Tag Archives: Bryce Menzies

Dodge Dart Team Set For Global Rallycross Races In Munich

MUNICH, Germany (Friday, June 28, 2013) – Two races are on the Global Rallycross schedule here this weekend during X Games Munich. Saturday’s race is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. (EDT) with Sunday’s event set for 11:00 a.m. (EDT). Saturday’s race will be televised live by ESPN3.com with a replay on ABC at 7:00 p.m. Sunday’s event will be televised live by ESPN and ESPN3.com. at 11:00 a.m.

Gary Johnson, SRT Motorsports Racing Manager, is in Munich for the doubleheader and provided these comments about Friday’s activities.

“Today was only jump practice. It’s a really beautiful track here; they’ve done a great job putting it together.

“I think the Dodge Darts are going to be pretty strong at this event because of the type of course – it’s fairly long and fast with a couple of sweepers. We have Timur (Timerzyanov) replacing Travis (Pastrana) this weekend. He’s a well-established Rallycross driver. And, of course, Bryce (Menzies) is eager to have a good weekend.

“Timur knows what he likes in a setup; he has a lot of knowledge about this type of racing. The team is reacting, setting the car up to what he likes. It seems to be working based on what we’ve seen today. I think tomorrow’s race is going to be interesting.

We actually have practice, qualifying and the race tomorrow and it’s the same on Sunday, everything in one day.”

Weekend Schedule

Saturday

  • 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. (EDT) – Practice/Seeding
  • 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. (EDT) – Race

Sunday           

  • 8:20 – 9:00 a.m. (EDT) – Practice
  • 9:15 – 10:00 a.m. (EDT) – Seeding
  • 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (EDT) – Race

Photo credit: Alison Merion Padron

Race Preview: X Games Munich

IN BRIEF: It’s double the fun in Germany this weekend, as Global Rallycross stages a doubleheader event at X Games Munich this Saturday and Sunday.

TUNE IN INFORMATION: (all times Eastern)

  • Saturday, 9:30 AM: ESPN3.com (Live)
  • Saturday, 1:00 – 6:00 PM: ABC
  • Saturday, 7:00 – 11:00 PM: ESPN
  • Sunday, 11:00 AM: ESPN3.com & ESPN (Live)

ENTRY LIST: Click here for the full entry list.

LAST RACE: Three drivers earned their first X Games medals in Foz do Iguaçu, with Scott Speed beating Toomas Heikkinen and Patrik Sandell to the line. OlsbergsMSE-prepared Ford Fiestas took the first five finishing positions, giving Ford a huge leg up in the race to defend its manufacturer’s championship.

DRIVER CHANGES: Three drivers will make their GRC season debuts in Munich, including two drivers making their rallycross debuts. Townsend Bell (OMSE2) and Mattias Ekstrom (Marklund Motorsport) are the two newcomers, while the third is a big name in the rallycross world: Timur Timerzyanov, the defending European Supercar champion and current points leader, who will substitute for the otherwise-occupied Travis Pastrana. Timerzyanov raced in last year’s season finale, finishing ninth.

“I think it’s awesome having Timur involved,” said Bryce Menzies, Timerzyanov’s Pastrana Racing teammate for the weekend. “He has so much knowledge of changing stuff and trying new things, so I think it’s going to be good this weekend to see what ideas he has to make the cars faster.”

THE TRACK: The Munich layout is 807.3 meters long and features a nearly 60:40 ratio of gravel to tarmac. The eight turn course is constructed behind the Fröttmaning bus station near the Allianz Arena, earning it the nickname “FröttmaRing.”

“This track is completely different than what we’ve had for GRC and X Games,” said Sverre Isachsen. “This is more like what we have in Europe. This is really good.”

ON THE DOUBLE: X Games Munich will feature two races, to make up for the rain-cancelled X Games Barcelona event. These events will mark GRC’s first doubleheader since the inaugural 2011 season, but the first time in which two consecutive days of points-paying rallycross has been held. Only Marcus Gronholm was ever able to pull off a doubleheader sweep, doing so at Irwindale Speedway on March 25-26, 2011.

DRIVER POINTS:

  1. Scott Speed, 21
  2. Toomas Heikkinen, 18
  3. Patrik Sandell, 15
  4. Steve Arpin, 13
  5. Brian Deegan, 12

MANUFACTURER POINTS:

  1. Ford, 39
  2. Dodge, 12

GRC Drivers Excel In Various Off-Weekend Competitions

With four weeks and counting until X Games Munich, the stars of Global Rallycross have been doing their best to stay occupied. That quest to keep up the competitive fire has taken them to some interesting places, to say the least.

Ken Block didn’t even have to leave his #43 Ford Fiesta ST behind to do it. Block and his Hoonigan Racing team won the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, winning 12 of 16 stages and holding the lead from the very beginning. Block beat David Sterckx, who tested a GRC Lites car back in January, and David Higgins, who finished seventh at X Games last year.

