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In anticipation of the 2013 Global Rallycross season finale, held on the Las Vegas Strip on November 6-7, Global-Rallycross.com looks back on the 10 most significant events in the series’ three-year history. These stories will appear on Global-Rallycross.com once a day from Monday-Friday on the weeks of October 21-25 and October 28-November 1. Click here to purchase tickets for the 2013 Global Rallycross season finale.

DATE: July 14, 2012

LOCATION: New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, NH

IN BRIEF: Four-time Rally America champion Travis Pastrana brought the brand new Dodge Dart to GRC in 2012, as the team worked diligently to develop the platform. Unfortunately, bad luck plagued him in the first few races, culminating with a first-turn heat accident at X Games that left him in last in the series’ most prestigious event.

Not quite two weeks later, Pastrana headed to New Hampshire intent on putting his early season bad luck behind him. Taking advantage of the track’s longer straights and the metal gap jump, Pastrana’s only real combination all weekend was Samuel Hubinette, whose Saab 9-3 was also well suited to the track with its larger size. But in the end, Pastrana held off Hubinette in both their heat and the main event to win his first GRC event.

EFFECTS: Pastrana would only rank ninth in end-of-season points in 2012, missing the final race of the season due to shoulder surgery. But his progress impressed Dodge so much that, combined with their withdrawal from stock car racing, there have been two Dart vehicles on the grid for each race in 2013. Pastrana, three time TORC Series Pro 2 champion Bryce Menzies, two-time European rallycross champion Timur Timerzyanov, and longtime World Rally veteran Henning Solberg have shared the rides.

OTHER TOP 10 GRC MOMENTS

• Gronholm Sweeps Debut Weekend in Irwindale
• Deegan Earns Gold in Los Angeles