Tag Archives: Travis Pastrana

Global Rallycross Quickly Becoming a Race of Champions

The Race of Champions is one of motorsports’ most prestigious international events, pitting drivers from every corner of the world and every racing discipline against one another to determine who is the greatest driver of all; in that regard, it’s a lot like Global Rallycross.

But with the addition of Mattias Ekstrom to the field at X Games Munich, the two events share more than just similarities in scope.

“I would rank (GRC) on the same level as the Race of Champions, because it’s a similar event,” Ekstrom said. “But the competition is way better than it is in ROC because all of the drivers are specialists in their own cars.”

A total of nine current or former GRC drivers have been selected to appear at ROC events, with at least one future GRC driver making an appearance every year from 2001 to 2011. In 40 combined selections, they have taken nine Champion of Champions awards and been a part of three Nations’ Cup victories, while two Champion of Champions finals would feature future GRC competitors competing head to head.

Ekstrom brings three Champion of Champions titles to the table, having won in 2006, 2007, and 2009, and a Nations’ Cup from 2005 as a part of the Scandinavian team. He has been selected to compete in the event six times, most of any driver in the field at Munich; Tanner Foust ranks second with three selections, while Brian Deegan and Scott Speed have one apiece.

Though Travis Pastrana won’t be racing in Munich, the GRC owner/driver has been a staple of ROC events through the past decade. Pastrana boasts eight ROC selections, including seven in a row from 2005 to 2011, and competed for the Nations’ Cup on his own in 2006.

Three drivers to make race appearances last season have all taken home the Champion of Champions trophy. Marcus Gronholm, who won the first two GRC races of 2012, won the event in 2002, while defending X Games Los Angeles gold medalist Sebastien Loeb boasts victories from 2003, 2005, and 2008. Loeb also finished second in 2010 to Filipe Albuquerque, who raced at Texas last year as a teammate to Pastrana.

The full breakdown of driver statistics is below:

Current/Former GRC Drivers to Earn Race of Champions Selections

  • Filipe Albuquerque (GRC 2012; ROC 2010-11)
  • Brian Deegan (GRC 2011-13; ROC 2011)
  • Tanner Foust (GRC 2011-13; ROC 2008-10)
  • Marcus Gronholm (GRC 2011-12; ROC 2001-07, 2009)
  • Sebastien Loeb (GRC 2012; ROC 2002-06, 2008, 2010)
  • Travis Pastrana (GRC 2011-13; ROC 2003, 2005-11)
  • Nani Roma (GRC 2013; ROC 2006)
  • Carlos Sainz (GRC 2013; ROC 1989-93, 1996-99)
  • Scott Speed (GRC 2013; ROC 2006)

Current/Former GRC Drivers to Win Champion of Champions

  • 1997: Carlos Sainz
  • 2002: Marcus Gronholm
  • 2003: Sebastien Loeb
  • 2005: Sebastien Loeb
  • 2006: Mattias Ekstrom
  • 2007: Mattias Ekstrom
  • 2008: Sebastien Loeb
  • 2009: Mattias Ekstrom
  • 2010: Filipe Albuquerque

Current/Former GRC Drivers to Appear in Champion of Champions Final

  • 1993: Carlos Sainz
  • 2000: Marcus Gronholm
  • 2002: Sebastien Loeb
  • 2003: Marcus Gronholm
  • 2004: Sebastien Loeb
  • 2010: Sebastien Loeb

Current/Former GRC Drivers to Win Nations’ Cup

  • 2004: Sebastien Loeb (France)
  • 2005: Mattias Ekstrom (Scandinavia)
  • 2006: Marcus Gronholm (Finland)

Photo credit: Simon Bradley

Timur Timerzyanov to Replace Travis Pastrana at X Games Munich

Pastrana Racing announced today that Timur Timerzyanov will drive the No. 199 Red Bull/Discount Tire Dodge Dart in the Global Rallycross event at X Games Munich on June 29-30. Timerzyanov will replace Travis Pastrana, who will be unable to attend the race due to other commitments. Pastrana will return to the car at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 11.

Timerzyanov, 26, is the defending European Supercars champion, having won six races in 2012 in 10 starts. He ranks first in the same division through five races this year, having finished second in the previous three race events.

X Games Munich will be the second event of Timerzyanov’s Global Rallycross career. Last season, he was an injury replacement at the season finale in Las Vegas, where he scored a heat victory and finished ninth in the main event.

Currently, Pastrana ranks seventh in GRC points with 10, while teammate Bryce Menzies ranks 15th. Dodge ranks second in the GRC manufacturer’s championship with 12 points.

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.