Faruk Kugay Finishes Round 1 as Formula Drift Returns to Competition
Privateer-run Team Faruk overcomes technical difficulties as the season kicks off.
September 5, 2020
St. Louis, MO
With the COVID-19 pandemic causing unpredictability in organizations’ abilities to conduct events, Formula Drift revised its original schedule two times before settling on one that maximized the chances of running all eight rounds this year. This season now consists of four weekends in a double header format. Round 1 was on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway and Round 2 will take place on Sunday.
Faruk built this year’s car by hand, a Nissan S14 with a Toyota 2JZ engine. It developed a misfire just as the team prepared to leave their home at Sonoma Raceway. As they drove to St. Louis, they had a bevy of parts arriving from around the country to tackle any problem. Faruk, along with his mechanics and engineers, ran through every possible scenario. It came down to a variety of faults in key systems, and the crew worked around the clock to successfully fix the car. Thinking out of the box, they confirmed its health by enlisting engineers from Link ECU and a local company where they were able to do a final dyno test.
As part of the scheduling changes qualifying rounds were eliminated, with drivers drawing numbers to indicate who they would battle in the following rounds. Going forth with all the confidence he needed in his repaired car, Faruk battled Toyota factory-backed Ryan Tuerck in Top 32 competition. Tuerck effectively prevented Faruk from entering Top 16 competition, while besting many others as well and ultimately he landed a 2nd place trophy.
Furthering his motto, “Work hard, drive harder,” Faruk jumped in with the team’s CIC Powerbox welder and helped their paddock neighbor, Alec Robbins. He had damaged his front bash bar and needed repair before Sunday’s battles and is currently in the lead for Rookie of the Year.
Faruk’s thrilled with his return to competition after a season off to compete on the Netflix show, Hyperdrive, and rebuild the team. With a nod to the car’s name, Razetil, he says, “We all love this new car. The speed of it is incredible and on pace but every new car comes with some teething. The boys and I are ready for Round 2 tomorrow with the lessons from Round 1 in the toolbox! Raze until!”
To view more photos of Team Faruk from this weekend, please visit:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QoETenZkVgV38xw-d_99mAQvjDxjD162?usp=sharing
About Team Faruk:
Team Faruk operates out of SGK Performance at Sonoma Raceway. In 2019 Faruk Kugay was featured in multiple episodes of Hyperdrive on Netflix. Faruk also manages Sonoma Drift, which brings together a local community of racing enthusiasts most weeks during the year. The Formula DRIFT season kicks off this weekend in St. Louis and will be streamed worldwide.