The 2024 iteration of the Drift Challenge at LS Fest East surpasses itself once again as having its largest field of entrants to date. Ultimately, 32 of the 50+ drivers in attendance will make the competition cut and that will narrow to the top sixteen for the main competition Saturday night.
For those not familiar, drifting is a judged sport and scores are awarded by three judges in as many categories – line, angle and style. Some drivers play it safe in qualifying to get enough points to make it into the competition and then let it all hang out, others are hell bent on nailing a 100-point run their first time out.
Back-to-back 2022-2023 champion Jonathan Nerren returns to defend his title among a field of highly competitive drivers, but due to a mechanical gremlin with his own Nissan S14, will be going to battle in the spare Nissan S14 of Formula DRIFT PROSPEC driver Connor O'Sullivan. The donor owner will himself be competing in the BMW E46 he recently took to second place in the 2024 PROSPEC championship, so depending on how qualifying goes, it's possible O'Sullivan may compete against his own car. Fellow PROSPEC driver and long-time LS Fest competitor Hooman Rahimi will be doing battle with his Nissan 370Z.
Formula DRIFT Pro driver Jonathan Hurst is coming into LS Fest piloting the Cadillac XLR that carried him to sixth place at Utah Motorsports Campus two weeks ago. Ironically, he missed LS Fest last year to be in Utah for FD. He will no doubt look to rise above the two third place LS Fest finishes he had in 2020 and 2021 when he was piloting an Infiniti G37. Adding to the list of FD Pro drivers is Derek Madison and his Nissan S14.
Some of the others looking to stop a three-peat include 2020 winner Dirk Stratton (and 2023 top qualifier) and his C6 Corvette, who made an uncharacteristic early exit last year in top sixteen. Stratton's 2021 performance landed him in second, so he's definitely not a stranger to the podium. Last year's second place finisher, Ethan Parnell, went out in dramatic fashion in the finals last year after a wall tap sent his Nissan S14 into the wall against Nerren, and he definitely has a score to settle for 2024.
Beyond the professional drivers are dozens of other skilled competitors, many of who are regulars at LS Fest with several who are experiencing the festival for the first time.
After the smoke settled on a 4+ hour qualifying session, 50+ drivers have been narrowed down to 32 for the first half of competition this afternoon.
Earning the top qualifying spot was Josh McGuire and his Nissan S15, scoring 90 out of a possible 100. McGuire finished third at the 2022 LS Fest East competition. Jonathan Nerren, champion of the last two years, qualified second in an S14 borrowed from fellow competitor Connor O'Sullivan, showing how quickly he was able to adapt to a new car. It is possible that both of O'Sullivans's cars could end up against each other in the finals. Grant Anderson nailed the third qualifying spot with his E36 BMW, while 2020 LS Fest drift challenge winner Dirk Stratton managed fourth with his C6.
Top 32 competition will start at 12:30 today, and the top sixteen from that will go on to duke it out in the main event tonight at 6:30, followed immediately by the burnout contest.
Thirty-two competitors at the 2024 LS Fest Drift Challenge have been narrowed down to the Top Sixteen for tonight's main event. In all but four instances, the higher qualifier advanced to the big show. Savio Silva, Jack Davis, Hooman Rahimi and Kevin Gorke all managed upsets in the first round of competition.
For the most part, it’s the usual suspects fighting for podium position. The top handful of qualifiers – Josh McGuire, Jonathan Nerren, Grant Anderson, Dirk Stratton, Johnathan Hurst and Ryan Acevedo – all advanced. Out of sixteen drivers, seven have competed in either Formula DRIFT Pro or PROSPEC. All top sixteen competitors are either driving a BMW, Chevrolet, or Nissan.
As speculated earlier, the opportunity for eighth place qualifier Connor O'Sullivan to face Jonathan Nerren in the finals has materialized. Nerren is borrowing O'Sullivan's spare Nissan S14 after his own car broke, so for the first time at LS Fest, one driver could have both of his cars in the finals.
O'Sullivan first competed in his Formula DRIFT PROSPEC BMW E46 at LS Fest three years ago. "If we can get both cars on the podium that would be awesome," he said. "There's nobody else who I'd let use my car (than Nerren). He's a great driver and I trust him with it. I actually drive my 240SX better than my E46, but that would be an awesome battle."
On the subject of that 240SX, Nerren said driving it is similar to driving his own Pro-Am car from ten years ago – a naturally aspirated LS making around 430 horsepower (down 500 from his own car, though he admits O'Sullivan's car is better set up than his was back in the day) "I had to learn a car very quickly, three laps essentially, and qualifying where we did, in second, I guess makes me look pretty good," Nerren said. "Luckily this is our sixth time here and we've cut some laps on this track."
One factor playing into the competition will be the changing of temperature from the blazing hot practice sessions yesterday to the much cooler track temperatures today going into tonight. A colder track grips the cars up, forcing drivers to adjust how aggressively they drive. When asked if he would be driving a borrowed car any less aggressively, Nerren said it's a thought he has to put in the back of his mind and not worry about.
"If I didn't feel comfortable, we'd either make changes or I wouldn't push the limits," Nerren said. "I'm not going to huck the thing into a turn at full speed and have questions. The car is set up great and it'll do what I want it to do every single time. I'm gunning for that top spot, trying to make it three years in a row. Nobody has ever won here three times in a row before, so we're out here trying to make a little history."
