GRC: Great Right Challenge

GRC: Great Right Challenge
by Martijn Kösters

Global Rallycross makes its way to sunny California, and finally gets the facilities right providing great action. After some less successful track lay-outs earlier in the season the Irwindale Motor Speedway is still not a purpose based rallycross track, but does offer opportunities for good racing. The infield can still be described as tight but wide enough to squeeze a car alongside, and the long run towards the first hairpin, across the oval creates a great overtaking area.

Heat one featured the likes of Isachsen, Arpin, Deegan and Mirra. Isachsen had the best of starts in his Subaru and held the lead through the first few turns. Yet when arriving at the joker corner drivers faced wet mud rather than the drier clay and dust they practiced and qualified on. Only Isachsen managed to adjust his speed appropriately, the other went wide or brushed the wall. Arpin was unable to continue, resulting the race to be red flagged, rather late. Isachsen was already approaching the corner where Arpin and his stranded car stood.
The restart saw Isachsen again getting away quickly, with Deegan following him throughout the heat. Both qualified for the final.

Heat two saw well known GRC driver Patrik Sandell take up European drivers such as Anton Marklund and Liam Doran, who took his Mini out for this occasion. Doran was on the pace despite not being in his regular car, with Sandell following him closely, yet settling for second place without attacking fiercely.

A hectic first turn in Heat Three, as Speed Pastrana and Sterckx all make some mistake. And in true Topi-style Heikkinen somehow makes it past all the mishap. He leads Pastrana Speed Sterckx and Verdier after lap 1. Throughout the race the battle for second intensifies between Pastrana and Speed, and in the final lap Speed has no other choice than to go for it. Coming into hairpin two Speed makes his mad dash, with the move biting back on him. Pastrana takes second and his spot in the final, Speed is left with a Last Chance in the LCQ.

Heat four has to be a highlight in the 2013 GRC Season, the amount and especially the intensity of the action was sublime. Timerzyanov (in a VW Polo), Foust, Block, Lasek, Menzies line up. Ken Block makes the best start and leads into the hairpin where Foust briefly bumps into Timerzyanov. Timerzyanov, leading European Champion, chases Block in the following laps. Interesting to see how Block is quite like a defending drifter, using all track surface everywhere and preventing Timerzyanov from passing. Timur Timerzyanov however, is a more clean, agile, driver. Handbrakes for the tight hairpins. Quicker, but he can't find a gap to get past.
As Timerzyanov drops back throughout the race, this creates a terrific fight between him and Foust. Both know eachother from the European Championship, where they both raced for the championship the past years. Foust gets close at the second hairpin and takes the inside, but the traction on the outside helps Timerzyanov out. Going into the next turn drivers are door to door, bumper to bumper, but Timerzyanov refuses to make way.
In the penultimate lap, Timerzyanov loses some control over his car coming out of the second hairpin and with a brilliant move around the outside Foust takes the inner line into the next chicane. Timerzyanov hasn't given up yet, but Foust is having none of it, forcing the Russian very wide and even brushing the tyres himself. As a result Timerzyanov loses more time, letting Bryan Menzies through.

A lot of rubbing into the next turn where Timerzyanov will not concede his place and somehow also keeps it on the track in the process
Mistake for TT in the second turn of the penultimate lap, and with a breathtaking move round the outside by Foust both go side by side into the Joker corner. A disputable move by Foust follows, where he forces Timerzyanov wide, very wide. Yet as he had unmistakeably the inside line he had all the right to do so. Block by this time had created a large lead and easily makes the final, together with Foust.


Last Chance Qualifier also saw some action, as Rhys Millen stalled his car, Anton Marklun is quick to avoid him. Yet as he hits Jos Sterckx's car in the progress this catapults him into the concrete inner wall. Marklund gets out of his car on his own, yet needs some medical attention with an injured leg. As the race officials need another full lap to decide on a red flag racing continues in the infield for a full lap. Opinion: a red flag should not take 45 seconds to decide on, full stop.

Take two of the LCQ sees only five of the original nine cars show up. Speed has another fantastic start, with Millen clean away into second. Millen even gets the lead when Speed goes wide around the Joker Corner, which was rewatered before the LCQ. Bryan Menzies follows in third, waiting to take his joker at the right time. When he does so a little later he indeed passes Speed for second, but also clips the wall exiting the joker, resulting in terminal rear suspension damage. As a result, Millen and Speed qualify for the big final.


