Four-time Formula Drift champion James Deane will pilot a specially built Ford Mustang RTR during the forthcoming 2025 Drift Masters European Championship (DMEC), thanks to a partnership between RTR Vehicles and James Deane Motorsports.
Deane’s special Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD will be engineered and maintained by RTR in the U.S., but the European program will receive parts and engineering support from RTR. Meanwhile, Deane and his team in Ireland will build and maintain the chassis. The partnership will ensure that the race car adheres to DMEC specs while providing Deane with a competitive edge, both stateside and overseas.
The Ford Mustang RTR will be kitted out with modifications that help it meet DMEC regulations. The series allows racers to utilize a softer compound tire than the Formula Drift series, which necessitates a special chassis setup. Deane is slated to run the entire DMEC season, but don’t worry – he’ll still fulfill his obligation to Formula Drift simultaneously.
“After the success of 2024, we met up the day after Irwindale, we’re buzzing, we’re feeling amazing. We said, ‘Come on, we need to make this happen. It’s now or never,” Deane said. Only a few days later, he and RTR’s Vaugh Gittin Jr. were laying out plans to make DMEC happen.
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“It’s going to be a satellite program,” Gittin said. “James and his team at JD130 Motorsports are going to be running the RTR satellite program. Obviously, James and his team are no slouches when it comes to knowing what to do to build competitive cars. They have all the support from RTR team – on this side of the pond, if you will – with respect to parts, engineering, the stuff that we do best, and then James is going to build a car very similar to the FD car, but make some changes that will offer a better performance for the rules.”
RTR certainly knows how to let it all hang out on the drifting course. The organization won the championship in 2023, following it up with a championship in 2024, both with Deane behind the wheel.
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