Scott Speed returned to Nitro Rallycross looking for redemption. The Subaru works driver was able to come out on top beating Travis Pastrana in the final head-to-head bracket race. For Speed to win he had to defeat Kevin Hansen, Fraser McConnell, and finally Pastrana himself, to win pole position for tomorrow’s feature race.
Subaru ultimately finished on top today as they finished 1-2 on the podium. However, they had their fair share of loss as Andreas Bakkerud couldn’t bring the car past the first heat race. Subaru Motorsport will start tomorrow with the additional seven championship points that they’ve accrued from this win.
Meanwhile, Steve Arpin of GRX Loenbro finished third on the day with a solid performance in his second heat race. Arpin is commonly viewed as an underdog in the rallycross world, so it was a surprise to see him beat Tanner Foust in his second heat race after a mistake by the Audi driver. Arpin will start tomorrow with three championship points as he looks to remain competitive come race time.
Fraser McConnel of OMSE follows behind Arpin after falling behind in his second heat race. The Jamaican showed up strong in the initial heat races but fell flat when it came time to face Speed. He finished fourth on the day. Meanwhile, teammates Kevin and Oliver Eriksson were not as fortunate as they fell out after only their first heat race. Team OMSE will start with two championship points tomorrow.
Next, Timmy Hansen can be found behind McConnell finishing fifth on the day. He made quick work of his competition in his first heat race but contact with Pastrana in the second race forced him to retire and continue no further. His brother Kevin had similar luck in winning his first but coming up short on the second race. Team Red Bull Hansen starts tomorrow’s final with one championship point.
Following Timmy in the standings is the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing driver Tanner Foust who was looking very competitive throughout practice and his first heat. His second heat against Arpin was all going to plan until he made a major mistake allowing the Canadian to slot through to take the win ending his day. Teammate Cabot Bigham had a day of struggles with flat tires and minor issues hampering his performance. He was unsuccessful in making it out of his first heat race, ending his day early. DRR accrues one championship point on the day.
Solo entry Oliver Bennet also saw a gain in one championship point as he was able to make his way into the heat races with some success. The driver won his first heat race against Kevin Eriksson, who pulled out with an issue, to move onto the second. However, performance issues would end his second a bit too early.
Lastly, RX Cartel started the day hot with fast lap times and fast cars but their luck only seemed to decrease as the day went on. Issues with tires and performance caused them to pull early from practices and not take a win in the heats. Both Liam Doran and Robin Larsson failed to make it past their first heat. They look to improve from today’s poor performance with a positive mentality for tomorrow.
In the NRX NEXT class, Casper Jansson was able to find his first victory in Nitro Rallycross after winning his final over Martin Enlund and Lane Vacala. The Swede takes home 50 points for Enlunds Motorsport and puts his team on the top of the leaderboard to start the season.