Tag Archives: Dave Mirra

Mirra Shows Impressive Speed in Debut with Prodrive MINI

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

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Global Rallycross Race Recap: The Dirt Track at Charlotte

IN BRIEF: Scott Speed won the battle, but Toomas Heikkinen won the war—while Speed took his second win of the year in the Sylvania Silverstar zXe Global Rallycross at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, Heikkinen took home the 2013 Global Rallycross Driver’s Championship and $20,000 Sylvania Silverstar zXe Cup bonus.

HEAT RECAPS: Ken Block, once again, asserted his dominance in heat races by winning both 1A and 2A. Block’s nine heat victories are more than any other driver in GRC this year. Meanwhile, four other drivers—Travis Pastrana (1B), Tanner Foust (1C), Scott Speed (2B), and Brian Deegan (2C) also won heat races, though Dave Mirra could have easily won heat 2B if not for a jump start penalty that was later deemed incorrect. The LCQ was canceled after numerous accidents with Steve Arpin, Stephan Verdier, and Toomas Heikkinen in the three transfer spots.

MAIN EVENT RECAP: A major accident in the first pass through the fourth turn led to a red flag situation, as Scott Speed, Bucky Lasek, and Brian Deegan appeared to be the top three drivers in the field. Speed got the holeshot in the second attempted start as well, leading Deegan and Block.

Block’s right front tire came apart early in the event, dropping him down the order as he spun multiple times. Meanwhile, Heikkinen recovered from a series of unlucky breaks in his heat races and the final transfer spot of the LCQ to finish third. Deegan chased down Speed, closing in as the race progressed, but the X Games Brazil gold medalist still took the victory by just over three seconds.

RESULTS: The results from Saturday’s Sylvania SilverStar zXe Global Rallycross at The Dirt Track at Charlotte:

  1. Scott Speed, #77 OMSE2 Ford Fiesta
  2. Brian Deegan, #38 OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST
  3. Toomas Heikkinen, #57 OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST
  4. Stephan Verdier, #4 Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster
  5. Steve Arpin, #32 OMSE2 Ford Fiesta
  6. Bucky Lasek, #81 Subaru PUMA Rallycross WRX STI
  7. Ken Block, #43 Hoonigan Racing Division Ford Fiesta ST
  8. Sverre Isachsen, #11 Subaru PUMA Rallycross WRX STI
  9. Travis Pastrana, #199 Pastrana Racing Dodge Dart
  10. Tanner Foust, #34 OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST
  11. Pat Moro, #59 PMR Motorsports Chevrolet Sonic
  12. Dave Mirra, #40 Prodrive MINI Countryman
  13. Patrik Sandell, #18 OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST
  14. Bryce Menzies, #99 Pastrana Racing Dodge Dart
  15. Nelson Piquet Jr., #12 X Team Racing Mitsubishi Evo

QUOTES: A selection of quotes from Saturday’s Sylvania SilverStar zXe Global Rallycross at The Dirt Track at Charlotte:

Toomas Heikkinen, Driver, #57 OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST: “It’s been a great year. Now we get the championship with the one point that we needed. But I’m still looking forward and want to win the last one. Of course I want to be on the podium still—that’s what I’m looking for, and that is our goal.”

Scott Speed, Driver, #77 OMSE2 Ford Fiesta: “We were pretty solid all day. In these things, you can be fast—we were pretty fast at Bristol but we didn’t even make the final—so you’ve got to be lucky not to get in any crashes. We stayed out of trouble, got lucky, and were able to win again.”

Stephan Verdier, Driver, #4 Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster: “I’m ecstatic, especially when I was last after lap one of the final. I stalled the car in the hairpin—I thought I was top three but then I was all the way last by a mile. Good wheels saved us, because everybody else kept getting flat tires, and we kept picking them off one at a time. The car is beat, Rhys is going to be so mad at me, but we got fourth! I think we have one body panel left. But we blew out a shock, and we had a transmission issue too. The boys worked hard today. But fourth place is awesome—and it was fourth place on speed.”

