105 35 104 439
7   Michael Essa 1212 1514 410 1412 78 825 108 212 385
8   Chelsea DeNofa 109 36 92 1310 106 93 17 91 384
9   Daijiro Yoshihara 94 52 107 93 34 1211 79 816 360
10   Vaughn Gittin, Jr. 1111 416 1624 411 1521 612 1813 713 350
11   Ken Gushi 1317 1312 179 714 55 1913 1110 12 343
12   Justin Pawlak 813 74 2118 51 67 1315 174 115 311
13   Forrest Wang 26 88 1112 104 2423 1110 1917 1411 305
14   Matt Field 51 1211 1317 820 1110 714 1516 1717 305
15   Kazuya Taguchi 2322 1919 1811 1618 2017 1520 96 129 204
16   Travis Reeder  RY  1519 1818 3131 3131 1624 2118 1212 1615 202
17   Dean Kearney 1418 1717 1214 2222 2525 189 1415 1919 187
18   Jhonnattan Castro 1915 2121 1522 2525 2119 1624 2018 1514 186
19   Ryan Litteral 1626 2525 2626 2121 179 2016 1314 1818 171
20   Patrick Goodin 2524 109 815 1713 1812 2523 3030 171
21   Jeff Jones 3232 2424 2016 1517 2322 2727 2928 2525 153
22   Dirk Stratton 2625 2626 1420 2424 2220 2422 2221 2222 152
23   Dylan Hughes  R  DNQ 2222 1913 1916 814 178 2726 139
24   Taylor Hull 2727 2727 2525 2727 2626 3131 2423 2323 136
25   Dan Burkett 2423 3131 2321 2323 2727 2321 2827 2626 136
26   Federico Sceriffo 2828 2929 2727 2929 2828 2219 2625 2828 136
27   Matt Coffman 2016 2323 2219 2019 1316 1417 136
28   Kevin Lawrence DNQ 3232 3232 3030 1915 3030 2524 2727 120
29   Kyle Mohan 3131 DNQ 2828 2828 3030 2929 2322 2020 119
30   Austin Meeks 3030 2828 DNQ 2626 2929 2828 3131 2424 119
31   João Barion  R  DNQ 3030 3030 2626 1620 2929 101
32   Alex Heilbrunn 1814 1413 2423 1815 87
33   Sebastien Gauthier  R  2929 DNQ 2929 DNQ 3232 2119 2121 85
34   Alec Hohnadell 2120 2020 DNQ 34
35   Mitch Larner  R  2221 17
NC   Manuel Vacca  R  DNQ 0
Sources:[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59]
In-line notation
Superscript number Qualifying position
Bold Top qualifier
 RY  Rookie of the Year
 R  Rookie

Auto Cup standings

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Auto Cup points are awarded each round to the two drivers with the highest classified finish for each manufacturer. To be eligible, both the chassis and engine must have been constructed by that manufacturer.

Pos Manufacturer LBH ORL ATL WNJ EVS WWT TEX IRW Pts
1   Toyota 410 91 11 19 55 22 411 12 1059
1317 1312 23 22 93 46 829 53
2   Ford 813 36 92 411 67 612 17 713 789
109 416 1624 51 106 93 174 91
3   Nissan 38 27 78 128 411 105 35 104 644
2322 1919 1811 1618 1915 1520 96 129
4   Chevrolet 51 1211 1317 820 1110 714 1516 1717 473
2625 2626 1420 2424 2220 2422 1620 2222
5   BMW 1212 1514 410 1412 78 825 108 212 385
6   Cadillac 2727 2727 2525 2626 2626 2828 2423 2323 255
3030 2828 DNQ 2727 2929 3131 3131 2424
7   Dodge 1418 1717 1214 2222 2525 189 1415 1919 187
8   Ferrari 2828 2929 2727 2929 2828 2219 2625 2828 136
9   Mazda 3131 DNQ 2828 2828 3030 2929 2322 2020 119

Tire Cup standings

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Tire Cup points are awarded each round to the two drivers with the highest classified finish for each tire manufacturer.

Pos Tire LBH ORL ATL WNJ EVS WWT TEX IRW Pts
1 Falken 15 15 34 35 11 11 21 36 1189
51 52 55 51 22 34 52 48
2 Nexen 38 27 11 22 411 22 35 104 952
410 91 78 128 1418 105 411 1310
3 Nitto 109 36 23 19 93 46 17 53 932
1111 416 92 411 106 612 829 713
4 Achilles Tires 26 88 410 714 55 825 96 12 845
1212 109 815 104 78 1110 108 212

Footnotes

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  1. ^ Taguchi competed in a Nissan GT-R at Long Beach but used a Nissan Silvia S15 for the remainder of the season.

References

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  1. ^ "WORTHOUSE DRIFT TEAM TO WITHDRAW FROM 2020 FORMULA DRIFT AND DRIVERS TO PART WAYS". worthouse.team. 24 August 2020. Archived from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  2. ^ Martin, Zach (29 April 2019). "The First Electric Drift Car: Napoleon Motorsports' Electric 2019 Camaro EL1". motortrend.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
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