The Week That Was: May 9, 2022
Image via Formula Drift
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:
Aasbo Earns First Win of 2022 Formula Drift Season at Road Atlanta
Already the winningest driver in Formula Drift history, Frederic Aasbo extended his record on Saturday with a victory in the second round of the year at Road Atlanta. After making it to the Top 4 in the season opener at Long Beach, the defending series champion took down fellow ex-FD title winner Chris Forsberg in a OMT final run when Forsberg made an error on the final run.
Matt Field would join Aasbo and Forsberg on the podium in third, his second podium finish in a row after placing second at Long Beach. Field posted the top qualifying run to take the podium spot by default over Odi Bakchis. It was the second event in a row where Field’s top-three result came without a climactic run; in Long Beach, he took contact from Aasbo that disqualified the Norwegian, but Field was unable to repair his Chevrolet Corvette enough to contest that final against Ryan Tuerck.
Hustead, McMullen, Terrana Top Legacy Stateline Shootout Action
Eric Hustead scored his second straight Unlimited Truck win to start the 2022 Legacy Racing Association season, and third straight in the series, with a win over two days of action in the Stateline Shootout in Primm. Both Friday and Saturday saw racers take on eight laps of a roughly nine-mile course, with one Joker Lap available on each day, and the fastest combined times across both days determining the winners.
Class 1 winner Jake Johnson was second overall, just over three minutes behind Hustead. In the deep Class 6100 field, Conner McMullen would come out on top of an intense battle with Chad Dohrman and Adam Householder. In the UTV Turbo division, Joe Terrana would score his second podium finish in as many weeks, backing up a second place result in the Best in the Desert Silver State 300 with a Legacy class victory in Primm.
Verstappen Wins Inaugural F1 Miami Grand Prix
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen continued his record of winning every race he’s finished in the 2022 Formula 1 season, taking another checkered flag at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix on Sunday. Scoring both the win and fastest lap for the maximum 26 points enabled the Dutch driver to cut his points deficit behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc from 27 to 19, as Leclerc and fellow Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz completed the podium.
Leclerc took the pole on Saturday and led early, but Verstappen would seize the lead on Lap 9 and hang on despite his title rival staying within DRS range late after a safety car for Lando Norris. The McLaren driver took contact with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly that necessitated the full safety car period for debris cleanup, while Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Haas’ Mick Schumacher had spectacular contact of their own that kept the latter from scoring his first career F1 points.