This young Formula Drift competitor is in the midst of her accelerating career ...Middle East

Ahead of a Formula Drift competition, Amanda Sorsensen prefers to be distracted.

She’s a bit of an overthinker, she admits, so she keeps herself occupied.

Until the helmet goes on, that is, and she pulls up to the line next to her competitor.

Women in Motorsports

Throughout the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, we’re highlighting women in the motorsports world, from drivers to media and more. This is the first installment of this year’s Women in Motorsports series.

You can find the first installment in last year’s series — and links to others — here.

Her eyes close. She envisions the track, sees the two laps she will do. She’s in control of these next few moments, Sorensen reminds herself. She knows what to do.

It’s all about that preparation, Sorensen said of the world of Formula Drift, where, at just 22 years old, she’s already finding success — both on the track and on social media.

Anticipating what the car in front will do. Knowing how to smoothly transition. Building that muscle memory to rely on when driving through the smoke, blinded.

Drifting, especially compared to other styles of racing like Formula 1 or endurance, is quick. So you have to make the moment yours, Sorensen said.

Sorensen last year became the first woman to podium in Formula Drift. And it was a milestone — both personally and for the sport — that she had envisioned.

The dance of drifting

Formula Drift is a unique motorsport that’s more about how a driver can maneuver the car sideways around some corners rather than who can cross the finish line first. It’s a sport growing in popularity, especially with a younger audience.

The 2025 season kicked off last weekend in Long Beach, the screeching tires and smoke getting the festivities started before the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach sends IndyCars speeding through downtown.

In Formula Drift, only two drivers compete on the track at the same time, seeded in a March Madness-style bracket. One leads, and the other chases; then, they switch.

They maneuver the car sideways through the track. For Long Beach, the course has three curves and is relatively straighter compared to, say, the near figure eight of the track in Englishtown, New Jersey. After the two runs (and maybe a third if there’s a tie), a panel of judges scores the drivers, advancing one until there is a champion.

It looks a lot like a dance, the two cars rhythmically gliding through the course in tandem.

But it’s not dancing — it’s drifting.

Sorensen started to compete in the sport at the age of 16, after growing up karting with her two younger brothers.

It’s as much a mental sport, Sorensen said, as it is physical.

“There’s no room for error,” Sorensen said in a recent interview in Long Beach, where she was supporting her brother, Branden Sorensen, in the PRO series. “It’s very strategic. You have to be perfect when it matters.”

Sorensen competes in Formula Drift’s PROSPEC series, basically the “minor leagues” for the PRO series. Her first race of the season will be in Atlanta from May 8 to 10.

Even still, Sorensen has “put herself on par with many of the athletes she competes against,” said Ryan Sage, the president of Formula Drift and one of its cofounders.

She’s “extremely special, not just because she’s a woman, but because she’s one of the top drivers in our PROSPEC series,” said Sage, comparing her to professional wrestler and Olympic medalist Ronda Rousey.

It started as a family hobby — both of Sorensen’s younger brothers also compete in drifting: Camren Sorensen in PROSPEC as well, and Branden Sorensen in the higher PRO series — and she quickly fell in love with the friendly competition she had with her brothers. She won her first karting championship at just 9 years old at the Las Vegas regional Rotax MicroMax Championship.

Sorensen loves a good challenge — and racing brings that in various forms. There’s the marketing aspect of it, the personal branding, the logistics of coordinating the travel of more than two dozen crew members.

She’s finding success in these other aspects of drifting as well. Sorensen recently joined Rockstar Energy in a partnership, and she boasts more than 3 million followers on social media. On Instagram alone, Sorensen has more than 1.8 million followers.

“That’s crazy,” Sorensen said of her influence on social media with a laugh. “I literally can stand in a room full of 10 people, and I am overwhelmed. That’s how I am as a person. I like my own personal space, I like being by myself.”

It’s forced her to remember to stay true to herself.

“Especially with my career, it’s accelerated so much through social media,” the Las Vegas resident said. “Sometimes the outside world can be so noisy, and you can be pulled in a million different directions.

“It was hard for me to learn what I personally wanted, instead of what everybody else wanted for me,” she added. “There was a point in time when I was able to realize what exactly I did want, and I found joy in doing all of those things.”

A sport of anticipation — and failure

A key to drift racing — something that sets the sport apart from other styles, like endurance racing — is the anticipation factor, Sorensen said.

“With drifting, you’re anticipating what’s happening with the car in front of you. You want to make sure when he’s transitioning, you’re transitioning a second earlier than him,” she said. “You want to make sure everything is precise and perfect.”

Sorensen has gotten so good at anticipation, she even called her podium finish.

It was her debut interview in 2019, Sorensen said, when she was asked about her goals.

“I’m going to be the first female to podium in Formula Drift,” she said.

Fast forward to June.

Englishtown, New Jersey, host to the second of only four rounds in the PROSPEC series.

Sorsensen drove.

Everything lined up so perfectly that day, she said. She was having so much fun driving her car that night, having so much fun with the competition, that she didn’t even realize she was in the final round.

She ended that competition in second place, the first female to podium in an American Formula Drift event.

But what was particularly special about that night was the reaction.

“Every PRO driver stayed during my PROSPEC podium night,” she said. “For me, it was crazy to look out into the crowd and see these drivers, like James Deane, Fredric Aasbo, Ryan Tuerck; they were all standing at my podium.

“Something that caught me off guard was how open-armed the community was,” Sorensen said. “Every single PRO driver, PROSPEC driver, has really taken me under their wing, and everybody here wants me to succeed.”

But to succeed, it’s not just the podiums Sorensen envisions — but also the failures.

“For me, specifically, hurry up and fail fast and then succeed, you know? But don’t just fail,” she said. “Fail and learn and grow and get on with that.”

There’s that development aspect to motorsports, true, with drifting. A driver could go out and compete and break a belt.

“OK, well, now we know that every three rounds we have to change the belt,” she said.

“There’s more to every single failure than just being mad or sad about it,” Sorensen said. “There’s the growth procedure of, how do we avoid this from happening again?”

Accepting, and also using, failures is her key advice to other women in motorsports.

“I think as women, we can always be very hard on ourselves,” Sorensen said. “And it’s not only hard on ourselves, but everybody else can be hard on you sometimes, too, when you’re not perfect.”

So what’s next for Sorensen? What is she anticipating for this year?

Well, after finishing the 2024 season ranked No. 12 out of 46 drivers with 168 points — 128 from champion Tommy Lemaire of Canada — she wants to keep growing.

“My next goal is to be consistent for this 2025 season and really push toward the championship,” Sorensen said. “I want to continue to grow as a driver and really just kind of perfect my skills and prepare myself for more growth.”

Related Articles

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( This young Formula Drift competitor is in the midst of her accelerating career )

Also on site :

• French leftists cry foul as Israel nixes visit
• Meeting with the Exporters and Investors Club 
• Senior leaders are feeling the burden of cuts to middle management