The Streets of Long Beach delivered chaos, upsets, and a Shanahan brothers moment nobody saw coming
Long Beach has been doing this for 20 years. Every April, the concrete walls go up, the tire smoke rolls through the streets of downtown, and Formula Drift kicks off its season with the kind of drama that reminds you why this series still hits different. The 2026 season came loaded with change – new telemetry, new judging, new tracks, new broadcast partner, new cars, new liveries – and the track did what it always does. It sorted out who was actually ready.
Conor Takes the Win. And His Brother Takes Third.
Conor Shanahan claimed the Round 1 win in the Red Bull GT Radial JYR Toyota GT86, edging out Fredric Aasbo in the Final 2-1. The same Aasbo driving a Rockstar Energy Toyota GR Supra and carrying the weight of three championships on his resume. It was close. The judges deliberated. After careful consideration, Conor was awarded the win in what FD called a very close Final.
Then look up at the podium: Conor first, Fredric Aasbo second, and Jack Shanahan third. Two brothers from Ireland sandwiching one of the most decorated drivers in the sport. Jack had come in with a car his team built in 16 days, an E82 BMW under Pulsar Turbos backing, and he qualified second with an 88.46-point run that put him within half a point of James Deane. That alone is a story. Both brothers had finished first and third, respectively, in the 2025 European Drift Master Championship, and Jack had won the final round of the 2025 FD PRO Championship at this same venue. They didn’t come to Long Beach hoping to make noise. They came to win.
He Almost Didn’t Make the Final
The win almost didn’t happen. In the Top 32, Shanahan and Ken Gushi collided. Although Gushi was deemed at fault, Shanahan’s team was unable to complete repairs in time and faced elimination. The judges called “One More Time”, the runs were repeated, and Shanahan advanced. From there he didn’t look back. That’s the kind of sequence that defines a championship run, surviving the moment that should have ended your day and then going on to win the whole thing.
The Reigning Champion Exits Early
Few people would have bet against James Deane after qualifying first with 89 points in the O’Reilly/Pennzoil Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD. Fewer still would have predicted he’d be eliminated in the Top 16 by Diego Higa in the Higa Motorsport Toyota GT86. Five championships. Top qualifier. Out before the podium conversation even started.
That’s Long Beach. The walls don’t care about your title count.
Higa had returned to competition after a year away and looked strong all weekend before eventually falling to Conor Shanahan in the Top 8. His run through the bracket was one of the best stories of the weekend.
The Early Exits That Hurt
Matt Field came in off a second-place finish in 2025 and fell to Dylan Hughes in the Top 32. Adam LZ, who finished third in 2025, got knocked out by Ryan Litteral after making contact with two walls in their One More Time battle. Two of the pre-season favorites, both gone before most people had even settled into their spots on the course.
Dylan Hughes getting Field was a legitimate upset. Litteral beating LZ on a wall-contact call was messy but decisive.
The Rookie to Watch
Cole Richards took Top Rookie honors, finishing fourth overall. He drove the Richards Racing Toyota GT86 to the Final 4 before losing to Conor Shanahan, narrowly avoiding a major collision on his first run of that heat. Fourth place in your PRO debut, at Long Beach, against this field. That’s not luck. He’s a name to track all season.
Tuerck’s Farewell Tour Starts Here
There was another storyline running through the paddock before a single qualifying run happened. Ryan Tuerck announced that 2026 will be his final full season of Formula Drift competition, shifting his focus next year to 411 Works builds, YouTube content, touring events, and family. He made the announcement at Night School, a grassroots gathering at Race Service in LA, surrounded by Drift Alliance originals Chris Forsberg and Vaughn Gittin Jr. The setting was intentional.
Tuerck drives the Rain-X Toyota GR Corolla with Papadakis Racing for all eight rounds this season. Anyone who’s followed this sport knows what that means. Every round in 2026 is a goodbye lap, and Long Beach was the first one.
TJ Hunt’s Ferrari and the Meguiar’s Moment
The paddock had one more visual worth noting. Meguiar’s brought TJ Hunt’s Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO to the event in a celebratory livery marking the brand’s 125th anniversary. The car first turned heads in the Meguiar’s booth at SEMA 2025, and Long Beach was its first appearance in the FD paddock. It had nothing to do with competition results and everything to do with why people show up to these events beyond the bracket.
The Brands That Keep the Scene Running
The vendor area brought out the names that have been part of this culture for decades. HKS, Bride, Rays Wheels, Garrett, Vertex, Brian Crower, Koyo, GReddy, and Toyota all had a presence on the ground, a reminder that Formula Drift is as much about the industry behind the cars as the competition in front of the walls. Check the gallery below for a closer look at what they brought out.
The Crowd Had Company
The models working the event added to the energy in the paddock and vendor area, representing some of the brands on the ground throughout the weekend. More in the gallery.
Canon Joins the Series
Canon U.S.A. officially joined the Formula Drift paddock as the series’ new Official Imaging Partner through a two-year agreement beginning this season. For a series built as much on photography and content as it is on competition, that partnership makes sense. The imagery coming out of Long Beach every year is part of the product.
The Series Is Changing How It Judges Everything
The other story at Long Beach wasn’t on the track. FD introduced the Universal Drift Scoring Method – UDSM – from Race Data Labs, automating 80% of the qualifying score by objectively measuring a driver’s line and car angle. The judges handle the remaining 20%, covering driving style, transition snap, e-brake use, and degree of difficulty – the things that still require a human eye.
In tandem competition, UDSM took a supporting role, helping judges understand vehicle dynamics in situations involving collisions or other incidents that affected run outcomes. More data, faster decisions, less time standing around between runs. The fans felt that.
FD also locked in Racer Network as its exclusive broadcast partner, with Top 16 coverage and a new Grid Walk-style program available on the platform. The series is clearly pushing toward a wider audience without trying to sand off what makes it worth watching.
Hall of Fame: Yoshihara Gets His Due
The weekend also saw the unveiling of the Official Formula DRIFT Hall of Fame permanent monument, built with stacked authentic tire treads and topped with a replica of the FD carbon fiber trophy. The 2026 inductee was 2011 FD PRO Champion Daijiro Yoshihara, joining previous honorees Rhys Millen, Samuel Hubinette, Tanner Foust, and series photographer Larry Chen.
Yoshihara earned it. Anyone who watched him compete knows that.
A Tribute Before the Season Gets Going
FD President Ryan Sage also took a moment to recognize Alex Pfieffer and Long Beach’s own Jim Michaelien, both of whom passed away shortly before the event. Sage credited both men as key figures in building the sport to what it is today. That context matters. The series is 23 years deep now, and the people who made it aren’t all still around to see where it goes.
Round 1 Championship Standings
Conor Shanahan leads the 2026 championship with 50 points after Long Beach, followed by Fredric Aasbo with 40 and Jack Shanahan with 32. Toyota leads the Auto Cup standings, and Kenda leads the Tire Cup by a single point.
Seven rounds remain. The season runs through three new venues this year – Stafford Motor Speedway, Indianapolis Raceway Park, and Las Vegas Motor Speedway – and Round 2 lands at Road Atlanta in May. The Shanahans are sitting exactly where they want to be. Everyone else has something to prove.
Adam Hyatt is an internationally published Photographer & award winning Cinematographer based in Los Angeles, CA. He is also the owner of SNAK Media, a small production company that specializes in automotive, fashion, corporate, events, and short film projects.
