LOCATION | Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale, CA
DATE | March 25-26
CONDITIONS | Oval meets rallycross: 50 per cent dirt, 50 per cent tarmac; 70′ gap jump. The first stop in the new Global RallyCross Championship, this event transforms Irwindale Speedway’s small oval track into a mixed dirt and tarmac rallycross course. Competitors looking for a chance to compete at X Games this summer meet to race for the first time. The highlight of the event is a huge, 70-foot gap jump, seen here for the first time in any motorsport competition outside of X Games.
Multimedia
Results
Two-time World Rally Championship winner Marcus Grönholm took a pair of wins this weekend after two days of hard-hitting competition at the first-ever Global RallyCross Championship event, held Friday and Saturday at Irwindale Speedway outside of Los Angeles.
The legendary Finnish driver emerged victorious in both days of racing, piloting his Best Buy Ford Fiesta to victory in Friday’s head-to-head SuperRally contest and the multi-car RallyCross event on Saturday.
“The track was good to drive,” said Grönholm. “The competition was good with many good drivers… I want to come back and race here again this season.”
The first-ever Global RallyCross Championship event saw a field of top drivers in two-wheel and all-wheel drive classes competing head-to-head on a mixed dirt and tarmac course that featured a massive, 70-foot gap jump never seen before outside of X Games competition.
Second place on Saturday went to Rockstar Energy Drink driver and Top Gear host Tanner Foust, who campaigned the same Ford Fiesta he took to double-X Games Rally gold medals last summer. He said he was excited to be at the inaugural Global RallyCross Championship event.
“We broke a lot of ground this weekend at this first event,” said Foust Saturday. “The final was crazy: When I saw Grönholm’s car right over my head on the jump, I knew he had it.”
Third-place overall went to Formula DRIFT regular Stephan Verdier, who put in consistently fast times all weekend in his Subaru WRX STI.
“The last round was insane,” said Verdier. “I can’t wait to do it again at the next one.”
The two-day Global RallyCross Championship race featured a roster of top drivers from around the world, including Subaru Rally Team USA driver Dave Mirra – a BMX star with more X Games medals than any other athlete in the world – European rallycross veteran Michael Jernberg, from Sweden, and the Hyundai team of Rhys Millen and five-time British rally champion Marcus Dodd
| Pos | PIC | No. | Class | Name | Yr/Make/Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Download full results here | |||||
| 1 | 1 | 3600 | S-AWD | Marcus Grönholm | 11 Ford Fiesta |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | S-AWD | Michael Jernberg | |
| 3 | 3 | 34 | S-AWD | Tanner Foust | 11 Ford Fiesta |
| 4 | 4 | 99 | S-AWD | Pontus Tidemand | 08 Ford Fiesta |
| 5 | 5 | 67 | S-AWD | Rhys Millen | 12 Hundai Veloster |
| 6 | 6 | 12 | S-AWD | Stephan Verdier | 06 Subaru STi |
| 7 | 7 | 115 | S-AWD | Joseph Burke | 06 Mitsubishi Evo 9 |
| 8 | 8 | 76 | S-AWD | Marcus Dodd | 12 Hyundai Veloster |
| 9 | 1 | 418 | L-AWD | Jimmy Keeney | 07 Subaru Impresa WRX STi |
| 10 | 9 | 198 | S-AWD | Arkadiusz Gruszka | 06 Mitsubishi EVO IX |
| Pos | No. | Name | Class | Yr/Make/Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Download full results here | ||||
| 1 | 3 | Marcus Grönholm | S-AWD | 11 Ford Fiesta |
| 2 | 34 | Tanner Foust | S-AWD | 11 Ford Fiesta |
| 3 | 12 | Stephan Verdier | S-AWD | 06 Subaru STi |
| 4 | 40 | Dave Mirra | S-AWD | 06 Subaru STi |
| 5 | 67 | Rhys Millen | S-AWD | 12 Hundai Veloster |
| DNF | 99 | Pontus Tidemand | S-AWD | 08 Ford Fiesta |
| Driver | The Revolution | Twin Peaks | Last Chance | X Games 17 | RallyCross TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jared Carpenter | 0 | ||||
| RallyX | RallyX | RallyX | Rally X | ||
| Tanner Foust | 17 | 21 | 13 | 18 | 69 |
| Marcus Gronholm | 20 | 22 | 16 | 58 | |
| Rhys Millen | 13 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 50 |
| Stephan Verdier | 15 | 13 | 15 | 1 | 44 |
| Michael Jernberg | 8 | 17 | 10 | 2 | 37 |
| Dave Mirra | 11 | 11 | 14 | 36 | |
| Brian Deegan | 11 | 21 | 32 | ||
| Derek Higgins | 19 | 12 | 31 | ||
| Joseph Burke | 7 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 29 |
| Arkadiusz Gruszka | 9 | 8 | 5 | 22 | |
| Jimmy Keeney | 9 | 3 | 7 | 19 | |
| Andreas Eriksson | 17 | 17 | |||
| Liam Doran | 7 | 10 | 17 | ||
| Pontus Tideman | 12 | 0 | 12 | ||
| Nathan Conley | 12 | 12 | |||
| Travis Pastrana | 11 | 11 | |||
| Marcus Dodd | 10 | 10 | |||
| Richard Burton | 7 | 2 | 9 | ||
| Pat Moro | 8 | 8 | |||
| Timothy Rooney | 6 | 6 | |||
| Dillon Van Way | 6 | 6 | |||
| Ken Block | 4 | 4 | |||
| Robbie Maddison | 3 | 3 | |||
| Robert Borowicz | 0 | ||||
| Andi Mancin | 0 |
| Pos | No. | Class | Name | Yr/Make/Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Download full results here | ||||
| 1 | 46 | S-2WD | Mathew Johnson | 2004 Mazda RX‐8 |
| 2 | 64 | S-2WD | Randy Zimmer | 96 Mazda Miata |
| 3 | 90 | L-2WD | Lauchlin O’Sullivan | 87 Toyota FX‐16 |
| DNF | 600 | S-2WD | Dillon Van Way | 02 Ford Focus |
| DNF | 55 | S-2WD | Andrew Sutherland | 95 Honda Civic |
