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The fourth round of the 2012 Global Rallycross season took place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a mere two weeks after Sebastien Loeb had schooled all comers in a dominant victory at X Games Los Angeles. After an injury to points leader Marcus Gronholm, Tanner Foust would bring the points lead into the second half of the season, while a first-turn heat race accident left Travis Pastrana reeling and last in the final results.

There wouldn’t be more of the same in New Hampshire. Foust and Brian Deegan would win two of the three heat races for the dominant OlsbergsMSE team, but Pastrana qualified third and held off a hard-charging Samuel Hubinette for the victory in his heat. A destructive second heat saw Ken Block tangle with Andy Scott, the same driver who made contact with Pastrana at X Games, necessitating significant repairs for Block’s Ford Fiesta between the heat and last chance qualifier.

The ten cars that made the main event included Dave Mirra for the first time since the Charlotte season opener, but he pulled off immediately with damage. From the start, the race was Foust’s to lose, but a stall on the track’s crossover bridge meant that he was a sitting duck for both Pastrana and Hubinette.

From there, the same battle raged on in the final as had gone on in the heats, with Hubinette attempting to force his way around Pastrana’s Dodge Dart. But it wasn’t meant to be, as Pastrana would take his first Global Rallycross victory. Deegan would eventually slide by Foust for third, giving him his third consecutive podium after a mechanical failure in Charlotte.