Drifting
Who is double Drift Masters champion, Conor Shanahan?
With drama and jubilation Conor Shanahan won the 2025 Red Bull Drift Masters Grand Finale to seal the championship in spectacular style at the PGE Narodowy in Warsaw, Poland.
Irish drift racing sensation Conor Shanahan arrived in PGE Narodowy, Poland’s national stadium, leading the championship ahead of his arch-rival Piotr Wiecek. The Pole had already torn up the Drift Masters 2025 script by besting Shanahan at his home round in Mondello Park and he arrived at the final roared on by 53,000 home fans.
If you want to watch events unfold for yourself, now's your chance:
Drift Masters Top 16 – Poland livestream
Watch the Top 16 drifters in action in Poland at the grand finale of the Drift Masters 2025 season.
At the world’s biggest drift event, disaster struck for Shanahan in qualifying as a broken rear axle sent him out. Meanwhile Wiecek secured enough points to go into the final round level on 390 points. Everything was in place for a battle royale.
But in his opening round, Wiecek was left stricken by a mechanical failure when the power suddenly cut out on Pole’s Toyota Supra GR. The clock ticked down on Wiecek’s Drift Masters title hopes, handing the crown to Shanahan. The magnanimous Irishman was the first to console Wiecek with a hug. “I really wanted a battle with Piotr tonight. So huge respect to him and all the Workhouse team,” said an emotional Shanahan.
Shanahan hit the track and proceeded to knock out wildcard Matt Field and Espen Rohde with a masterclass of precision drift racing skills. “I came here to get the job done. I’m glad that I did and now tonight's a bit of fun for me,” grinned Conor.
Taddy Blazusiak, Adam Malysz, David Coulthard and Carlos Sainz at the final
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Putting the 'grand' in finale, the event also featured a celebrity race starring a selection of champions from across the world of motor sports, including Michal Kosciuszko, Taddy Blazusiak, Adam Malysz, Timmy Hansen, Johan Kristoffersson, David Coulthard, Carlos Sainz and Mattias Ekström.
With the pressure off, Shanahan was quickly through to the Top 4 to face off against James Deane – the three-time Drift Masters champion and the newly crowned five-time Formula Drift champion. It was a committed display from both drivers, but Deane couldn’t find an edge over Shanahan, even pushing the nose of his Ford Mustang into the side of Shanahan’s Toyota GT86. The result also sealed third place in the championship for Conor's big brother, Jack Shanahan, and set up a final with Pawel Korpulinski.
Conor Shanahan defeats Pawel Korpulinski in Red Bull Drift Masters final
© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
Conor Shanahan consoles his rival Piotr Więcek
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
53,000 fans filled Warsaw stadium for Red Bull Drift Masters Grand Finale
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Conor Shanahan celebrates his victory in Warsaw
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
The final went the full distance with nothing to separate the two drivers in the last run, leading to a One More Time round – winner-takes-all showdown between the champion and the home favourite. The normally faultless Korpulinski made a mistake and Conor 'The Shadow' Shanahan took the title." Absolutely unbelievable, I can't thank everybody enough for the support," said Shanahan on the podium. "Everybody who has made this possible, my team, partners and everyone who has believed in me. Red Bull for letting me live this dream for a long time now. Two-time Drift Masters champion and a very, very happy boy tonight."
Jack Shanahan, Conor Shanahan, Duane McKeever and James Deane
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
In a double celebration, Ireland won the Nations championship. The country is a powerhouse of drifting talent. brought together by the global success of James Deane. Conor Shanahan is leading the way: the greatest of a new generation of supremely talented Irish drift racers including drivers like Jack Shanahan, Conor Falvey and Duane McKeever. “Ireland is a massive part of drifting at grassroots and at the top level, and it can only get bigger,” he says.
Winding back the clock, how did Shanahan come to have the drifting world at his feet?
01
"Muscle memory from driving cars all my life'
Like his fellow motorsports champions Max Verstappen and Kalle Rovanperä, Shanahan comes from a motor racing family who started him young. His dad John Shanahan was a successful rally driver, mum Valerie Shanahan is the only Irish woman to win a national championship and big brother Jack Shanahan won back-to-back British drifting championships and is also a star of Drift Masters.
“I always had an interest in motorsport,” says Shanahan. "I grew up at a race track. I started racing at six or seven in karts, same as many kids in Ireland and all over the world, with the dream of thinking one day I was going to drive a F1 car."
Family photo: Jack Shanahan poses for a pic with brother Conor
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
With a young driver from the neighbouring village in County Cork lighting up the drifting world – a certain James Deane – Jack Shanahan took up drifting and soon started enjoying serious success. Conor was quick to follow his lead. “My brother is a massively successful driver. He definitely taught me a lot. I think it’s fair to say that I learned from his mistakes, rather than my own.”
Shanahan adds: "People often ask me, 'how did you do that?' and I'm like, 'I don't have a clue!' It's muscle memory from driving cars all my life, learning everything I know. And I hope to keep learning until the day it all ends. I don't want to stop learning because that is the day you will stop being successful."
I never really looked at it as a job or a reason why I needed to win. I did it because it was fun
02
Bright young talent in the spotlight
Shanahan started driving full time from age 12 and when he was 13, he appeared in The Grand Tour demonstrating his drift racing skills to former Top Gear star Richard Hammond – and swiftly upstaging the entire field with a precocious display of skill.
