Join Jayce Habich and crew for a recap of the final round of the 2025 Formula Drift ProSpec Championship in Utah.

​Jayce shares about his battles in the seeding bracket, against Sam Maghmoumi and Christopher Leonard, all the way through to his final battle of the event facing Brian Wills.

While the 2025 season may be coming to an end, the team is already looking forward to next year!

NST - NonStopTuning
www.NonStopTuning.com

Wednesday - Arrival/Load In

The NonStopTuning S13 was on display at Formula Drift Seattle, so we had a 14-hour road trip to round 4 in Utah. We weren't able to leave until early Wednesday morning, which put us at the track at 8 pm. It was too late to drop tires off at Racetreads to get all our fresh GT Radials mounted, so we set up the pit instead. After rallying the troops and creating a plan, we headed back to the Airbnb to get some rest before our 7 am start time.

Thursday - Practice/Seeding
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We arrived at the track at 6:45 am and immediately started prepping the service truck for the pits. This round was another hot-pit event, and definitely the farthest from the main pits compared to the last three tracks. At 7:30 am, I attended the driver's meeting while the crew warmed up my car and made final preparations for the haul to the hot-pit for practice. After my meeting, with no Racetread personnel in sight and practice fast approaching, we decided to head out to the track with our one set of tires in case practice started before we could get new tires installed. Once on track, I took my spotter and media guy to the track walk to get a look and feel for the updated layout.

Last season, we had to drive over a rumble strip to the first outer zone, which was a little hard on equipment and was poorly visible. This season, they added an outer zone on the straightaway, with an inner clipping point on the inside corner of the track. Kind of similar to the 2025 Atlanta layout, except instead of transitioning up the hill in Atlanta, here you carry through the inner clip to an outer zone before transitioning to what was last year's outer 2. I had a feeling this change was coming due to the lack of competitive tandems in Prospec and Pro last year, so I practiced this layout on the simulator plenty before we got here. We spent the rest of the time picking other drivers' brains, especially the Pro 1 guys who have been here every year since they added Salt Lake to the circuit. After picking up some gems, we headed back to warm up the car for the first practice session.

The first practice session was average. I felt really good, but the car seemed to fight my inputs a little bit. We still didn't have any new tires yet, so I pulled the car in after 3 laps and let the crew know how it was feeling. A huge perk of the on-board GoPros is that we can pull video of the run as soon as I get back in line. This helps a ton in diagnosing any steering binds or problems that I don’t notice or mention right away. We talked through it, and they made some changes that made an immediate difference in practice session 2. Between our practice sessions is the Pro’s practice. I like to watch how some of them are running the track and see if I can pick up on anything they are doing. While I watched, they ran back to Racetreads to pick up all our new tires to get as many laps as possible before the seeding bracket started.

The second practice session was awesome. The car did what I asked it to do, and it felt decently fast compared to the competition. One of the major challenges for Salt Lake is the elevation. With the air much thinner than normal, everyone is down on power. Especially the turbo and supercharged engines because they rely heavily on the forced air for boost. With an all-motor nitrous setup like mine, the elevation doesn’t affect it as much, which helps close the horsepower gap. As the session went on, I was able to get really comfortable behind my NonStopTuning wheel. It felt as if I was back home on the sim running laps without a care in the world. This helped build my confidence before my seeding bracket battle with Sam Maghmoumi.

Sam is an experienced driver who can absolutely shred when the time comes. I knew I had to bring it to have a chance at taking home the victory and sealing my spot in the top 32. We had a little bit of a break to calm down and rehydrate because our battle was the last of Seeding 16. The team refueled and reloaded nitrous before sending me to the line to wait for battle.

Sam was seeded below me, so I got to lead first. I fired out of the box and shifted up the gears to fourth and sent it into the outer one. I was a tiny bit off the inner clip, but that was the only fault as the car screamed through the rest of the zones perfectly. 

We lined it back up for my chase run. I felt really good, but I also knew that Sam stuck it to my door really well, so I am going to have to really put on a show to get the win. The lights extinguished, and he got the jump on me going into the first zone. I was able to catch up by the first inner clip and ripped through the rest of the track, camped on his door. The judges awarded me the win after a little deliberation, and I came back to the pits for fresh tires.

