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2022 Formula Drift Prospec Champion Is a Series Rookie, Drives a V8 BMW

The 2022 Formula Drift Prospec season is a wrap! Friday was the second event day for FD in Grantsville, Utah, and also the last one for the Prospec drivers this year. It was a relatively short run, with just four events on the calendar. But it was an exciting season for sure, with four different race winners. Now, some of them will get the chance to move on to the Pro series starting in 2023.
2022 Formula Drift Prospec Champion Is a Series Rookie, Drives a V8 BMW 14 photos
Photo: Larry Chen/ Formula Drift
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For the first time in Formula Drift history, the series is organizing a race at Utah Motorsports Campus in Grantsville, Utah. We've already seen drivers qualifying on Thursday, and going through the Prospec battles yesterday.

And the layout looks quite promising with nice transitions and a lot of speed being carried through the corners. Kasey Kohl was the top qualifier in his Nissan S14.9, while series veteran Andy Hateley came in second with his BMW E46. Third place went to Alex Jagger in the Forsberg Racing Nissan 370Z.

All three drivers received additional points to help them in their quest for a good result at the end of the season. But everyone knew that Friday was going to be crucial for determining the 2022 Prospec champion.

From a mathematical standpoint, there were 14 drivers still in the race. That list started with Robert Thorne and ended with Blake Olsen, so it was going to be hard to predict who would secure the title at the end of it all. Looking back at the past three events, each one provided a different outcome.

2022 Formula Drift Prospec Champion Is a Series Rookie, Drives a V8 BMW
Photo: Larry Chen/ Formula Drift
Andy Hateley won Round 1 in Orlando, Dmitriy Brutskiy took the honors at Round 2 in Englishtown, while Evan Bogovich climbed on top of the podium in Saint Louis. The reigning champion, Brutskiy is the only driver to have scored an additional podium this year, alongside Bogovich as well.

Hailing from Belarus, Dmitriy has been dominating the series with two back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021. He was hoping for a third one this year, but it wasn't going to come easy.

The top three drivers in qualifying all received BYE runs, which meant they would automatically advance to the Top 16 battles. So the first race of the day went on between Austin Matta and Kelsey Rowlings, who we've just recently interviewed.

With Matta's Nissan producing heavy clouds of smoke, she spun out towards the final section of the track on the first run. In drifting, it's almost impossible to recover after such a mistake, and she knew the second run was going to be quite difficult.

2022 Formula Drift Prospec Champion Is a Series Rookie, Drives a V8 BMW
Photo: Larry Chen/ Formula Drift
After initiating at about 90 mph (144 kph) for turn one, Kelsey lost the rear end while aiming for the outside zone, and it was all over for her. With 157 points gathered in four races, she finished the 2022 season in P19 overall.

While Robert Thorne is a Formula Drift rookie, he is probably one of the most experienced motorsport athletes on the grid. It just so happens that when he's not racing McLarens or Porsches, he enjoys drifting his supercharged, LS-powered BMW E46. And he kept his cool going up against Richard Advani in his Corvette, so he moved on to the Top 16 battles.

Brutskiy managed to do the same in his tandem against Brian Wadman, but he would now be going up against Thorne. Tommy Lemaire still had hopes of winning the championship after defeating Hooman Rahimi in the Top 32, and Blake Olsen was going to be his next opponent of the day.

On the right side of the bracket, the audience was happy to see Amanda Sorensen winning against Alex Lichliter. And she wasn't going to stop there, as she also took on Trenton Kropf in the Top 16. But it was Andy Hateley that would cut her journey short in the Top 8.

2022 Formula Drift Prospec Champion Is a Series Rookie, Drives a V8 BMW
Photo: Larry Chen/ Formula Drift
Evan Bogovich couldn't fend off Derek Madison in the Top 16, and he was out of the race as well. In his defense, Madison put on a strong performance all day long, as he even managed to win against Andy Hateley in the Top 4.

Tandem after tandem, the list of 14 drivers still hoping to secure the 2022 title was becoming smaller and smaller. Brutskiy's hopes were shattered in the Top 16 as he couldn't move past Robert Thorne, who would in return lose to Blake Olsen in the Top 4.

For the final race of the season, 28-year-old Blake Olsen from Las Vegas would have to compete against 29-year-old Derek Madison from Saint Louis. Madison had had various mechanical issues all day long, and almost spinning out on the first run didn't help at all.

He did a spectacular job while leading after initiating at 102 mph (164 kph) but that wasn't going to be enough to turn the tide. And so, Olsen won round 4, with Madison in P2 and Hateley in P3.

2022 Formula Drift Prospec Champion Is a Series Rookie, Drives a V8 BMW
Photo: Larry Chen/ Formula Drift
But after adding up the points, the 2022 Prospec Champion is Robert Thorne! Talk about a memorable result, going from rookie to champion in such a short amount of time! Derek Madison is the runner-up for this season, with Andy Hateley in third, tied for points with Dmitriy Brutskiy.

Now, we'll just have to wait and see if the top drivers this year will be moving on to the Pro series for 2023. Until then, we still have the main event going on today in Utah. Technically speaking, if Matt Field wins his first race of the year, he could win the championship with one more round to go.

But that would also require the drivers behind him to perform poorly throughout the battles, which is not likely to happen. Either way, we'll report back after the race with the results!

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About the author: Dragos Chitulescu
Dragos Chitulescu profile photo

The things Dragos enjoys the most in life are, in no particular order: cars, motorcycles, diecast cars, and drifting. He's seen (and driven) many vehicles since he started his writing career back in 2009, but his garage currently houses a 1991 Mazda RX-7 FC3S Turbo II and a 1999 Suzuki SV650-S.
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