The overseas growth of the American-founded Formula Drift series in recent years has been nothing less than impressive and while the series has expanded to include events in many different countries, many have been wondering when FD would expand to Japan, the birthplace of drifting. Well, the wait is over. This week Formula Drift officially announced its plans to start a three-year program of holding events in Japan beginning next year. FD will be teaming up with MSC for its Japan series, with two competition events planned for 2014 and a full championship series planned for 2015 and 2016.
Veteran MSC judges Manabu Orido and Nob Taniguchi should be judging the Formula Drift Japan events, and FD Japan will also feature a weekly television series. More details should be announced at Osaka Auto Messe in February. This builds upon Formula Drift’s previously announced plans to run link together its Asian and American series to form a global championship in 2015.
With the momentum and following that Formula Drift has around the world, it will be very exciting to see how things unfold when the series lands in Japan. We’ll of course be along for the ride at upcoming FD Asia events and also at the official FD Japan launch at Auto Messe in a couple of months.
Mike Garrett
Instagram: speedhunters_mike
mike@speedhunters.com