The Final sees Isachsen, Heikkinen, Doran and Block on row 1. With Isachsen making a very jumpy start he leads into turn one. As a result he avoids the carnage caused by Doran and Block, who touch and spin together with Deegan. Heikkinen makes his way past, but takes some cones out in the hairpin, still rejoins in second. As Isachsen is indeed penalised, Toomas 'Topi' Heikkinen inherits the lead when Isachsen stops for a very quick stop and go. Isachsen rejoins in 4^th, very close behind Pastrana. The middle of the ten lap race sees no major changes, although Sandell and Speed decide to change that. A contact between the two sees all kinds of debris and litter scattered across the track. A loose thread from Sandell on the home straight, tyre barrier on track right after the first hairpin, bits of barrier and bodywork in the infield. This time the race officials did not decide to interfere, oddly enough.
Despite all, it is Heikkinen who drives home his second GRC victory of the season in a commanding drive beating Foust, Isachsen and Millen.

Standings:

1	57	Toomas Heikkinen	OlsbergsMSE	96
2	38	Brian Deegan	OlsbergsMSE	62
3	34	Tanner Foust	OlsbergsMSE	61
4	18	Patrik Sandell	OlsbergsMSE	60
5	43	Ken Block	Hoonigan Racing Division	58
6	33	Liam Doran	LD Motorsports	51
7	32	Steve Arpin	OMSE2	47
8	77	Scott Speed	OMSE2	45
9	11	Sverre Isachsen	Subaru PUMA Rallycross	34
10	92	Anton Marklund	Marklund Motorsport	26

GRC Review: Speed makes quite the entry in Rallycross

GRC Review: Speed makes quite the entry in Rallycross
by Martijn Kösters
Global Rallycross, Year three, Episode one: 'Blasting in Brazil'.

Yes Rallycross on the other side of the pond got underway at the Brazilian X Games in Foz de Iguacu. A field that included former F1 stars, a NASCAR and Daytona 24h hero, European Rallycross stars and last year's GRC champion contained all everyone could wish for.

The venue, an almost full dirt track in what seemed like the heart of the jungle provoked different opinions. From a spectator's point of view it was difficult to see the action because of the large amounts of dust being kicked up, with drivers seeing even less when driving through that dust. Because of the track being sprayed with water prior to each race the drivers faced constantly changing conditions, starting on a sort of muddy surface the track would dry out during the race with the surface changing to sandy and after that to fine, slippery dust. Travis Pastrana admitted his powerful Dodge Dart had traction problems all weekend round.

Action got underway with the heats of four cars which would see the top two proceed to the final. Heat one was fought out between Toomas Heikkinen, Ken Block and Liam Doran. Doran being spun round by Block in the very first corner, diminishing his chances of qualification for the final. Heikkinen and Block cruised to P1 and P2.

Heat two saw Nelsinho Piquet, Brian Deegan, Travis Pastrana and Bryce Menzies take to the track. Piquet took a cheeky jump start, responding to the red lights going out rather than the green ones coming on. A penalty eventually dropped him back to 3^rd place, meaning he had to compete in the last chance qualifier to make the final. At the front Deegan and Pastrana took the top two spots.

Heat three out of four had Foust, Arpin, Sandell and Neves lining up. Once again it turned out the venue in Brazil offered little opportunities for overtaking, partly because of the dust but mostly because of the limited traction in combination with the short straights. Foust lead from start to finish with Steve Arpin following him into the final.

The final heat was also the most interesting one. Not only because two debutees lined up (Scott Speed and Buddy Rice), but also actionwise. In turn one Rice made contact with Speed sending him round and giving Anton Marklund the opportunity to take the lead. Yet nothing was lost for Speed yet, he used his Joker Lap, which is a shortcut rather than a longer way round in European Rallycross, to take second from Buddy Rice. After this move Speed chased down Marklund, passing him going into the final lap. Speed and Marklund qualified for the final.

Last Chance Qualifier offered two more tickets to the final for those who finished 3^rd or 4^th before. The LCQ offered more problems for Liam Doran, dropping the clutch at the start saw the whole field pass him, and sent Menzies up the rear of his car. Their chances of a final ticket were virtually gone. Out in front Rice took the lead from the start with Sandell close behind. Piquet and Neves would just miss out on a ticket to the final.

The final uses a different format to the heats. Rather than four cars ten drivers would now line up and drive a ten lap race rather than six. The first corner proved to be a fierce battlefield after the start with everyone aiming for the inside line. Some top drivers including Ken Block, Tanner Foust and Travis Pastrana would either retire or sustain damage after a tumultuous start. After four laps the race was red flagged because of cars and debris scattered around the track.

The race was restarted over its full length but without Block, Foust and Pastrana. Heikkinen had the best restart with an aggressive move on the inside of turn one, keeping Speed and Arpin behind him after lap one. Toomas Heikkinen opted to take his joker lap early increasing his lead a little. Lateron in the race we saw Scott Speed gradually closing in on Heikkinen. Him still having to do his joker there might be an opportunity there. As the chequered flag came closer Speed still hadn't done his Joker Lap. Speed kept it cool in the Brazilian heat and dived round the inside of the final turn, taking Heikkinen in the final lap of the race and taking the gold. Speed finished first, Heikkinen 2^nd, with late qualifier Sandell taking the bronze.