Steve Arpin, Driver, #32 OMSE Ford Fiesta: “I feel like we should have been a lot better! We had such a fast car today. It started out in qualifying—we had the first lap and it was fast, and they told me to cool it down for the rest of it, but I guess they don’t count the first lap. I had a blast on the racetrack. We had so much rain last night, but everyone did such a good job making the race track as good as it was. It was so soft, so easy to run up, but somehow they were able to maintain it and have a good race track. We just kept having flat tires—two of them today took us out of it. But the Royal Purple Ford was so good, I wish we could go out there and do it again. Even if we had another flat tire, it was just so much fun every time around the race track.”

Dave Mirra, Driver, #40 Prodrive MINI Countryman: “First and foremost, I want to thank PUMA, Liam Doran, and Prodrive for the MINI. It was an unbelievable car, super fast. I won practice yesterday, qualified second today, clearly was reeling in some other heat drivers in the other races, but things just didn’t go right. I got called for a jump start—Joey (Mancari) came back and reviewed it and said it wasn’t a jump start. We went to the LCQ and all hell broke loose. I’m pretty bummed about the race. It kind of stinks, because I know I was very fast.”

FAST FACTS: A collection of facts from Saturday’s Sylvania SilverStar zXe Global Rallycross at Atlanta Motor Speedway:

  • Toomas Heikkinen clinched both the 2013 Global Rallycross Driver’s Championship and 2013 Sylvania SilverStar zXe Cup on Sunday.
  • This was the second win of Scott Speed’s Global Rallycross career, dating back to his victory at X Games Foz do Iguacu on April 21. It was also the first time he finished on the podium since taking the victory.
  • OlsbergsMSE-prepared vehicles have won seven of eight races this season, five times by Heikkinen and twice by Speed.
  • Brian Deegan’s second place finish marked his best finish since back-to-back runner up results in both Las Vegas races last season. He now has three podiums in his last five starts.
  • Heikkinen’s five-race win streak was snapped, but he maintained his record of finishing on the podium in each event in 2013.
  • Coming in fourth, Stephan Verdier scored his best finish since finishing third at Charlotte last year.
  • Fifth place finisher Steve Arpin earned his third top five of the season, as well as his first win in a last chance qualifier.
  • Tanner Foust missed a Global Rallycross final for the first time in 22 career starts on Sunday. He had accidents in both his heat race and the last chance qualifier that prevented him from advancing.
  • Pat Moro finished 11th in the debut of the Chevrolet Sonic.

DRIVER POINTS:

  1. Toomas Heikkinen, 154
  2. Tanner Foust, 103
  3. Brian Deegan, 101
  4. Ken Block, 93
  5. Scott Speed, 84
  6. Patrik Sandell, 79
  7. Sverre Isachsen, 74
  8. Steve Arpin, 70
  9. Liam Doran, 59
  10. Bucky Lasek, 46
  11. Travis Pastrana, 41
  12. Dave Mirra, 36
  13. Timur Timerzyanov, 34
  14. Mattias Ekstrom, 26
  15. Anton Marklund, 26
  16. Bryce Menzies, 21
  17. Stephan Verdier, 18
  18. Townsend Bell, 16
  19. Guilherme Spinelli, 14
  20. Nelson Piquet Jr., 13
  21. Rhys Millen, 13
  22. Buddy Rice, 7
  23. Henning Solberg, 7
  24. Pat Moro, 6
  25. Mauricio Neves, 5
  26. Edu Marques, 3
  27. David Sterckx, 1

MANUFACTURER POINTS:

  1. Ford, 303
  2. Subaru, 125
  3. Dodge, 109

Photo credit: Matthew Kalish

Prodrive Aims to Add Global Rallycross Victory to Trophy Case in Charlotte

On Sunday, Prodrive will field its own independent entry in a Global Rallycross event for the first time at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. The fabled English organization, winners of over 200 races and championships in various forms of motorsport, will field Dave Mirra in the #40 PUMA MINI on Sunday.