Pastrana Racing driver Bryce Menzies was also behind the wheel, albeit not in his #99 Dodge Dart. Menzies competed in the Baja 500, looking for his third consecutive Trophy Truck win at the famous off-road event. While that didn’t come to pass, he still persevered through mechanical issues to finish a respectable third.

Other drivers took on wildly different challenges. Dave Mirra, an avid triathlete, competed in the inaugural IRONMAN 70.3 in Raleigh, North Carolina over the weekend. With a total time of 4:48:50, Mirra finished 12th in his division and 62nd overall. Mirra will compete in another event in Syracuse, New York, on June 23—just days before he travels to Germany.

At the same time, Bucky Lasek, Mirra’s Subaru PUMA Rallycross teammate, was competing on his skateboard, but the competition wasn’t the focus. Lasek was a part of the seventh annual Clash at Clairemont, an event to support the (San Diego) Mission Valley YMCA and Grind for Life, a charity that supports children with cancer. Lasek’s team placed second in the Sonic Generations of Skate, an event that paired three generations of vert skateboarders in four different competitions.

Image via Ford Racing

NEWS-ByTheNumbers-Featured

By The Numbers: Barcelona Entry List Boasts Numerous Accolades

Global Rallycross frequently boasts one of the most versatile and talented driver bases in all of motorsport, and Sunday’s event at X Games Barcelona is no exception. The 17 entrants have appeared in nearly every major racing series on the planet, taking home dozens of accolades in the process. Here’s a look at just what they’ve accomplished:

  • 264: World Rally Championship starts
    (Carlos Sainz 196, Patrik Sandell 41, Ken Block 22, Travis Pastrana 5)
  • 191: NASCAR national series starts
    (Scott Speed 158, Travis Pastrana 19, Steve Arpin 14)
  • 87: X Games medals
    (Dave Mirra 24, Bucky Lasek/Travis Pastrana 17, Brian Deegan 16, Tanner Foust 6, Ken Block 3, Liam Doran/Toomas Heikkinen/Patrik Sandell/Scott Speed 1)
  • 43: International rallycross victories (Supercars)
    (Sverre Isachsen 23, Tanner Foust 12, Liam Doran 5, Brian Deegan/Travis Pastrana/Scott Speed 1)
  • 29: Rally America overall victories
    (Travis Pastrana 17, Ken Block 12)
  • 28: Dakar Rally starts
    (Nani Roma 17, Carlos Sainz 6, Guiga Spinelli 5)
  • 28: Formula 1 starts
    (Scott Speed 28)
  • 23: Race of Champions selections
    (Carlos Sainz 9, Travis Pastrana 8, Tanner Foust 3, Brian Deegan/Nani Roma/Scott Speed 1)
  • 6: Short course off-road championships
    (Brian Deegan 4, Bryce Menzies 2)
  • 6: International rallycross championships
    (Sverre Isachsen 3, Tanner Foust 2, Anton Marklund 1)

Photo credit: Alison Merion Padron

Path To Brazil: “Sibling Rivalry” Pushes Pastrana Racing Forward

In 2013, Pastrana Racing will have a new home base at DirtFish Rally School and a new crew led by world-class mechanic Ian Davies. But the names and faces attracting the most attention will likely be the men behind the wheel themselves—X Games legend Travis Pastrana and rising star Bryce Menzies.

Pastrana needs no introduction. He won the very first X Games gold medal in rally in 2006, and for years has been one of the United States’ premier rally drivers. In five GRC starts last season, Pastrana scored a popular victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on the way to a top-10 finish in series points.

“Travis is phenomenal,” raves Lee Clark, CEO of DirtFish. “He’s just down to earth and grounded, and he struck up an instant rapport with the team. We’ve got a great affinity between the technicians, the management, and the athletes themselves.”

“Travis is very exciting, Travis can win,” adds Davies. “We saw at New Hampshire last year that he’s a fighter.”

The addition of Menzies only further enforces that environment. But besides fitting in with the vibe of the team, the off-road star adds something else to the mix: a completely different perspective on driving the car.

“Bryce was brought in just being a yo

Path To Brazil: New Crew, Base of Operations Highlight Revamped Pastrana Racing

Now in its second year of Global Rallycross competition, Pastrana Racing will retain Travis Pastrana and Bryce Menzies in its two Dodge Dart vehicles in 2013. But behind the scenes, the team features a brand-new crew that includes a new home base and new lead engineer.

Pastrana Racing will operate out of DirtFish Rally School, the Snoqualmie, Washington-based rallying haven that hosted a GRC round in the series’ inaugural season in 2011.

“We’re running the two-car team for Travis and Bryce,” says Lee Clark, CEO of DirtFish. “That first started the back end of last season—Pastrana Racing were looking to develop the car in the offseason. They recognized that the Dodge Dart had enormous potential, and they wanted to look to an organization that had the capability to take the Dodge Dart further. As an organization that’s unique within the US, we were at the top of the list.

