Drone Racing League records & milestones
Fact-checked records, champions and historic firsts.
Fastest drone
Guinness World Record - fastest battery-powered RC quadcopter
Official average of two 100m runs; recognized by Guinness World Records as the fastest ground speed by a battery-powered RC quadcopter. · source
DRL RacerX (built by Ryan Gury)
163.5 mph (peak 179.6 mph) · 2017
Inaugural champion
First DRL World Champion
Won the inaugural 2016 season and became one of the world's first salaried professional drone pilots. · source
Jordan 'Jet' Temkin
$100,000 contract · 2016
Most titles
First pilot to win back-to-back DRL World Championships
Defended his crown at the 2017 Allianz World Championship to become the first repeat champion. · source
Jordan 'Jet' Temkin
2 titles (2016, 2017) · 2017
Second pilot to win back-to-back DRL World Championships
Won the World Championship in his first two seasons, becoming the second pilot ever to take back-to-back titles. · source
Headsup (Tennessee, USA)
2 titles · 2024
Champion
2018 DRL Allianz World Champion
Won the 2018 Allianz World Championship season, defeating two-time champion Jordan 'Jet' Temkin in the finals. · source
Paul 'Nurk' Nurkkala
1 title · 2018
2019 DRL World Champion as a rookie
First rookie in DRL history to win the title; clinched it at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. · source
Alex Vanover
1 title · 2019
2022-23 DRL Algorand World Champion
Won the 2022-23 Algorand World Championship season; rookie season title, finals aired April 2023. · source
MCKFPV (South Korea)
1 title · 2023
Founding
League founded
Founded in 2015 by Nicholas Horbaczewski; first competitive season ran in 2016. Ryan Gury designed and built the league's drones. · source
Nicholas Horbaczewski (CEO/founder); Ryan Gury (lead designer/director of product)
Est. 2015 · 2015
Broadcast first
First major broadcast distribution for a drone racing league
September 14, 2016 multi-year deals brought the 2016 season to ESPN (Americas), Sky (UK/Ireland) and 7Sports/ProSiebenSat.1 (DACH). · source
Drone Racing League
ESPN, Sky, ProSiebenSat.1 · 2016
Streaming first
First sport to stream an entire season in a metaverse world
DRL became the first sport/property to stream a complete season within a metaverse environment (announced April 2023). · source
Drone Racing League
Full season · 2023
Compiled & fact-checked by The Sports Rise. Spotted an error? Let us know.