Global
Rallycross Race Recap: The Dirt Track at Charlotte
IN
BRIEF: Scott Speed won the battle, but Toomas Heikkinen won the war—while
Speed took his second win of the year in the Sylvania Silverstar zXe Global
Rallycross at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, Heikkinen took home the 2013 Global
Rallycross Driver’s Championship and $20,000 Sylvania Silverstar zXe Cup bonus.
NOTE:
Please give photo credit Matt Kalish
GRC
TV
WATCH: Global Rallycross at The Dirt Track at
Charlotte: Supercars RACE RECAP
WATCH: Global Rallycross at The Dirt Track
at Charlotte: Lites RACE RECAP
WATCH: Global
Rallycross at The Dirt Track at Charlotte: Faces in New Places
WATCH: Global Rallycross at The Dirt Track
at Charlotte: Saturday Recap
GRC
LIVE RADIO
LISTEN to interviews from GRC Drivers at
The Dirt Track
RACE
RESULTS
CLICK
HERE for Race Results
HEAT
RECAPS: Ken Block, once again, asserted his dominance in heat races by
winning both 1A and 2A. Block’s nine heat victories are more than any other
driver in GRC this year. Meanwhile, four other drivers—Travis Pastrana (1B),
Tanner Foust (1C), Scott Speed (2B), and Brian Deegan (2C) also won heat races.
The LCQ was canceled after numerous accidents with Steve Arpin, Stephan
Verdier, and Toomas Heikkinen in the three transfer spots.
MAIN
EVENT RECAP: A major accident in the first pass through the fourth turn led to
a red flag situation, as Scott Speed, Bucky Lasek, and Brian Deegan appeared to
be the top three drivers in the field. Speed got the holeshot in the second
attempted start as well, leading Deegan and Block.
Block’s
right front tire came apart early in the heat, dropping him down the order as
he spun multiple times. Meanwhile, Heikkinen recovered from a series of unlucky
breaks in his heat races and the final transfer spot of the LCQ to finish
third. Deegan chased down Speed, closing in as the race progressed, but the X
Games Brazil gold medalist still took the victory by just over three seconds.
RESULTS: The results from
Saturday’s Sylvania SilverStar zXe Global Rallycross at The Dirt Track at
Charlotte:
1.
Scott Speed, #77 OMSE2
Ford Fiesta
2.
Brian Deegan, #38
OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST
3.
Toomas Heikkinen, #57
OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST0
4.
Stephan Verdier, #4 Rhys
Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster
5.
Steve Arpin, #32 OMSE2
Ford Fiesta
6.
Bucky Lasek, #81 Subaru
PUMA Rallycross WRX STI
7.
Ken Block, #43 Hoonigan
Racing Division Ford Fiesta ST
8.
Sverre Isachsen, #11
Subaru PUMA Rallycross WRX STI
9.
Travis Pastrana, #199
Pastrana Racing Dodge Dart
10.
Tanner Foust, #34
OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST
11.
Pat Moro, #59 PMR
Motorsports Chevrolet Sonic
12.
Dave Mirra, #40 Prodrive
MINI Countryman
13.
Patrik Sandell, #18
OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST
14.
Bryce Menzies, #99
Pastrana Racing Dodge Dart
15.
Nelson Piquet Jr., #12 X
Team Racing Mitsubishi Evo
QUOTES: A
selection of quotes from Saturday’s Sylvania SilverStar zXe Global Rallycross
at The Dirt Track at Charlotte:
Toomas
Heikkinen, Driver, #57 OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST: “It's been a great year.
Now we get the championship with the one point that we needed. But I'm still
looking forward and want to win the last one. Of course I want to be on the
podium still—that's what I'm looking for, and that is our goal.”
Scott
Speed, Driver, #77 OMSE2 Ford Fiesta: “We were pretty solid all day. In these
things, you can be fast—we were pretty fast at Bristol but we didn't even make
the final—so you've got to be lucky not to get in any crashes. We stayed out of
trouble, got lucky, and were able to win again.”
Stephan
Verdier, Driver, #4 Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster: “I’m ecstatic, especially
when I was last after lap one of the final. I stalled the car in the hairpin—I
thought I was top three but then I was all the way last by a mile. Good wheels
saved us, because everybody else kept getting flat tires, and we kept picking
them off one at a time. The car is beat, Rhys is going to be so mad at me, but
we got fourth! I think we have one body panel left. But we blew out a shock,
and we had a transmission issue too. The boys worked hard today. But fourth
place is awesome—and it was fourth place on speed.”
Steve
Arpin, Driver, #32 OMSE Ford Fiesta: “I feel like we should have been a lot
better! We had such a fast car today. It started out in qualifying—we had the
first lap and it was fast, and they told me to cool it down for the rest of it,
but I guess they don’t count the first lap. I had a blast on the racetrack. We
had so much rain last night, but everyone did such a good job making the race
track as good as it was. It was so soft, so easy to run up, but somehow they
were able to maintain it and have a good race track. We just kept having flat
tires—two of them today took us out of it. But the Royal Purple Ford was so
good, I wish we could go out there and do it again. Even if we had another flat
tire, it was just so much fun every time around the race track.”
Dave
Mirra, Driver, #40 Prodrive MINI Countryman: “First and foremost, I
want to thank PUMA, Liam Doran, and Prodrive for the MINI. It was an unbelievable
car, super fast. I won practice yesterday, qualified second today, clearly was
reeling in some other heat drivers in the other races, but things just didn’t
go right. I got called for a jump start—Joey (Mancari) came back and reviewed
it and said it wasn’t a jump start. We went to the LCQ and all hell broke
loose. I’m pretty bummed about the race. It kind of stinks, because I know I
was very fast.”
