Kenda Tires revealed its expanded driver roster for the 2024 Formula Drift (FD) Pro season. Kenda made its team debut in the 2023 season with the launch of its new tire – the Vezda UHP Max. The Kenda Team consisted of four drivers across the eight-round season of competition. For 2024, Kenda is expanding its team on its Podium2Pavement tour to eight drivers. Those drivers include:
- Derek Madison – In his rookie season in FD Pro, having moved up from ProSpec;
- Ryan Litteral – An experienced FD Pro known for campaigning the RB engine;
- Jhonnattan Castro – Factory Toyota driver and 5X Dominican Republic Drift Champion;
- Alec Robbins – Campaigning his Nissan and returning to Team Kenda for second year;
- Taylor Hull – Returning to Team Kenda for Year two with his Corvette and signature hat;
- Jonathan Hurst – Campaigning a new build in 2024 with a Cadillac XLR chassis, albeit heavily modified;
- Nick Noback – The defending winner of the 2023 season finale at Irwindale with an all-new livery on his BMW E46 (soon to be revealed);
- Ken Gushi – A Factory Toyota driver and is returning with JDM tuning legend GReddy for the 2024 season.
“2023 was our debut year with the new tire,” Edward Koczan, motorsports program manager for Kenda Tires USA, said. “We were determined to use that season as a learning year though, while we supported our drivers and introduced the Vezda UHP MAX tire. In 2024, we’re ready to race with our largest lineup ever in Formula Drift.”
For this 2024 season, Kenda Tires said it will focus on enhanced fan engagement and activation, while also forging B2B partnerships at each round for selected Kenda Tire retail customers and distributor partners. Kenda will be announcing additional fan-facing activities and contests centered around Team Kenda at each event, and Team Kenda drivers will be also engaging with fans on the official Kenda Motorsports Instagram page with driver takeovers and other content planned.
