Hubinette Advances to Great 8 at Wall Speedway
Formula Drift star Samuel Hubinette advanced to the Great 8 round of tandem eliminations on Saturday, June 6, in the Round Three: The Gauntlet event at Wall Speedway in New Jersey, losing to event winner Darren McNamara.
Hubinette qualified fifth in his Mopar-powered NuFormz Racing Dodge Viper SRT10(R), and then bested John Wagner in the opening round of eliminations. The "Crazy Swede," a two-time Formula Drift champion, next defeated Tony Brakahopia in the Top 16, but suffered a break in the power steering pump of his Viper. The NuFormz crew of team owner Shaun Carlson, Brad Manka and Scott Stanwood quickly repaired the Viper and had Samuel gridded in plenty of time to face McNamara.
Hubinette closely shadowed McNamara on the first tandem run around the long and difficult Wall Speedway drift course, which features a banked section as well as a figure eight portion on the track's infield. Hubinette led on the second run, with McNamara sticking tight to Sam's bumper and even hitting Hubinette, who managed to skillfully maintain his drift line. Faced with a tough decision, the Formula Drift judges decided in McNamara's favor.
"I think it was a good event overall," said Hubinette. "We managed to advance a couple of rounds and stay at fourth in the point standings. There are four events still left, so we have plenty of time to make up the ground and capture a third championship."
Next up is the Round Four: All In event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, July 10–11. For more info on Formula Drift, visit http://www.formulad.com.