Today Shanahan says he thinks being so young was a big advantage. “I never really looked at it as a job or a reason why I needed to win. I did it because it was fun, and my mum and dad were incredibly supportive and I was very lucky."
Shanahan began competing professionally and became the youngest driver ever to win British and Irish drifting events. In 2018, he made his debut in the Drift Masters championship and sensationally beat his famed compatriot James Deane in front of the crowds in Warsaw. It was the opening round of Drift Masters European Championship and it was his 15th birthday that weekend. The world was watching.
A young Conor Shanahan at Mondello Park in 2019
© Paddy McGrath/Red Bull Content Pool
Conor Shanahan on the verge on his second Drift Masters title in 2025
© Mihai Stetcu/Red Bull Content Pool
03
Why is Conor Shanahan such a gifted drift driver?
Shanahan loves his work and he uses his car as an extension of his personality. "The sport is incredibly competitive and exciting to watch. For a driver, it's quite hard to push to the limits and understand it. An easy way to explain it for me is that it's different to racing a car. It's like getting on a BMX and being able to explain your personality through tricks. Drifting is the same. You can explain who you are as a person through your driving.”
It’s also important to be versatile as drifting demands an array of driving skills. “Sport was a massive part of my life before I got into drifting. I still quite play a lot of it but not during the season in case I get injured. I love football and hurling, and motorsports circuit racing is a massive interest for me. Rallying would be one of my favourites and something I definitely want to do in the future.”
He continues: “If you can drive a drift car competitively, you could get into any other car and do other motor sports and be competitive. I think it would be a lot harder for another motorsport person to come to a drift car. You need a strange technique. It’s completely opposite what you do in any other motorsport.”
Conor Shanahan speaks to Drift Masters pitlane reporter Becky Evans
© Sebastian Marko/Red Bull Content Pool
04
Learning the hard way
And then some adversity. "I won a lot at a young age – I was very rarely not on a podium at pro-am level or even pro level – and then I had one bad year in 2019," he says. Shanahan’s 2019 campaign didn’t go to plan – he began the season with a new Nissan S15 but he and the team struggled to find the perfect set-up. At round three, the exhaust fell off, eliminating Shanahan from the competition. Worse still, the car broke down in Mondello Park, dropping him out of the action in front of his home crowd.
Once again turning a weakness into a strength, Shanahan regards 2019 as the season that taught him the most as a driver and pro athlete. "I went to Europe and I built a new car, and I always say it's probably the best year I ever had because losing is so important." He adds: "It's important to realise that you can't always win… [but you must] believe in yourself. I'm a competitive person, I don't like losing, no matter what I am doing."
Drift Masters champion Conor Shanahan is smoking hot right now
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
05
Picking things up
But at the end of the season, Conor’s persistence paid off and he became to find some joy. “The 2019 season for me was a very difficult one and throughout it we were building a new car and we ran into a lot of problems with it.
“But we got to the stage where the car was working OK, we went home, stripped it all down and now it's basically a brand-new car. It has a brand-new engine, new gearbox and an awesome livery with the Red Bull branding.”
Conor Shanahan wins the 2023 Drift Masters championship
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
06
Staying sharp during off season
Shanahan constantly fine tunes his skills off track in the simulator. “I’ve been virtual drifting for something like six years" he says. "For my first event I learned the track and based the car set-up on what I learned from the sim, so it’s a great background to have and I think if you can use a simulator you can drive the car – sometimes the sim is harder to master than the actual car.
“For me, the sim is a massive part of my career and always has been. Fanatec and Digital Motorsport came on board to hook me up with a pro-level racing sim, and I've been competing virtually before this year and the general rise in people racing on sims. We have the VDC, the virtual drift championship, and I finished second so we were quite happy with that – there are a lot of good drivers competing.”
Away from drifting, Shanahan also spends time in the workshop and uses his KTM to explore the hills around the River Blackwater near the family home outside Cork.
07
Becoming a two-time Drift Masters champion!
Shanahan was soon back and pushing for the front: In 2021 he finished runner up in the European title race behind Piotr Wiecek. The Pole was top again in 2022 with Shanahan third behind his brother Jack. In 2023, Shanahan got his breakthrough, steering his Toyota GT86 to wins in Latvia and Finland before a season-ending showdown at the finale in Warsaw.
At the last round of the season, Shanahan was up against five other title contenders: defending champ Piotr Wiecek, Lauri Heinonen, Juha Rintanen, Duane McKeever and, of course, older brother Jack.
Lauri Heinonen and Conor Shanahan in the 2023 Drift Masters final
© Sebastian Marko/Red Bull Content Pool
Shanahan wrapped up the title by beating Wiecek in the Top 4 stage race. With his nerves settled, he produced an epic display to win the final against his closest championship contender and second-place finisher, Lauri Heinonen. One of the first people to congratulate Shanahan on his title was WRC champion Kalle Rovanperä.
In 2024, Shanahan split his time between Drift Masters and competing in a Red Bull BMW E36 in Formula Drift in the US. As a rookie, he claimed his first win in the championship against James Deane (who else?) in Orlando, Florida. “It was the perfect weekend for me,” Shanahan said. “The event was incredible. The level of driving meant I had to work my ass off to reach first place. Branden Sorensen in the Top 4 battle was on a mission and I really had to find something special to beat him. I can’t thank everybody enough.”
In 2025, the Drift Masters championship swung back and forth between Shanahan and Wiecek, with both drivers taking two event wins on their way to the finale in Poland. But in the end, Shanahan had the momentum to seal the title in spectacular style.