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For Dave Mirra and Prodrive, the final result doesn’t tell the real story of this past weekend at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Working together for the first time, Mirra and Prodrive were poised to challenge the rest of Global Rallycross in the proven MINI RX, one of the strongest new cars in the paddock this season. Mirra adapted his style quickly to his new ride, which takes advantage of the technical regulations that allow competitors with smaller engines to have a a lighter weight limit. In Thursday’s test session, he learned to throw the car around with the same sort of authority that earned Liam Doran two X Games medals in Munich and three heat victories so far this year.

“This MINI RX is unbelievable,” Mirra said on Saturday. “I’ve really experienced something that I never thought I would. Prodrive is such a great team to give me a warm welcome, and we have such mutual respect among one another.”

In both Thursday’s untimed open test and Saturday’s practice, the MINI was well matched to Dave’s driving, as he ran smoothly and quickly throughout both sessions. As far as finding speed in a debut event goes, few drivers have been able to match the pace that Mirra came up with on such short notice.

The speed carried into Sunday, where Mirra earned the second seed and thus lane choice for his first heat race later in the day. He and Ken Block were the only drivers to break the 37-second barrier in the timed session, proving just how quick and well suited both car and driver were to the brand new course.

Photo credit: Matthew Kalish