Prodrive has been involved with GRC since X Games Barcelona in May, building the car that Liam Doran took to two medals in Munich. But while the physical car and hauler are the same that Doran has taken across the globe, the staff and entry are independent of Doran’s team members this weekend.

“The format of Global Rallycross is really attractive,” said Alan McGuinness, the motorsports and operations manager for Prodrive’s MINI racing program. “It’s a new thing, and we’re getting used to it. When we do World Rally events, we’ve got our year planned out exactly when and where we’re going. But with Global Rallycross it’s been refreshing, because the schedule is quite tight, there have been some changes, and it’s been a big learning curve. But it’s quite a good challenge, and it’s sparked everyone up.”

Prodrive’s history is common knowledge to much of the motorsports world, from its successes running the Subaru World Rally Team, to the Aston Martin GT program, to turning the British American Racing Formula 1 team into a truly competitive outfit. The particular MINI that Prodrive have entered this weekend has a storied history of its own—everything from World Rally events to the British version of Top Gear, where it attempted an Olympic ski jump. But from course to course, the car that Mirra will drive on Sunday has seen some major changes since its time in the WRC.

“Visually, they’re really similar,” McGuinness admitted. “We take the headlights out, and this car isn’t road legal, but basically it’s the same layout. We’ve moved the radiators to the back to protect them and the engine has a big step in horsepower because we don’t have as many restrictions. We run a throttle cable here because it’s part of the regulations.

“We’ve targeted running a 1.6 turbo engine on this, we’ve worked very hard on the chassis to make the car easy to drive, and we’re right on the weight limit. So there are the key areas of performance that make the car different from the World Rally car.”

Doran, of course, took medals in his first two events with the MINI, but has been consistently quick in seeding sessions and practices beforehand. The partnership with Mirra has worked so far as well; the MINI has been faster than any other car on track, winning Saturday’s practice session by over a second and a half.

“Dave is a fit, awesome, competitive athlete,” touted McGuinness. “His mindset is all about winning. We were very lucky to have a good test day on Thursday, and we’ve got him dialed into it. It’s showing really good, encouraging signs.

“The main difference is, with Liam, he knows exactly what he wants in the setup and the car, he knows what he wants in his own mind, he goes out, and he does it. We have a slightly different strategy here with Dave—he’s got to learn the car, he’s tightening up his driving and trying to be more consistent. We’re not so much working with the setup of the car with Dave, we’re trying to help him understand it more and make it work for him.”

After spending his entire career driving Subarus prepared by Vermont SportsCar, the change has been refreshing for Mirra as well.

“Coming over here and having the opportunity to drive Liam’s car, and to meet the Prodrive the guys for the first time, is unbelievable,” said Mirra. “These guys are great, they’re doing an amazing job, and I’m on cloud nine, to be honest.”

Besides running in Global Rallycross in Charlotte this weekend, Prodrive is also at Circuit of the Americas, the future host of X Games Austin, for the International Sports Car Weekend with its Aston Martin GT squad. Prodrive cars qualified first and third in class for today’s six-hour World Endurance Championship race.

“Prodrive’s pretty empty at the minute,” McGuinness explained. “We’ve got pretty much everybody in America. Dave’s put in a pretty good performance, with five consistent laps, and that’s a good day at the office for us. With the Aston Martin team, we were on pole in Austin, so it’s on the drivers. We’re relying on them to do a good job.

“But we’re really happy so far.”

