EVENT DETAILS
Date: Saturday, April 9, 2022
Location: Streets of Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
Event: 2022 Formula DRIFT Super Drift Challenge, Day 2
COMPETITORS
- Trenton Beechum (USA) – Clonex Racing / Nexen Tire Ford Mustang
- Rome Charpentier (USA) – Garagistic / Federal Tires / imaginegarage E36 BMW
- Michael Essa (USA) – FCP Euro / Liqui Moly / GT Radial BMW M3
- Dean Kearney (Ireland) – Hyper NFT / Daily Driven Exotics (DDE) Dodge Viper
- Kyle Mohan (USA) – KMR / Mazdatrix Mazda MX-5
- Alec Robbins (USA) – Fasetto Nissan 350Z
- Branden Sorensen (USA) – US Air Force / Sorensen Motorsports BMW
- Forrest Wang (USA) – Get Nuts Laboratory / Yellow Speed Racing Nissan S15
RESULTS
- Forrest Wang (USA) – Get Nuts Laboratory / Yellow Speed Racing Nissan S15
- Branden Sorensen (USA) – US Air Force / Sorensen Motorsports BMW
- Rome Charpentier (USA) – Garagistic / Federal Tires / imaginegarage E36 BMW
COMPETITION NOTES
- Driver match-ups for tandem competition runs were decided by a random draw in the absence of traditional FD qualifying runs
- Wang scored a double victory this weekend, taking both 2022 Super Drift wins. It echoes his 2019 double-header and is all the more remarkable since Wang has been out of regular Formula DRIFT competition since the 2019 season
- Sorensen’s second place is equally remarkable since the 17 year-old suffered technical issues with his competition car yesterday but came back strong on day 2
- Fortune shone on Sorensen this evening when his competitor for the first heat, local Long Beach driver Mohan, failed to make the start, giving Sorensen a bye run into the Top 4 heat
- Charpentier finished third in both 2022 Super Drift events. On Day 2 he ran against 2013 Formula DRIFT Champion Essa in their Top 8 heat. With both drivers running hard in their BMWs, Essa hit the wall in his chase run, leaving him with major repairs before the Formula DRIFT PRO Championship Round 2 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta
SUPER DRIFT
- Super Drift Challenge is an invitational event. Competitors are drawn from the Formula DRIFT series but do not score points towards the PRO or PROSPEC Championships
- Formula DRIFT has a long history with the Grand Prix of Long Beach, dating back to 2005 when their series was invited to conduct an annual full course drift demo for GP fans
- In 2012, Super Drift was introduced on a more traditional Formula DRIFT competition elimination format but drivers don’t score championship points
- In 2006, Formula DRIFT worked with Grand Prix of Long Beach to establish its own stand-alone Championship round on Turns 9 through 11, taking place the weekend before the Grand Prix. Streets of Long Beach has since become a mainstay of the annual eight-round Formula DRIFT calendar
- Drifting is judges on a driver’s line through the course, angle in the turns, and style throughout the run. The chase car’s proximity to the lead car is also a crucial factor