Round 4 Recap
After running the road course at World Wide Technology Raceway at Round 1, the reverse layout at Round 2 and the Formula DRIFT layout at Round 3, the remaining drivers of Gateway ProAm suited up one last time for the chance at a coveted FD PROSPEC license on the driver-voted reverse course layout.
Going into the finals, Ethan Hodges had a one-point lead over Gabriel Beaurivage, having both stood on the podium the day before in second and first place, respectively. Round 1 winner Jake Little sat 58 points back in third, while a 33-point spread separated the rest of the top ten.
Drivers and teams had spent the previous evening and night thrashing on their battle-worn chariots, and with 105+ degree heat indexes and only a small chance of cloud cover, everyone was in for a second scorching hot back-to-back competition. With the stakes high, there was no reason to continue to conserve equipment and drivers would have to leave it all on the line.
For Beaurivage, a strong contender for the championship, disaster struck early during practice. His car’s oil pump broke after just a couple laps, potentially leaving the Canadian on the sidelines for the rest of the competition. The day was saved for the team when Derek Madison, owner of Gateway ProAm and Formula DRIFT Pro driver, offered to let Beaurivage use his own Pro car for the day’s competition. The decision wasn’t without possible consequence - if the car got wrecked, it could affect Madison’s ability to perform at FD Seattle in less than two weeks, so the pressure was on not just to win, but to keep the car in one piece.
The Team Infamous/Coilover Depot Nissan S14 underwent a minor rebrand, tires and wheels were swapped to the ProAm regulation size, and Beaurivage was back in action, managing an 86-point qualifying run with just three laps in a completely different platform than he was used to.
Moe Aldhamen repeated his performance from the day before at Round 3 with a 92-point qualifying score earning him the top spot and another bye into Top 8. Hodges and Luis Lanz were tied at 91 while Joseph Lampe and Josh Robinson rounded out the top five qualifiers at 89 and 88. Hodges also earned a bye with his run.
With Aldhamen’s free pass into Top 8, Beaurivage drew Little in the first battle of Top 16, and the borrowed S14 soldiered on with its new pilot after a close pairing. In the next bout between Lampe and Nick Johnson, Johnson bowed out after the first half of the battles due to mechanical issues, granting Lampe and his Lexus SC an advancement to Top 8. Wrapping up the left side of the bracket, Dani Morand with his E36 BMW faced form PROSPEC driver Josh Robinson in the Texas Drift Academy 350Z. After a lengthy deliberation by the judges, it was declared the two would go One More Time, with Robinson ultimately moving on.
On the right side of the bracket, Hodges’ free pass meant Gerald Naler-Smith and Calvin Fredrick faced off to start the side, as Fredrick took the judges favor and advanced to the Great 8. A Bavarian battle transpired next, as Lanz’ E46 was pitted against the E36 of Wael Jabban. The current PROSPEC driver proved too much for Jabban, as the latter failed to keep pace on his chase run and ended up in the grass on his way out of the sweeper. This left Chris Sachanski and Tomas Palcuaskas to wrap up Top 16, with Palcuaskas ending up into the tire wall just after initiation, caving in his passenger side door and granting Sachanski the final spot in Top 8.
The battle between Aldhamen and Beaurivage in Top 8 led to a OMT decision from the judges, as it was observed Beaurivage had some mistakes in his chase run but Aldhamen missed a clipping point or two farther down the track in his. Ultimately, Beaurivage got the win after Aldhamen spun through the straight, only to realize when he got Madison’s car back to the pits that the blower had broken, taking the car from 1,000+ horsepower to 300 or so, effectively ending his day for the second time.
