The Week That Was: May 23, 2022
Image via Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment
Didn’t get to watch all of the action motorsports on two and four wheels that made it to TV this week? We’ve got you covered! Here’s a quick summary of everything that went down over the past few days:
Dixon Makes History in Indianapolis 500 Qualifying
For all of the NTT IndyCar Series championships he’s racked up over the years, it might be surprising to remember that Chip Ganassi Racing legend Scott Dixon has one won one Indianapolis 500. But he’ll have prime real estate to chase his second next Sunday, thanks to a run that will go down in the record books.
Dixon earned his fifth career Indy pole, and shattered a record held by the late Scott Brayton since 1996 in the process, by posting a blistering four-lap average speed of 234.046 mph. It was the second-fastest qualifying run in event history, following only Arie Luyendyk’s 236.986 from that same year, although Luyendyk’s run came on the second day of qualifying under the former two-weekend qualifying format and thus wasn’t eligible for the pole itself.
Joining Dixon on the fastest front row in race history will be his teammate and defending series champion Alex Palou in the middle, and fastest Saturday qualifier Rinus VeeKay on the outside. The fastest 12 drivers from Saturday, an eclectic list that included event rookie Jimmie Johnson, advanced to a second round of time trials on Sunday afternoon, and the fastest six of that group went one more time to set the first two rows.
With just 33 entries set for this year’s event, nobody went home, although the 33rd entry of Stefan Wilson didn’t actually make an attempt on Saturday thanks to an engine change. He’ll be in good company in the final three rows, though, with Indy GP winner Colton Herta, St. Petersburg winner Scott McLaughlin, and four-time and defending 500 winner Helio Castroneves on Row 9, and two-time race winner Juan Montoya on the outside of Row 10.
Hughes Scores First Formula Drift Victory in Orlando
Ten years ago, Dylan Hughes was attending Formula Drift events as a fan. A decade later, after working his way up from stints as a mechanic on top drift and rally teams and running in the PROSPEC class, he’s now a Formula Drift Pro winner. To do it, he’d have to take down his close friend, and the person whose cars he prepared for so many years, Chris Forsberg in the final round at Orlando Speed World.
Despite severe weather and lightning delays during the Top 8, the event was completed as scheduled. Fredric Aasbo would complete the podium and keep his points lead, while Matt Field would rank fourth and remain second in points. In PROSPEC, Andy Hateley finally scored his first career class win after competing in the series for more than a decade and a half.