The faithful fans that stayed at Charlotte Motor Speedway
for the Global RallyCross event expecting some excitement and action weren’t
disappointed in the heats at all.
The first heat included Marcus Gronholm, Ken Block, Dave
Mirra and Richard Burton. Gronholm in his Best Buy Ford Fiesta and Block in his
Monster World Rally Team Ford Fiesta took the joker on the first lap while Subaru’s
Mirra and Team 41’s Burton decided to
wait and go over the jump. The jump had been a topic of conversation for two
days. In the end, it’s more of a “hill” and not a gap jump although Ken Block
tried to make it a true flying jump on the second lap.
Gronholm led from the
start and continued to lead despite Burton being stopped on the track in front
of him and then clipping a barrier. He need not worry as Ken Block, who was on
his heels, didn’t get the grip he needed in the water with three laps to go and
hit a barrier breaking a steering arm and ending his heat. The race was stopped
at that point with the finishing order of Gronholm, Block, Mirra and Burton.
Block vows to be back before the end of the night. The second bracket heat saw
Gronholm easily taking the win without any pressure from Mirra, who also advanced
to the final.
In the second grouping of heats, Subaru’s Sverre Isachsen
created a jump start during the first heat and was sent to the back of the line
for a restart. Tanner Foust in the Rockstar Energy Ethnies Ford lead Stephan
Verdier in the Motorcity Disney XD Hyundai Veloster through the joker lap. Pat
Moro had problems from the gun and limped his car around to get off the track.
Sverre Isachsen blasted through the joker in the second lap and, as he joined
the leaders he ended up in second place, ahead of Verdier. They continued around the course in that
order to finish with Ford taking another heat win.
The second heat of this group saw Tanner Foust take the heat
without any real pressure from Stephan Verdier who finished in second as the
track started to cool off. Isachsen didn’t get off the line well; he jumped off
the line and seemed to break something in the gearbox. He would finish fourth.
The third grouping of heats included Travis Pastrana who is
doing a double; the Nationwide race earlier in the day and now the RallyCross
event. He took the line in the new Dodge Dart. Alongside Pastrana was Brian
Deegan in the Rockstar Energy Metal Mulisha Ford, David Binks in the Best Buy
Ford Fiesta and Tim Rooney in the PMR Motorsports Subaru. The gun went off and
Deegan and Pastrana rocketed off the line into the joker. Deegan hit the second
turn and slid a bit in the water and Pastrana, “got in the inside of Brian” and
the two bumped off each other. Pastrana, for the third time today, slid into
the infield with a broken steering arm where he stayed until the finish of the
heat. With three laps to go, Binks took the joker lap and closed the gap on
Deegan. Rooney took the joker on the last lap, but neither were a match for
Deegan in the end. Ford notched a third heat win.
The next time this group met, saw Pastrana was back on track
with a fire in him and some moves from his NASCAR racing. While Brian Deegan had some issues with his
transmission, Binks over cooked it into the corner where Travis went
wheel-to-wheel and door-to-door with him to capture the lead. With Deegan out,
Pastrana took the win to get into the final.
The last grouping of heats saw Toomas Heikkinen and Samuel
Hubinette take the joker in the first lap, which seems to be the magical way to
get around the track. They finished in that order with Rhys Millen in the RMR Hyundai in third and Andy Scott of
Scot-Eklund Racing in a Saab in fourth and Bucky Lasek in his first RallyCross
rounding out the group after a spin in the infield.
The next time the group met, sparks flew and everyone was
going flat out to get into the final. The win went to Samuel Hubinette in the
Saab after a pass using the infield grass to go by Toomas Heikkinen with Andy
Scott in the third position.
Into the final: Gronholm, Mirra, Foust¸Pastrana, Binks,
Verdier, Heikkinen and Hubinette. The
rest go to the Last Chance Qualifier.
Report by: Donna M. Tocci
Report by: Donna M. Tocci