FAST
FACTS: A collection of facts from Saturday’s Sylvania SilverStar zXe
Global Rallycross at Atlanta Motor Speedway:
- Toomas
Heikkinen clinched both the 2013 Global Rallycross Driver’s Championship
and 2013 Sylvania SilverStar zXe Cup on Sunday.
- This was
the second win of Scott Speed’s Global Rallycross career, dating back to
his victory at X Games Foz do Iguacu on April 21. It was also the first
time he finished on the podium since taking the victory.
- OlsbergsMSE-prepared
vehicles have won seven of eight races this season, five times by
Heikkinen and twice by Speed.
- Brian
Deegan’s second place finish marked his best finish since back-to-back
runner up results in both Las Vegas races last season. He now has three
podiums in his last five starts.
- Heikkinen’s
five-race win streak was snapped, but he maintained his record of
finishing on the podium in each event in 2013.
- Coming in
fourth, Stephan Verdier scored his best finish since finishing third at
Charlotte last year.
- Fifth
place finisher Steve Arpin earned his third top five of the season, as
well as his first win in a last chance qualifier.
- Tanner
Foust missed a Global Rallycross final for the first time in 22 career
starts on Sunday. He had accidents in both his heat race and the last
chance qualifier that prevented him from advancing.
- Pat Moro
finished 11th in the debut of the Chevrolet Sonic.
DRIVER
POINTS:
1.
Toomas Heikkinen, 154
2.
Tanner Foust, 103
3.
Brian Deegan, 101
4.
Ken Block, 93
5.
Scott Speed, 84
6.
Patrik Sandell, 79
7.
Sverre Isachsen, 74
8.
Steve Arpin, 70
9.
Liam Doran, 59
10.
Bucky Lasek, 46
11.
Travis Pastrana, 41
12.
Dave Mirra, 36
13.
Timur Timerzyanov, 34
14.
Mattias Ekstrom, 26
15.
Anton Marklund, 26
16.
Bryce Menzies, 21
17.
Stephan Verdier, 18
18.
Townsend Bell, 16
19.
Guilherme Spinelli, 14
20.
Nelson Piquet Jr., 13
21.
Rhys Millen, 13
22.
Buddy Rice, 7
23.
Henning Solberg, 7
24.
Pat Moro, 6
25.
Mauricio Neves, 5
26.
Edu Marques, 3
27.
David Sterckx, 1
MANUFACTURER
POINTS:
1.
Ford, 303
2.
Subaru, 125
3.
Dodge, 109
--------------------------------------------------------
GRC
Lites Race Recap: The Dirt Track at Charlotte
IN
BRIEF: Joni Wiman remains perfect in GRC Lites competition, winning his
fifth consecutive race at The Dirt Track on Charlotte on Sunday. This victory,
over Geoff Sykes and Sebastian Eriksson, extended Wiman’s points lead to
29—clinching him the inaugural series title.
NOTE:
Please give photo credit Matt Kalish
GRC
TV
WATCH: Global Rallycross at The Dirt Track at
Charlotte: Supercars RACE RECAP
WATCH: Global Rallycross at The Dirt Track
at Charlotte: Lites RACE RECAP
WATCH: Global
Rallycross at The Dirt Track at Charlotte: Faces in New Places
WATCH: Global Rallycross at The Dirt Track
at Charlotte: Saturday Recap
GRC
LIVE RADIO
LISTEN to interviews from GRC Drivers at
The Dirt Track
RACE
RESULTS
CLICK
HERE for Race Results
HEAT
RECAPS: With
two sets of heat races and no last chance qualifier, drivers were racing purely
for bonus points rather than advancement. Wiman swept heats 1A and 2A, while
Kevin Eriksson and Mitchell deJong split 1B and 2B, respectively.
MAIN
EVENT RECAP: For the second race in a row, Wiman failed to secure the
holeshot in the final, this time falling behind Kevin Eriksson as a rough start
dropped deJong through the field. But Eriksson’s good luck faded fairly
quickly, as a cut right rear tire dropped him through the field like a stone
until he eventually ended up seventh.
Geoff
Sykes managed to avoid trouble at the start to coast to an easy second place,
while jostling between the rest of the field allowed Sebastian Eriksson, who
had missed his second heat race, to climb from ninth to fourth in the first
lap. He battled with deJong once again, reminiscent of their duel in Atlanta,
but held third place.
RESULTS: The results from GRC
Lites at The Dirt Track at Charlotte:
1.
Joni Wiman, #93 Set
Promotion GRC Lites
2.
Geoff Sykes, #65
OlsbergsMSE GRC Lites
3.
Sebastian Eriksson, #37
OlsbergsMSE GRC Lites
4.
Mitchell deJong, #24
OlsbergsMSE GRC Lites
5.
Alexander Westlund, #55
Set Promotion GRC Lites
6.
Harry Cheung, #88
Cohesive Front Racing GRC Lites
7.
Kevin Eriksson, #39 Set
Promotion GRC Lites
8.
Austin Dyne, #99 AD
Racing GRC Lites
9.
Tyler Benson, #60
OlsbergsMSE GRC Lites
DRIVER
POINTS:
1.
Joni Wiman, 106
2.
Sebastian Eriksson, 77
3.
Mitchell deJong, 69
4.
Kevin Eriksson, 65
5.
Alexander Westlund, 63
6.
Geoff Sykes, 57
7.
Austin Dyne, 53
8.
Harry Cheung, 46
9.
Halid Avdagic, 29
10.
Reinis Nitiss, 23
11.
Tyler Benson, 15
About
GRC: Global
Rallycross combines the best aspects of circuit racing, off-road racing and
rally competition to deliver intense action in a variety of fan-friendly
environments. Action sport stars including Travis Pastrana and Brian Deegan
have described the sport as “motocross – with a roll cage.”
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