As the sun set over Saturday’s LS Festivities, fans absolutely packed the circle track stands and perimeter for the 2024 Drift Challenge main competition. There was a lot of smoke, a tire fire and a handful of cars finding out the concrete wall will win every time, but Formula Drift PROSPEC driver Connor O'Sullivan etched his name into Holley history as this year's champion.
Top 16 kicked off on the upper left side of the bracket with a battle of Nissan S-Chassis, as the red S15 of top qualifier Josh McGuire bested the green S14 of Savio Silva to advance to the Great Eight.
Next up was the first step on O'Sullivan's run to the top, taking his BMW E46 to a win over the Nissan S13 of Brian Hoplamazian.
From there it was over to the top right side of the bracket, where Derek Madison and his Nissan S14 upset number three qualifier Grant Anderson's BMW E36 to find his spot in the next round. Meanwhile, Hooman Rahimi and his Nissan 370Z fell to the Nissan 350Z of Ryan Acevedo to finish out the top half of the bracket.
Dropping down to the bottom left of the bracket would find Formula DRIFT PROSPEC driver Jack Davis catapult his BMW E36 to a victory over FD Pro driver and number five qualifier Jonathan Hurt's flame spitting, banging, and popping Cadillac XLR.
Ethan Parnell drove so hard in the next battle against 2020 Drift Challenge winner Dirk Stratton's C6 Corvette that the passenger rear tire on his Nissan S14 erupted into flames coming out of the last long sweeper, but ultimately last year's number two finisher was unable to put Stratton on the trailer early and the 'Vette advanced.
Wrapping up the right side of the bracket was Josh Wise and his Nissan S14 ending Kevin Gorke's night as the LS-swapped S14 knocked out the LS-born, and only, Corvette C7 in the drift competition. Concluding Top Sixteen was 2022-2023 champion Jonathan Nerren taking his – or rather, O’Sullivan’s – S14 to victory over the E36 of Tyler Berry.
With the Great Eight set, the carnage began to increase. As McGuire and O'Sullivan did battle, McGuire introduced his S15 to the wall at the end of the initial sweeper after straightening mid-drift, causing his car to exit the track on the back of a flatbed. The damage was too great to repair trackside, and O'Sullivan claimed his spot in the Final Four.
Madison and Acevedo managed to make it through their pairing unscathed, with Madison ultimately claiming victory to advance. In similar fashion, Stratton and Davis’s battle was also drama-free, as Stratton got the nod from the judges.
Nerren's hopes of being the first three-peat LS Fest Drift Challenge champion was cut short in his battle with Wise. On Nerren’s lead run, the car over-rotated in outer zone two, causing both S14s to spin as a result with a very minor impact between the two. With a small fire burning at the back of Nerren’s car, quickly extinguished by track workers, Nerren drove the car back to the start line to chase. Trying to out-drive a zero score on a run is nearly impossible unless the other driver chokes when they swap lead/chase positions, but that didn’t stop Nerren from trying. Unfortunately, Nerren got a bit too aggressive on initiation into outer zone one, throwing the car into the turn hard enough that the back of his car tapped the back of Wise’s, causing Nerren to spin again with, and guaranteeing Wise a spot in the Final Four.
O’Sullivan and Stratton moved to the start line to commence the semi-finals in what was guaranteed to be a blistering battle. The E46 was glued to the C6’s door throughout most of the course, widening just a bit at the end. Ultimately, Stratton swung too far out on the tight final turn, tapping the back, then the front, against the wall. Suspension damaged suffered by the contact was too much to fix before Stratton could assume the follow position, and O'Sullivan had his spot in the finals cemented.
Madison and Wise came to the line next to close out the semi-finals, with Wise starting in the lead position. About three-quarters of the way through outer zone one, Madison straightened out and was headed straight for the wall. He got on the brakes hard enough to avoid any catastrophic damage, but it was enough to not make it back to the line and Wise made a solo pass as a prelude to the finals.
As O'Sullivan's LS7-swapped E46 and Wise’s LS3-swapped 240SXcame to the line, it was anyone's battle to win. In their first battle with O'Sullivan leading, Wise straightened for a second in outer zone two trying to maintain proximity, putting him at a deficit with the judges going into his lead run, which ultimately wouldn’t be overcome. As the two drivers sat at the end of the track waiting for the judge's decision, they got out of their cars to hug and high-five before pulling in front of the crowd, along with Stratton who finished third, to find out who won.
O’Sullivan was declared the winner to the cheers and applause of the record crowd, earning his first win, and podium period, at LS Fest. “I had a rough weekend,” O’Sullivan said afterward. “We drove it straight into the wall and I wasn’t really feeling confident in practice. In my Top 32 battle I had a by-run and it kinda’ just clicked. It was a good event, and I can't wait to come back to the next Holley LS Fest. The team absolutely killed it, Andrew and Jake, those guys are the best, and I have my mom and dad out here and it was a good event.”
O’Sullivan said this won’t be his last time here. “I came here three years ago, missed out the last two years since we’ve been so busy, but I'll definitely be back next year,” he said.
