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| Two-time GRC champ Tanner
Foust takes the maiden victory for the Rockstar Energy Drink Volkswagen Beetle in Daytona, Florida. (Photo: Helena El Mokni, Volkswagen Motorsport) |
DAYTONA, Fla. (June 22, 2015) -
Rockstar Energy Drink driver Tanner Foust drove the new Volkswagen Beetle
rallycross car to its maiden GRC victory this weekend at the Daytona Global
Rallycross doubleheader. His victory makes it two in a row for the Volkswagen
Andretti Rallycross Team, after teammate Scott Speed won at the
non-championship scoring X Games earlier this month in Austin.
"It was such a difficult and
hot weekend for the whole team and getting our first regular-season win with
the new car kept us going," said Foust. "Everybody was incredibly
stoked -- it was something we all needed."
The Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross
team faced a challenging weekend. They struggled with the oppressive Florida
summer heat as they worked hard to limit damage caused by repeated failure of a
critical component. Engineers suspect a materials issue with a batch of bolts
the team used in the build assembly.
"Ultimately that was the
hardest weekend I've ever seen for mechanics -- a doubleheader in 100-plus
degree heat," said Foust. "The crew on the Volkswagen Andretti
Rallycross team had to pull the transmission on both cars every time we ran
them to double-check that everything was holding together. That's a huge job in
this heat."
The parts are already at the
Volkswagen laboratory in Germany for analysis and the team is confident that
the issue will be resolved by the next race.
On the first day of racing, as the
team hurried to find a work-around for the problem, Foust didn't start
practice, had a limited qualifying run, and missed the first round of heat
racing. A third place result in the semifinal round saw him bypass the last
chance qualifier to line up on the second row in the final.
There, luck was finally on his
side. When cars in the front row tangled in the first corner, Foust squeezed
through unscathed and battled into the lead on Turn 3. From there, he never
looked back.
"It was a little on the lucky
side with that big crash in front of me," said Foust. "I was happy to
get away with one. I've certainly been on the other side of that when it comes
to first-lap crashes."
In the second race of the
doubleheader, Foust pulled off the track with a damaged suspension after
car-to-car contact in heat racing, and was forced into the last chance
qualifier. He secured a spot in the final, but a mechanical issue re-emerged
and he couldn't find a way onto the podium. He scored fourth-place points.
Foust is now third in the championship, heading into Round 4.
The car has proven very capable in
competition. In addition to this latest win in Daytona, Foust debuted the brand
new Rockstar Energy Drink Volkswagen Beetle with a heat win at the Los Angeles
race last summer. At the time, the car was still under development. Following
an extensive offseason program, the Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross team has
returned to competition this season with two Volkswagen Beetle rallycross cars.
Foust returns to Global Rallycross
competition with the Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross team for an Independence
Day weekend of racing at the Marine Corps Air Station New River (MCAS New
River) in Jacksonville, N.C. Competition takes place Sunday, July 5, following
a day of July 4 celebrations.