In the top 8, we were matched up with our buddy Chris Leanard and his S550 Mustang. I led first and put on another banging lead run. The announcer during the run said I should be sponsored by Men’s Warehouse because of how the track fits my driving style. 

I was filled with excitement when I lined up to chase him, but that might have gotten the better of me. In the final transition, I surged on his door and got too excited, losing the wheel in the process and backing into the last zone. As frustrating as it was, I couldn't feel too bad as I made it into the top 32, and Chris is an awesome driver and a great person.

​We packed it up and headed back to the main pit to watch the Pro Seeding Bracket before calling it a day and shipping back to our Airbnb.

Friday - Competition Day
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It was a little later than usual, with us arriving around 8 am. I had another driver's meeting, and the crew got the car shined up and the truck packed for the long day on track. The weather was perfect, sun shining, a couple of clouds in the sky, paired with a nice breeze to keep cool and move the smoke. Today’s top 32 matchup was Brian Wills. Brian and I are longtime friends, ever since he came up to my home track, Evergreen Speedway, and won the licensing shootout. We also started competing in FD the same year. Our crew and their crew help each other whenever needed, and we have the utmost respect for their team and program. Brian and I never battled in FD, but we drive together on the simulator all the time, so he knows my style and I know his. This was going to be an all-out battle where the loser would simply be whoever made the first mistake.

Warm-up began at 9:45 am, and the NonStopTuning car felt as good as it ever has. Lap after lap, I was riding the edge of the track. I even got in the habit of riding the rumble strips into outer zone three for the smoothest line. I got six laps in before feeling good enough to shut it down and wait for my battle. We were the third battle of the day, so I knew as soon as the competition started, I needed to be lined up and ready. I used the ten minutes I had to go to the restroom and rehydrate while the crew prepped the car for battle.

Ranked lower than Wills, I was in the chase position first. I could barely contain my excitement as I pulled into the burnout box. Here I am on the biggest stage in drifting, and I get to put on a show with a good buddy in front of the fans. The lights went out, and Brian and I took off like we were being chased by a monster. We fired into the first zone together and through the first zone. I backed off to transition and shot through the smoke to where I thought he would be. He created a bit of a gap, and when I tried to transition through the smoke, I just got more smoke. Without sight, I still pushed to find his door, but found the edge of the track instead. Both rear wheels went into the dirt, and I slid off track. Nothing on the car was broken, so I drove back to the start line for my lead run. At such a deficit, the only thing you can do as the lead driver is put on an amazing lap and hope the chase messes up. Brian did exactly what he needed to do in the chase and camped on my door as I led him around the track. He took the win and bragging rights this time around.

After the top 32 concluded, we went back to the pits to stage our car at the NonStopTuning booth as well as do a meet and greet with fans. I talked to tons of people interested in the car and/or NST products. It was a great time. I couldn't stay for long because Autograph signing was starting soon, so I zipped over there to show my appreciation for all those who support us drifters. Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay for Saturday as this round falls at the same time as our local county fair. We park thousands of cars on our shop property during this time, and we left a skeleton crew back home while we went drifting. We had to head home late Friday night to get home before the busiest weekend of the fair.

Overall, I couldn't be prouder of my team and our performance this year. With a quarter of the size of the crew from last year, we were able to overcome more challenges than ever before without complaint. Round one started with destroying the car, and we bounced back. Round two, the car got beaten up again, and we bounced back. Our transmission blew on our tow rig, and we drove it through a tornado. None of this could break the crew’s attitude and willingness to come to every round ready to work.

​I also cannot thank Mike and the entire NonStopTuning team for all their help this season. There is nothing better than working with a company that will listen to a driver’s needs and deliver!

​We have some giant changes coming to my car this offseason, as well as some awesome new NST products to show off, so don’t go anywhere.

Stay Tuned!

​​WORDS: Jayce Habich
PHOTOS: @johnhongproductions, @nickelbag_media

NST - NonStopTuning
www.NonStopTuning.com