Formula Drift: Missed chance for Yves Meyer 🎥
UNAUTHORIZED DEFEAT Numerous incidents characterized the fifth round of Formula Drift in the USA. Yves Meyer made it into the sixteenth final in the Toyota GT86, but was eliminated due to an error that was not his own fault.
The fifth event of the world's most important drift series took place at the World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis, Illinois, in the mid-summer heat.
All employees of The Drift Force, the team from Nidwalden founded by Yves Meyer and Joshua Reynolds, would have liked to stay cool despite the high temperatures. But the one or other mishap caused excitement that could have been avoided.
Command back
The first damper came in the form of the bad news that the expected new Nexen Nfera Sport R tires would not be available until the next event. Therefore, with the support of its American partners, the team had to rebuild the Toyota GT86, which had been weighed down by 140 kilograms for the larger tires in accordance with the regulations.
In addition to the problems with the used tires, which were no longer intended for use, there was a fire in the engine compartment during practice due to a leak in the power steering. Fortunately, it was quickly extinguished and the 900 hp drift car was prepared for the warm-up to qualifying.
Handicap in the qualification
Unfortunately, engine misfires occurred in qualifying, which forced Yves Meyers to improvise with a lot of use of the clutch. The three judges had to deduct eleven points for this, but otherwise they liked his performance.
Yves Meyer: "It's a shame that a defective spark plug threw a spanner in the works with the points deduction. Otherwise I would have made it into the top 10 for the first time and not had to settle for 25th qualifying place."
Meyer's first opponent in the Top 32 bouts was Michael Essa from California. He clearly won the duel against the 42-year-old champion from 2013.
Duel against Ferrari icon from Italy
In the next round of the Top 16, Meyer met Italian Federico Sceriffo. With his self-built Ferrari 599 GTB with around 1000 hp, the Milanese is an exotic in the field. Unfortunately, the latter lost cooling water in his lead run, whereupon his Swiss opponent abruptly spun out at the first drift approach after the start.
The reason for this was only explained to Meyer after his perfect chase run, which, however, did not change the elimination.
Yves Meyer: "I had looked for the mistake with me and not with the opponent. Unfortunately, we should have protested immediately and been given a second chance, but it just came too late. An internal team communication error that will certainly not happen to us again."
A great opportunity was thus ruined. Due to several engine failures and accidents on the track, which is also used by the IndyCars and Nascar Cup cars, the ranking list was mixed up. The first top result for The Drift Force would have been feasible and is therefore probably only a question of time.
The wait is over
The next round of Formula Drift 2022 will take place on August 5 and 6 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe outside the major city of Seattle in Washington state.
The new Nexen tires developed in Korea have already arrived there, also Joshua Reynolds should finally get to work after the arrival of eagerly awaited spare parts for the suspension of his Toyota.
