EVENT DETAILS
Date: Thursday, July 13, 2023
Location: World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, IL
Event: Formula DRIFT PRO Championship Round 5: Crossroads, and Link ECU PROSPEC Championship Round 3
RESULTS FROM FD PRO QUALIFYING
1. Kazuya Taguchi (Japan) – Upgarage / ISR Performance / GT Radial / Jerry Yang Racing Toyota 86
2. Nick Noback (USA) – Noback Racing Co E46 BMW by Jerry Yang Racing
3. Dean Kearney (Ireland) – HyperNFT Dodge Viper
RESULTS FROM FD PROSPEC QUALIFYING
1. Ben Hobson (USA) – Pedal Commander / Feal Suspension / Koruworks / Motegi Racing Nissan S14
2. Amanda Sorensen (USA) – United States Air Force / Sorensen Motorsports BMW M4
3. Derek Madison (USA) – Fuelab Fuel Systems / IG Motorsports Nissan S14
NOTES – PRO
- World Wide Technology Raceway and Formula DRIFT made numerous course changes, which included significantly widening the track surface at Outside Zone 3 and moving OZ4 to allow the course to flow better
- The K&N PRO Qualifying session saw three new names at the top for 2023, including Taguchi who won the St Louis Round last year. He scored 94 points and earned a bye run into the Top 16 competition heats
- Second place Noback scored 89 points and was similarly awarded a bye run because only 30 drivers will be competing on Saturday
- Third place Kearney narrowly missed second with his 88.6-point score, but it’s one of his best qualifying results and will give him tremendous confidence for the heats
- FD PRO Championship points leader Matt Field (USA) scored 78.6 points in the Borla Performance / GT Radial Corvette, placing him 21st. He’ll compete against Adam LZ (USA) in the Top 32 heats
- Chelsea DeNofa (USA) – currently second in the FD PRO title race – lost power in his Pennzoil / BC Racing Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD on his first qualifying run and, as in New Jersey, was demoted to the Knockout Qualifying Format (KQF). However, he salvaged 25th place and battles Joao Barion (Brazil) in the Top 32
- 31 drivers attempted to qualify for the Top 32 competition places, but a technical problem meant Diego Higa (Brazil) was unable to complete his second run. Therefore, 30 drivers qualified, handing Taguchi and Noback bye runs
NOTES – PROSPEC
- Hobson’s top qualifying position – he scored 88.6 points – completes a hattrick from the first three Rounds of the Link ECU PROSPEC Championship. However, he’s yet to score a win and sits second in the title chase. Perhaps St Louis will see him on the top step
- Meanwhile, Championship leader Rudy Hansen (USA) had to take a second qualifying run in KQF and could only qualify 25th
- Sorensen’s early 85.3-point run saw her lead the qualifying positions until the very end of the session but still secured second place. Not only is it her best qualifying result to date but it comes during a season where she’s also competing in the ExtremeE racing series and missed the opening PROSPEC Round
- Madison narrowly missed out on second with an 85-point run. Sitting 14th overall in the PROSPEC title race, he’ll be hoping to convert the performance in Championship points
- Winner of Round 2, Rookie Cole Richards (USA) was unable to complete his first and second qualifying runs in the Richards Racing / Koruworks Scion FRS. Consequently, the driver who sat third in the points table coming into St Louis went home early
- Rounding out a great qualifying session for the ladies, top Rookie qualifier was Zandara Kennedy (Canada) who put her ZeeDrives Nissan 240SX in ninth position with a 79.3-point run
- A packed field of 39 drivers battled for the 32 PROSPEC competition places. The bottom 15 qualifiers had to run a second time under KQF, with at least seven being excluded, provided they successfully completed one run
- The eliminated drivers included Justin Chesnutt (USA), Zach Farrar (USA), Margaritis Katsanidis (Greece), Alex Lichliter (USA), Erick Medici (Brazil), Cole Richards (USA), Cory Talaska (USA)
FD PRO ROUND 5 TOP 16 QUALIFYING
| POSITION | NAME | POINTS |
| 1 | Kazuya Taguchi | 3 |
| 2 | Nick Noback | 2 |
| 3 | Dean Kearney | 1 |
| 4 | Ryan Tuerck | |
| 5 | Aurimas Bakchis | |
| 6 | Jhonnattan Castro | |
| 7 | Fredric Aasbo | |
| 8 | Joao Barion | |
| 9 | Dylan Hughes | |
| 10 | James Deane | |
| 11 | Travis Reeder | |
| 12 | Adam LZ | |
| 13 | Kenshiro Gushi | |
| 14 | Simen Olsen | |
| 15 | Jonathan Hurst | |
| 16 | Chris Forsberg |
FD PROSPEC ROUND 3 TOP 16 QUALIFYING
| POSITION | NAME | POINTS |
| 1 | Ben Hobson | 3 |
| 2 | Amanda Sorensen | 2 |
| 3 | Derek Madison | 1 |
| 4 | Alex Jagger | |
| 5 | Joshua Love | |
| 6 | Adam Knapik | |
| 7 | Geoff Donati | |
| 8 | Austin Matta | |
| 9 | Zandara Kennedy | |
| 10 | Chris Leonard | |
| 11 | Andy Hateley | |
| 12 | Jack Davis | |
| 13 | Daniel Malvasio | |
| 14 | Blake Olsen | |
| 15 | Dustin Miles | |
| 16 | Trevor Root |
BRACKET FOR ROUND 5 PRO COMPETITION HEATS
BRACKET FOR ROUND 3 PROSPEC COMPETITION HEATS