Photo credit: John Davison/RIS-News.com (1); QBA/QNIGAN.com (3); Matthew Kalish (4)

Image via Prodrive (2)

Global Rallycross Race Preview: Charlotte Motor Speedway

IN BRIEF: Toomas Heikkinen looks for his unprecedented sixth Global Rallycross victory in a row, while 14 other drivers will attempt to knock him off of the top spot as the sport makes its debut at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

TUNE IN INFORMATION FOR RACE:

  • Sunday, September 22, 4:30 PM ET on ABC (Live)

SPOTTER GUIDE/DRIVER STATS: CLICK HERE for the full entry list.

LIVE TIMING FOR NHMS: CLICK HERE for Live Timing

LAST RACE: Toomas Heikkinen won an unprecedented fifth consecutive main event in Atlanta, continuing a winning streak that began in the second half of the X Games Munich doubleheader. As in Los Angeles, Tanner Foust and Sverre Isachsen completed the podium, while Dave Mirra and Timur Timerzyanov scored season-best fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively.

DRIVER CHANGES: Charlotte’s entry list features many significant differences from Atlanta:

  • Dave Mirra will move from Subaru PUMA Rallycross team to substitute for Liam Doran in the Prodrive-prepared MINI Countryman. He will run his traditional #40.
  • Pat Moro will make his season debut in the #59 PMR Motorsports Chevrolet Sonic.
  • Nelson Piquet Jr. and X Team Racing will return to competition in the #12 Mitsubishi Evo for the first time since New Hampshire.
  • Stephan Verdier will reunite with Rhys Millen Racing, his 2012 team, to race the #4 Hyundai Veloster.
  • Travis Pastrana and Bryce Menzies will return to Global Rallycross competition, replacing Timur Timerzyanov and Henning Solberg, respectively.

THE TRACK: Unlike 2012, this year’s Charlotte race will take place on the Dirt Track facility adjacent to the stock car oval. The track, primarily comprised of dirt, will feature multiple obstacles, including sections that will take cars out of, and back into, the facility.

HEIKKINEN HOPING FOR BIG CHARLOTTE WEEKEND: Toomas Heikkinen can clinch the 2013 GRC Drivers’ Championship in Charlotte with relative ease. Owing to his 43-point lead over Tanner Foust, he only needs to score two points over the final two races to win the title; even if Foust wins each of the next two races and all four of his heats, Heikkinen will score two points by simply starting the race. He will also lock up the Sylvania SilverStar zXe Cup by scoring two points; Ken Block, who is 20 points behind Heikkinen, would then have to win both heats and the final to tie Heikkinen on points, but would lose a tiebreaker on victories.

BIG THREE IN GRC: Ford has maintained a presence in Global Rallycross from the series’ inception, while Dodge entered the sport with a Travis Pastrana-led program last season. In Charlotte, a third American brand, Chevrolet, will join the sport for the first time; Pat Moro will enter the PMR Motorsports-prepared #59 Chevrolet Sonic in Sunday’s race. The move makes Global Rallycross one of a select few motorsports organizations to see same-class representation from all three major United States-based automakers: Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors.

MIRRA JOINS PRODRIVE: Dave Mirra has driven Vermont SportsCar-prepared Subarus since the very beginning of his motorsports career, but will trade the keys to his WRX STI for a new ride on Sunday. With Liam Doran otherwise committed, Mirra will step into the Prodrive-prepared MINI Countryman for the first time in Charlotte. The new combination has the power to surprise the field; Mirra scored his best finish of the season with a fourth place in Atlanta, while the MINI won gold and silver in its first two races at X Games Munich.

QUOTES: A selection of quotes in advance of Sunday’s Sylvania SilverStar zXe Global Rallycross at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway:

Travis Pastrana, Driver, #199 Pastrana Racing Dodge Dart: “(My car) is driving really good. It’s cool because we actually got to come down and use some NASCAR equipment here this week, and just test it, see how the suspension was working and try and get some more grip. I think this Dodge Dart should be pretty good.“

Dave Mirra, Driver, #40 Prodrive MINI Cooper: “I’m having a great time out here. The car is unbelievable, and I feel great in it. I’m so grateful for PUMA, WMG, and Prodrive, everybody here to support me, and I’m here for Papa Coyne and the family to race. I feel like a little kid.”

