FORMULA DRIFT – FARUK KUGAY

ENEOS is delighted to welcome Faruk Kugay to its Motorsports family for the remainder of the 2020 season. Faruk originally set his sights on the Formula DRIFT series in 2012, dedicating himself to competing professionally. He achieved this goal in 2014 when he earned his FD PRO2 license through the local NorCal Pro-Am series. Faruk then stepped up to the PRO license in 2015, competing in a 2JZ-GTE-powered 2008 BMW E92. He would continue in the series through 2018, taking a sabbatical in 2019 to compete in the Netflix Hyperdrive show and to rebuild his team.

For 2020, a rejuvenated Team Kugay returns to the Formula DRIFT PRO category, participating in the revised COVID-19 schedule, which will see two championship rounds in each of the four competition weekends. Faruk will be driving the SGK Performance / Nuke / ENEOS Oil / Nexen Tire Nissan S14.

Among his FD career highlights to date, Faruk placed second overall in the 2014 Formula DRIFT Pro-Am Golden Gate Drift event, sixth in the 2015 Formula DRIFT PRO2 class, and was runner-up for Rookie of the Year in the 2016 Formula Drift PRO series (placing 24th overall).

Faruk was born in the small town of Swidnik, Poland to a Polish mother and Laz father (a Turkish ethnic minority.) Emigrating to San Francisco at a young age, his father taught him the value of regular car maintenance – but once he started drifting in 2002, Faruk became hooked and discovered his life’s passion, and committed to it, body and soul.

In order to support his driving career, Faruk has worked in every area of drifting – from event organization and media production, to instructing, commentating, and judging in the US and Europe. He’s fluent in Turkish thanks to his father, which helped tremendously running a drift school while living in Istanbul. He also speaks some Polish, and Faruk is exceedingly grateful for his worldwide fan base.

In 2019, he was featured in multiple episodes of the Netflix show, Hyperdrive – and all the stories they recount on the show are true!

Aside from driving, Faruk is involved with the drifting community as the manager of Sonoma Drift at Sonoma Raceway, where enthusiasts can drive on three courses on many Wednesday nights throughout the year. They can also participate in Winter Jam, which attracts around 360 drivers and 4000 spectators.

For his day job, Faruk is a partner in SGK Performance, with its workshop also located at the Sonoma track offering servicing and tuning to all makes of cars.

Faruk couldn’t be more pumped to return to Formula DRIFT PRO Championship in 2020. His weapon is the team’s SGK Performance / Nuke / ENEOS Oil / Nexen Tire 1997 Nissan S14 named Razetil. Its 950hp 2JZ-GTE engine has a signature sound that’s as thrilling to hear as Faruk’s electrifying drifting style is to watch.

As Faruk’s motto goes: “Work hard, drive harder!”