With the 2013 Global Rallycross season now a memory, it’s time to look back on the nine-race season and recognize some of the statistical outperformers in the Supercar class.
IT ALL STARTS IN SEEDING: Earning a top spot in seeding doesn’t guarantee a driver a victory in the main event, but qualifying well certainly helps. No matter the stat—whether it’s average starting spot or most top seeds—Ken Block is at the top of the list:
Average Start:
- Ken Block, 3.22
- Liam Doran, 3.80
- Toomas Heikkinen, 4.11
- Brian Deegan, 4.33
- Tanner Foust, 5.56
Top Seeds Earned:
- Ken Block, 4 (New Hampshire, Bristol, Atlanta, Charlotte)
- Liam Doran, 2 (Brazil, Munich 1)
- Toomas Heikkinen, 1 (Munich 2)
- Brian Deegan, 1 (Los Angeles)
- Tanner Foust, 1 (Las Vegas)
HEATING UP: The Supercars class ran a total of 45 heats this season, with each driver having up to 13 opportunities to earn a bonus point. Once again, Block was the class of the field in that regard:
Heat Victories Earned:
- Ken Block, 11 (13 attempts)
- Toomas Heikkinen, 9 (13 attempts)
- Tanner Foust, 7 (13 attempts)
- Scott Speed, 5 (13 attempts)
- Brian Deegan, 4 (13 attempts)
- Liam Doran, 3 (6 attempts)
- Patrik Sandell, 2 (13 attempts)
- Sverre Isachsen, 2 (12 attempts)
- Travis Pastrana, 1 (7 attempts)
- Mattias Ekstrom, 1 (2 attempts)
Block’s only two heat losses came in Brazil, where he finished second to Toomas Heikkinen, and in the second Munich race, where Liam Doran beat him. Still, Block’s performance was so strong in the heats that he was the only full-time driver not to appear in a last chance qualifier in 2013.
MOVING UP THE FIELD: An underwhelming performance in seeding didn’t mean a driver couldn’t score a good finish at the end of the race. In fact, Travis Pastrana made a habit of finishing much better than he started, and moving up the field was a crucial part of Toomas Heikkinen’s championship run as well:
Plus/Minus (cumulative finishing positions gained from seeding result):
- Travis Pastrana, 26 (5 races)
- Toomas Heikkinen, 20 (9 races)
- Mattias Ekstrom, 12 (2 races)
- Townsend Bell, 12 (2 races)
- Stephan Verdier, 12 (3 races)
DRIVER OR CAR?: Not every Supercars team was fortunate enough to have the same driver in the car for each race in 2013. But while a driver rotation didn’t help a team’s efforts at consistency, by no means did it keep a team from scoring strong finishes. In fact, five of the 15 top cars in Global Rallycross this season, noted below in italics, saw multiple drivers behind the wheel, with the #199 Dodge Dart of Travis Pastrana and Timur Timerzyanov best among them:
- #57 OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST, 169 points
- #34 OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST, 123
- #43 Hoonigan Racing Division Ford Fiesta ST, 115
- #38 OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST, 106
- #77 OMSE2 Ford Fiesta, 94
- #199 Pastrana Racing Dodge Dart, 90
- #18 OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST, 89
- #11 Subaru PUMA Rallycross WRX STI, 86
- #32 OMSE2 Ford Fiesta, 79
- #33/40 LD Motorsports/Prodrive MINI Countryman, 64
- #81 Subaru PUMA Rallycross WRX STI, 49
- #99 Pastrana Racing Dodge Dart, 42
- #29 Marklund Motorsport Volkswagen Polo, 33
- #40 Subaru PUMA Rallycross WRX STI, 31
- #12 X Team Racing Mitsubishi Evo, 31
FULL STATISTICS: Advanced statistics for each driver to compete in more than half of the Supercars races in 2013:
Driver | Starts | Wins | Pts. (Per Race) | Heat Wins (Pct.) | LCQs (Pct.) | Finals Made (Pct.) | Avg. St. | Avg. Fin. |
Steve Arpin #32 OMSE2 |
9 | 0 | 79 (8.8) |
0/13 (0%) | 1/4 (25%) | 6/9 (66%) | 7.56 | 8.22 |
Ken Block #43 Hoonigan Racing |
9 | 1 | 115 (12.8) | 11/13 (85%) | 0/0 (N/A) | 9/9 (100%) | 3.22 | 6.33 |
Brian Deegan #38 OlsbergsMSE |
9 | 0 | 106 (11.8) | 4/13 (31%) | 1/2 (50%) | 8/9 (88%) | 4.33 | 6.11 |
Liam Doran #33 LD Motorsports |
5 | 1 | 59 (11.8) | 3/6 (50%) | 0/1 (0%) | 4/5 (80%) | 3.80 | 7.00 |
Tanner Foust #34 OlsbergsMSE |
9 | 0 | 123 (13.6) | 7/13 (54%) | 1/2 (50%) | 8/9 (88%) | 5.56 | 4.89 |
Toomas Heikkinen #57 OlsbergsMSE |
9 | 5 | 169 (18.8) | 9/13 (69%) | 1/1 (100%) | 9/9 (100%) | 4.11 | 1.89 |
Sverre Isachsen #11 Subaru PUMA |
8 | 0 | 86 (10.8) | 2/12 (16%) | 2/3 (66%) | 7/8 (87%) | 6.25 | 6.75 |
Bucky Lasek #81 Subaru PUMA |
8 | 0 | 49 (6.1) |
0/12 (0%) | 1/7 (14%) | 2/8 (25%) | 11.12 | 10.87 |
Bryce Menzies #99 Pastrana Racing |
8 | 0 | 35 (4.4) |
0/11 (0%) | 0/7 (0%) | 1/8 (12%) | 12.62 | 12.62 |
Dave Mirra #40 Subaru PUMA #40 Prodrive |
7 | 0 | 36 (5.1) |
0/10 (0%) | 1/7 (14%) | 1/7 (14%) | 11.28 | 11.86 |
Travis Pastrana #199 Pastrana Racing |
5 | 0 | 56 (11.2) | 1/7 (14%) | 1/1 (100%) | 5/5 (100%) | 11.40 | 6.20 |
Patrik Sandell #18 OlsbergsMSE |
9 | 0 | 89 (9.9) |
2/13 (15%) | 1/4 (25%) | 6/9 (66%) | 6.78 | 7.67 |
Scott Speed #77 OMSE2 |
9 | 2 | 94 (10.4) | 5/13 (38%) | 3/5 (60%) | 7/9 (77%) | 7.78 | 8.00 |
Timur Timerzyanov #199 Pastrana Racing #29 Marklund Motorsport |
5 | 0 | 34 (6.8) |
0/7 (0%) | 3/5 (60%) | 3/5 (60%) | 8.80 | 10.40 |
Photo credit: Matthew Kalish