Stephan Verdier, Driver, #4 Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster: “I’m really excited. I definitely have some unfinished business with the Veloster, and we have the car 100%. We did some testing (on Thursday) and the car looks awesome. I think it’s going to be fun!”

Pat Moro, Driver, #59 PMR Motorsports Chevrolet Sonic: “It’s great to be down here in Charlotte. We’ve done so much testing with this car, and I’m just really excited to get it out there against all the other cars. I’m ready to get out here and ready to go racing.”

DRIVER POINTS:

  1. Toomas Heikkinen, 139
  2. Tanner Foust, 96
  3. Brian Deegan, 84
  4. Ken Block, 80
  5. Patrik Sandell, 75

MANUFACTURER POINTS:

  1. Ford, 264
  2. Subaru, 109
  3. Dodge, 94
GRCLIVERADIO

GRC Live Radio with Jim Beaver and Kate Osborne

Listen to GRC Live Radio with Jim Beaver and Kate Osborne from The Dirt Track at Charlotte for interviews with Dave Mirra, Stephan Verdier, Pat Moro, Bucky Lasek, and more!

Popular Automotive Internet Radio with Jim Beaver on BlogTalkRadio

Click the player above or click here to listen to an on-demand rebroadcast of the show.

Big Weekend Ahead For Doran Despite Missing GRC at Charlotte

Liam Doran made his first foray into team ownership at the start of this season, breaking away from his father’s race team in favor of establishing his own squad, LD Motorsports.

So far, the results have been up and down, with race wins in both Global Rallycross and European events, as well as some high-profile disappointments. But Doran, whose vehicles will maintain a presence on both continents this weekend, has adapted well to being his own boss.

“It’s a challenge, for sure,” he admitted. “It’s a lot different to have control as well as driving. There’s a lot more weight on the shoulders, but it’s also a lot more satisfying when you win. As a driver, it’s an amazing feeling to win an event, but to win an event when you’re a driver and also running your own team, you know what everyone’s doing, and it’s a really great feeling to have wins.

“On the other side of it, it’s really frustrating and emotional when things don’t go well, like last weekend, for starters (an engine failure in a main event). It’s tough, but the main point this year is that there have been more highs than there have been lows. It’s been generally a positive season, even when we’ve had faults. We’ve just got to iron out some problems.

“I’m really glad I’ve made the steps to take it on, and to have a successful year like we’ve had this year, in our first year, is (also) what we want in the future.”

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Doran will field two cars in Germany this weekend, for himself and Andreas Bakkerud, while Prodrive will campaign the car that he’s used throughout the GRC season for Mirra in Charlotte this weekend. Though Doran can’t be in two places at once, the two-time X Games gold medalist realizes that this weekend is crucial for his fledgling team to establish itself among the world’s best—and to prove that working with Prodrive can produce a winning partnership no matter who’s behind the wheel.

“If we can get two good results this weekend on two different continents, it’s pretty much establishing that we’re here, we’ve been in business, and we can get good results,” he explained. “We just keep knocking away at other teams, because other teams have been established and we’re in our first year, and we’ve had some amazing results. So winning on two different continents would create some jealousy!”

Photo credit: Patrick Savage/Bristol Motor Speedway (1); Matthew Kalish (2)

Global Rallycross Opens Charlotte Weekend With Test Session

Global Rallycross conducted a successful test day at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Thursday, with nearly a dozen drivers and some surprising special guests taking the wheel.

The biggest two names to take part were Kurt Busch, 2004 NASCAR Cup champion, and Marcus Smith, president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch tested an Olsbergs MSE-prepared Ford Fiesta, while Smith drove the #15 GRC Lites car run by Reinis Nitiss at X Games Los Angeles and Atlanta Motor Speedway last month.

