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In the second day of NextGen testing at Charlotte Motor Speedway Thursday, teams split time
between running with seven-inch rear spoilers and eight-inch rear spoilers. Overall, Stewart-Haas Racing's Aric Almirola was quickest with a lap at 175.718 mph. This lap was two-hundredths of a second faster than teammate Kevin Harvick. 23XI Racing's Kurt Busch was third, then Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano.
- The FIA officially denied Mercedes' request Friday morning to review Max Verstappen's move on lap 48 during Sunday's Grand Prix of Sao Paolo that put both drivers off the road. Mercedes argued that new evidence had come to light. The officials agreed, but believed that it was not significant enough to warrant reopening the
investigation.
- In Free Practice No. 1 in Qatar,
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was quickest with a lap at 143.745 mph. This was three-sevenths of a second faster than AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly. Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were third and fourth, while Yuki Tsunoda was fifth in the second AlphaTauri.
There were no red flags during the
session, but there were a number of off-course excursions. Haas F1's Nikita Mazepin suffered floor damage to his car during the session, forcing him to a new chassis.
- In Free Practice No. 2, Bottas
was fastest with a lap at 144.740 mph. He was two-tenths of a second faster than Gasly. Verstappen was third, then Hamilton and McLaren's Lando Norris.
- The 2022 FLORacing All Star
Circuit of Champions schedule was revealed Thursday. The 54-race schedule starts off with a two-night show at Georgia's Senoia Raceway in early February. Highlights include two nights as part of the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park, the $29,000 to win Bob Weikert Memorial at Port Royal and a $26,000 to win race at I-70 Speedway in Missouri. In addition, the champion will pocket a check for
$80,000.