“So our responsibilities within that, as technical partner, we are responsible not only for the preparation and maintenance of the vehicles through the season, being at the races with the team, but also for the development of the vehicle in the offseason before we get to Brazil and the season starts, and the development of the cars through the season and into next year.”

“(DirtFish) is awesome,” Pastrana raves. “It’s pretty far out there, but that’s kind of cool—when you go out to watch rally, in Washington, Oregon, those places, (or) Vermont and any of those mountain areas, they’re just awesome terrain, awesome for rallying. It’s pretty cool because we can go up there and there’s dirt, there’s pavement, there’s concrete, you’ve got some areas that are inside these huge sheds—you always have something that’s dry. We had a lot of wet practice up there that we didn’t get last year.”

“I’ve been up there two times now and their facility is amazing,” continues Menzies. “We went up there for two days—it’s been raining every time we went up there—but we tested for two days straight, in which we made a lot of changes to the car and got some more seat time. I feel a lot more comfortable in it.

“I’m happy that we actually got some time to test the cars before we go to Brazil, to make the right changes and see if we can get these cars to the top of the box.”

One of the biggest advantages that working out of DirtFish affords is the opportunity for the team to do a significant amount of testing. Compared to last year, when testing time was at a premium, Pastrana and Menzies have had much more time in the Darts this year.

“We’re using their extremely nice and very customizable facility, where we can really plan out what we need to test,” says Blair Stopnik, Pastrana Racing team manager. “And there’s a piece of that property that we can fine-tune and adjust for what we need to test. So we’re able to work on the car, roll it outside, and test right there. We’re really changing the way we’re doing things this year, we’re really putting a lot of emphasis on just running the cars, and DirtFish has allowed us to do that.”

“We have a unique facility—we have almost 60 miles of configurable courses that include paved, tarmac, and gravel-based roads,” notes Clark.

At the head of the team will be Ian Davies, who had been chief mechanic for Ken Block and the Monster World Rally Team in 2012. With Davies at the helm, Block scored two top seeds and three heat wins on the way to fifth in the GRC standings.

“I talked to some of the other manufacturer people who were looking to come into the sport anew, but that was always going to be a much longer term situation,” Davies notes. “(Pastrana Racing) already had cars, they’ve got Red Bull backing and Dodge manufacturer backing, which means that when you come into the team, there was going to be some money to do something when you got there.”

“Ian is making a lot of great strides and has a lot of great ideas,” Stopnik adds, “and we’re really fortunate to have his experience.”

Menzies says, “(Ian) has a lot of knowledge, and we’re really looking forward to it. We all get along really well, we work together really well, these guys have a lot of knowledge with rally cars. So it kind of helps me out, where my background is off-road and I’m new to this sport.”

Photo credit: Michael Whelan

Pastrana Racing Reveals 2013 GRC Program

After a debut season that included a victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Pastrana Racing is proud to announce a two-car lineup for the 2013 Global Rallycross Championship season.

Team owner Travis Pastrana will return to the No. 199 Red Bull/Discount Tire Dodge Dart for six of nine races in the GRC season. Pastrana competed in five races in 2012, winning at New Hampshire and finishing ninth in GRC points with a brand new car. Pastrana won medals in the first four rally events in X Games history, including a gold medal in the debut year of 2006, and holds the world record for the longest jump in a rally car (269 feet).

“We had a really great program with the Dodge Dart last year,” said Pastrana. “But I think we’ve got the car a lot better this year. Last year I only finished one race, but we won that one! I feel like we’re a lot more prepared coming into this season.”

Bryce Menzies will join Pastrana in the No. 99 Red Bull/America’s Tire Dodge Dart and compete for the GRC championship in all nine races. Menzies made his GRC debut at last year’s X Games in Los Angeles, and returned to the series in last year’s season finale at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Menzies boasts multiple off-road championships and race wins, as well as an appearance in Red Bull’s Kluge video.

“I’m just really excited to be a part of Pastrana Racing,” said Menzies. “My expectations are pretty high. We have an amazing team—Travis Pastrana is a great guy, he puts a lot of effort into making an awesome team. We have an awesome car. As long as we stay consistent, and we can make the right changes to the car and work together, I think we’re going to be a good contender for the championship this year.”

The cars will be prepared at DirtFish Rally School, a 60-acre, purpose-built training ground in Snoqualmie, Washington. The team will be led by Ian Davies, a longtime engineer in both rally and rallycross with World Rally Championship and GRC experience.

“We’ve got a great affinity between the technicians, the management, and the athletes themselves,” said Lee Clark, CEO of DirtFish Rally School. “The sport for 2013 and beyond is stepping up a level. The technical sophistication of the whole sport is moved up to the highest level now. And I think that’s the piece that DirtFish sees as most exciting.”

“Last year, looking down the pit lane, at the other teams, they seemed to have a very good vibe, and they were well organized,” said Davies. “I thought that this is a team that I feel I could be part of, and we could take further. This year we want to try and be along with the front contenders.”

Check back in the coming days for more content from Pastrana Racing.