Supercar drivers to take part in today’s test also included Travis Pastrana, Dave Mirra, Steve Arpin, Sverre Isachsen, Bucky Lasek, Nelson Piquet Jr., and Stephan Verdier. Lites drivers to turn laps included Austin Dyne, Kevin Eriksson, Alexander Westlund, Sebastian Eriksson, Mitchell deJong, and Geoff Sykes.

“I’m having a great time out here in practice,” said Mirra, who shook down the LD Motorsports/Prodrive Mini in place of Liam Doran for the first time. “It’s unbelievable practicing on the competition course, and testing a car I’ve never been in. I feel great in it—I have a lot to learn still, I have to clean up my lines, but I feel awesome.”

“The track is good,” added Lasek. “I definitely have some changes to make to the car, and some of the turns that I’m driving, but all in all it feels great.”

Photo credit: Jonathan Coleman/Charlotte Motor Speedway

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Hometown Favorite Mirra Racing For Papa Coyne in Charlotte

For Dave Mirra, heading to The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway is a homecoming race for him; his BMX career took off while he lived in North Carolina, and he has plenty of family ties in the state. It’s also a significant race for him, as it will be his first race in the LD Motorsports Mini after driving Vermont SportsCar-prepared Subarus since the start of his driving career.

But on the rear of the car, there’s another reason why this race is particularly meaningful to Mirra: the words #4papacoyne, a tribute to the late Bill “Papa” Coyne, the grandfather of his wife, Lauren. Mirra and family have been using the hashtag on social media, particularly Instagram, as a way to celebrate Coyne’s life.

“Lauren’s grandfather was a really awesome man,” Mirra said. “Two months ago, he was fine, and all of a sudden, he was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer. I got a chance to go up and sit with him, maybe two weeks ago, and then it progressed, and he’s already passed.

“I started the #4papacoyne hashtag when I went up and did an amateur boxing event up in Syracuse about a month ago. I went into the ring, it was a full USA Boxing sanctioned amateur fight, and I won it for Papa Coyne. I was pretty psyched.

“We’ll have a good part of Lauren’s family out as well. A lot of them are from Greensboro and Charlotte, so we’re going to have a good group there supporting me and there for Papa Coyne.”

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Mirra, Doran Optimistic About Charlotte Partnership

Perhaps the biggest news out of the Global Rallycross paddock over the past month was Dave Mirra’s sudden departure from the Subaru PUMA Rallycross Team. Mirra, a 24-time X Games medalist, made the decision to step away from the only team and manufacturer he’d ever known, but confirmed he would race in Sunday’s event at The Dirt Track at Charlotte—substituting for Liam Doran in the LD Motorsports/Prodrive Mini Countryman.

“I’m really excited to drive something different,” Mirra explained. “I’ve only ever driven a Subaru built by Vermont SportsCar, so for me to have this opportunity it’s like I’m dating a new girl!”

Doran, who won X Games gold in Munich in the Mini’s maiden race, had to step away due to other commitments in Europe. But with an eye for his team to compete on two different continents this weekend, Doran struck a deal with Mirra to keep the Mini on track.

“It’ll be really great to see how the car fares against every other car in the series with another driver,” he said. “If Dave gets a good result as well, it means for sure that the car’s a strong, competitive car. It’ll also be good to get some feedback from him, to see what his positive and negative thoughts on the car are, and where there’s room for improvement moving forward.

“What I do notice about that car,” observed Mirra, “and I guess it’s more from the European X Games events, is that anything technical, tricky, on gravel, that car seemed like it was just unbelievable. It’s very nimble, very responsive, and it looked like Liam was having a very easy time navigating through the tricky sections. So I hear about the course being a majority of dirt, and I’ve always kind of done well in the dirt sections. I’m assuming it’s going to be a little tight and tricky in the dirt oval, with the course and what they’re going to do with it, so I’m anticipating a tighter course and this is the perfect car for it.”

