FD Prospec Qualifying Reveals Top Three Drivers, Battles Start Today

The management over at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park understood the potential of drifting and converted the old drag strip to a dedicated drift arena. After more than half a century of hosting drag racing events, this is now the first venue of its kind to focus on drifting in the USA.

The grandstands have been arranged so that fans can see what's happening on the track at all times. And that's one of the best things about drifting, and what separates it from other forms of motorsport.

While the Pro FD drivers that came to New Jersey are all set for Round 4 of the 2022 season, the Prospec guys are now dealing with their second official race of the year. Andy Hateley, Ben Hobson, and Evan Bogovich were in the lead going into this event, but we might just see a change in rankings by the end of this weekend.

The three judges in charge of the Prospec qualifying were: Chris Uhl, Brian Eggert, and Robbie Nishida. It's great to see that even though Robbie isn't actively competing in FD anymore, he's still involved with the series these days.

A total of 34 drivers lined up for this first important test of Round 2. The current points leader, Andy Hateley, was the first man to go out for a judged run. He drove his V8-powered BMW E46 to what felt like a solid run.

Even so, his first run was only awarded a total of 71 points. That goes to show that judging these drivers is a lot more complex than it seems at first sight. And the fact that most of them are running at a very good level is only making things more difficult for judges.

28-year-old Ben Hobson was up next, and we can still hear the echoes of his V8 Nissan bouncing off the limiter as he left huge clouds of smoke throughout the track. He scored a total of 82 points on that first run. The qualifying session took almost two hours all in all, and you can watch the whole replay below.

Canadian driver Tommy Lemaire is this weekend's top qualifier, while Dmitriy Brutskiy took second place. It always feels a bit odd seeing the Forsberg Racing Nissan 370Z, knowing that Chris isn't driving it. But Alex Jagger did a great job by qualifying in third.

While a total of 32 drivers qualified for the Top 32 battles, Brazilian driver Lukas Torno could not complete a qualifying run and was eliminated from the competition. With that in mind, Tommy Lemaire will be advancing directly to the Top 16 battles later on today.

Chances are that he will be bumping into Andy Hateley at that point if the 38-year-old can defeat Jack Davis in his first battle. While you may argue that drifting is a male-dominated sport, you might not be entirely right.

The Prospec series has two ladies fighting for the podium at every race. 33-year-old Kelsey Rowlings hails from Lake Mary, Florida, and has been actively drifting since 2008! She managed an impressive result in the qualifying session, by claiming 11th place overall.

Her first opponent for today will be Hooman Rahimi from Tennessee. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Amanda Sorensen could only score enough points to have her sitting in 20th place overall. She will be competing against Rich Whiteman in his four-door Toyota JZX, so it should be interesting to see how things turn out. Be sure to keep an eye out for the Pro qualifying and Prospec Top32 battles later on today!