Formula Drift Celebrates First Female on Podium

Formula Drift made history at the 2024 New Jersey Round when 21 year-old Amanda Sorensen (USA) climbed onto the second step of the Link ECU PROSPEC Championship podium to receive her trophy. Her second place finish was the best ever by a female driver in Formula DRIFT’s 21-year history, according to officials. 

“Presenting a trophy to the first female driver to step onto the Formula DRIFT podium was a truly significant moment and one we wanted to recognize and celebrate,” said Ryan Sage, president of Formula DRIFT. “We welcome and foster diversity in both our drift family and the wider drift community.”

For the occasion, Formula DRIFT Media created a special video to explore the crucial and diverse roles women play within the sport. The Women in DRIFT video can be viewed below.

The video highlights the three women drivers in PROSPEC, including Amanda who joined the series in 2021. Sorensen currently sits seventh in the Championship standings driving the U.S. Air Force/Sorensen Motorsports BMW. With one PROSPEC Round remaining at Utah Motorsports Campus on August 29-31.

Kelsey Rowlings (USA) joined Formula DRIFT in 2015 and is one of the most experienced drivers in the Championship. Piloting the 303 Sta-bil Nissan S14.5 she finished ninth overall in 2020 and is currently 11th in the standings.

Rowlings has mentored many women in the series, providing valuable insight to newer drivers such as Zandara Kennedy (Canada) who joined in 2023 and drives the Zeedrives Nissan S14. Zee is already working hard to introduce more women to Formula DRIFT through a program of group track visits.

Behind the scenes, many drivers have female spotters while female mechanics such as Shelby Crackston at RTR Motorsports keep the cars in competition.

Laurette Nicoll has been the Formula DRIFT pit reporter for many years and is known by fans around the world for asking tough questions and getting the drivers’ perspective on what happened on the track.

Formula DRIFT also has its own experienced team of female staff who keep the entire operation running smoothly, from Casidi Tanaka-Fixmer, manager for registration and ticketing, to Joyce Leung on the event logistics side, and beyond.