“(The car) has been getting better every single race,” Doran added. “The setup that Dave’s driving this weekend is the same setup that I used at X Games. It’s been getting better every event, but it’s not so much development as it is us learning about the car, where its strengths are, and focusing on using them to try and compete with everyone else.

“The Mini’s chassis and grip are better than every single car in the series, so I would say it’s got an advantage there for sure. In terms of drivability, it’s easy to drive, so on technical courses it’s very easy to learn the course, very easy to find the fastest way around, and the chassis is very forgiving. So that’s where I would say the advantage is going to be.

“We know there’s room for improvement, but the car has proven to be very competitive. It’s gotten better and better, and hopefully Dave is happy with what he can do.”

With that all in mind, Mirra won’t be coming into Sunday’s race with anywhere near as much testing as Doran did in the car before debuting it.

“Charlotte will be the first time I drive the car,” he noted. “I’m heading up (on Wednesday), going to get all fitted in, and then I know we’re going to have a pretty good test on Thursday on the actual track. I’m excited to be able to test a brand new car, see the differences—I have no idea (how it drives)—and to be on the actual course. So it’s going to be a plus-plus situation for sure.”

Doran, for his part, isn’t concerned about the adjustment period. “I’ve seen him drive before, and he was comparable to (former teammate Sverre) Isachsen, who is someone I’ve raced against for a long time,” he said. “He’s a very, very good driver, and Dave wasn’t far off from him, and sometimes was in front of him. I remember at Bristol, before X Games this year, Dave set the fastest lap time among all of us in the Subaru.

“I’m sure he’s capable, we’re certain of that, it’s just seeing how he’ll get on in my car. I think he’ll do pretty well. I wouldn’t say I’ve got expectations, but I’m confident he’ll get results.”

As for Mirra, he remains keen on building upon the results of his final race at Subaru, which saw him earn a GRC career-best fourth place finish.

“(With) the pace I had in Atlanta, building on that pace and jumping into the Mini, I expect myself to be very, very close to the front. But we’ll see. I’d be very disappointed if I wasn’t. I know that I’ve had some speed, and I know I can keep the pace when everything’s working in the cockpit. I’m only assuming this car will be dialed, and with a tight course, and with the underpowered Mini—I’m not sure if it’s really underpowered—it seems like Liam has had a lot of success on the gravel sections of the course, or if it’s raining. If it’s any situation where traction’s an issue, he seems to be very fast in those sections.

“I’m excited. I don’t know what to expect, but I have some pretty big expectations, and I know I’m going to the right car.”

Photo credit: Alison Padron (1, 3); QBA/QNIGAN.com (2); Patrick Savage (4)

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Dave Mirra to Drive Mini RX in Charlotte

LD Motorsport are stoked to announce that Monster Energy athlete and X Games icon Dave Mirra will get behind the wheel of the Mini RX for the GRC in Charlotte this September.

The 39-year-old will make his maiden appearance for the team to deputise for Liam Doran, who heads to Estering in Germany for the final stop of the European Rallycross Championship.

Liam commented: “Despite not being there myself I’m pleased to have my car out there with Dave driving, it’s going to be exciting to see what he can do with the Mini. It’s a shame my schedule clashes and that I can’t be in Charlotte. I think racing on the dirt track out there is going to be awesome but there’s no way I could miss the last round of RallycrossRX.”

Mirra has been a firm fixture in the action sports world for over two decades and has amassed over 20 X Games medals to date.

A legend of the BMX world, the American made his GRC debut in 2011 with the Subaru Puma Rallycross team.

Meanwhile, Liam will be looking to build on his strong performance at last weekend’s Rallycross round in Greinbach, where he dominated the field and was set to take the win until his car caught fire on lap four of the final.

Photo credit: QBA/QNIGAN.com