Meanwhile, Lampe and Robinson were set to do battle next, with Robinson being declared the victor in a close battle. Hodges and Fredrick were up next, with the Corvette falling behind the 350Z a bit through OZ1, then caught up through OZ2 and OZ3, and when order was reversed, it had appeared Fredrick had left Hodges behind going into the esses and was announced the winner, a decision that seemed to declare Beaurivage the series champion. However, Hodges protested his loss against Fredrick, stating that Fredrick had straightened behind him, and the ruling was overturned in Hodges’ favor after a very long deliberation, putting him back in the comp and in contention for the championship.
Judge and FD PROSPEC driver Coty Demster weighed in on the situation.
"The ruling was overturned from Calvin winning to a One More Time," Demster said, stating judges reviewed footage from an overhead drone, an FPV drone, and cell phone footage from the judging tower. "We could not see this right and clearly, and video proof did show Fredrick straightening. The rule was straightening for longer than it took to say 'One Formula Drift,' and in this case it was borderline. In a similar battle in Round 3 we decided it was not a zero but a heavy deduction, and both battles we went with a One More Time due to other mistakes from both drivers in each battle."
Wrapping up Top 8, Lanz and Sachanski were out to fill the last spot in Final Four. Sachanski was erroneously announced as the winner of that battle, then protested the call when it was determined Lanz was the rightful victor. After review, the judges maintained their ruling and Lanz advanced.
With a blown blower, Beaurivage limped the borrowed S14 to the line against Robinson, where it was determined he would break the beam and immediately shut it down and head to the pits, and Robinson would do the same but make his run. There was no way Robinson would not advance and so he did.
Opposite that battle, Hodges faced, and lost to, Lanz in their pairing. The battle was so close that Lanz was literally pushing Hodges driver side door in on his chase run, and Lanz was going to find himself in the finals against Robinson.
What should have been a battle for third between Beaurivage and Hodges defaulted to the latter due to mechanical issues, and Robinson and Lanz pulled to the line to determine the winner.
In much the same fashion as before, Lanz was absolutely glued to the door of a 350Z on his chase run, while pulling away from Robinson through the sweeper on his lead. The victory netted Lanz his second podium of the weekend, Hodges’ third, and Robinson's first.
“The whole series was a high,” Lanz said after spraying the champagne. “Just being able to be here is amazing, and it puts things into perspective of how much these drivers are trying to be here. And for somebody to appreciate it the way Gateway ProAm and Derek did, we don’t feel this anywhere else. This has been the best ProAm I’ve ever driven, and it’s awesome to see another driver putting on things like this.”
Lanz said despite having a PROSPEC license already through US Drift in 2023, he may have to petition back in for 2027 due to so far having not scored any points. A chassis change this year (C6 Corvette to E46) wasn't the "best thing to do," but Lanz said the shortened PROSPEC schedule over doesn't allow much R&D time, so ProAms have been a good fallback for training.
"There's no other venue for us to train in a competition setting, and demos and exhibitions don't really bring out zones and other drivers to really measure how you're doing," Lanz said. "Just driving four rounds of PROSPEC per year, you're not going to do good, and I need to practice and be able to better myself, so being able to drive other competitions like this is definitely something I have to do."
The only thing left to do after Lanz' victory celebration was to crown Ethan Hodges as the inaugural Gateway ProAm champion and award him his FD PROSPEC license, while Beaurivage and Lanz finished the season in second and third places, respectfully.
"You come in with this humble confidence of like, 'oh yeah, I can compete with these guys, I could win,' but you also have that 'oh I don't know if I'm the right guy for that,' but you know, winning this series just kind of proves to myself and my team that we are good and we deserve to be here," Hodges said. "I'm just proud of myself and my team."
As far as utilizing the license, Hodges said he has to figure out how work out the logistics of balancing family, work and drifting.
"I think we just have to figure out as a team and as a family like, there's lots of stuff going on," Hodges said. "We have to determine if something like PROSPEC make sense for next year, or maybe would want to do another ProAm next year to try and gain experience, then use our second years of PROSPEC eligibility to go in with a stronger crew and more experience. We're trying to figure out if it makes sense to do it."
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