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Eriksson edges Arpin for first Honda win

2 Mins read
Credit: Louis Yio/Red Bull GRC

Sebastian Eriksson fended off a late charge from Steve Arpin to take Honda‘s first win in Red Bull Global Rallycross in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Swede took the lead in the final early on after Scott Speed went wide in the dirt section on the opening lap.

It looked as if Speed and Volkswagen team mate Tanner Foust were again going to be fighting for the win this weekend. The pair again dominated the heats, with Austin Dyne and Steve Arpin also claiming wins. Speed and Foust each won their semi finals too.

Both VARX drivers got away well in the final and remaining side-by-side for the opening portion of the lap.

However with Speed dropping back, Foust was left to lead the Volkswagen charge. He took his joker on the third lap, one lap after Eriksson and fellow front runner Arpin, who collided with Foust as he exited the joker.

The coming together failed to halt either driver’s race, but Eriksson continued to lead while Speed was able to close the gap to the top three.

In the second half of the final, Mitchell De Jong had joined the fight at the front too, and was applying pressure on Foust, who had again slipped behind Speed, for fourth.

On the final lap, Eriksson and Arpin collided after the jump, with the Canadian looking to muscle his way past in a last ditch attempt to take the victory. The move would prove to be in vein though, but only just, as Eriksson held on to take the victory by a mere 0.071 seconds.

Speed took the final podium position with Foust resisting De Jong to take fourth. The top four were covered by just 0.930 seconds at the chequered flag.

Dyne took sixth, a transponder issue initially saw him classified eighth but that was corrected post race.

Oliver Eriksson and Cabot Bigham rounded out the finishers.

Technical issues kept Subaru drivers Chris Atkinson and Patrik Sandell out of the final round of heats, as well as both the semi finals and the final.

In Red Bull GRC Lites, Christian Brooks took his first series win ahead of Conner Martell who extends his championship lead. Gustavo Yacaman completed the podium on his début weekend after taking pole position in the category yesterday.

Sebastian Eriksson defeated the Volkswagens to take Honda’s maiden win – Credit: Louis Yio/Red Bull GRC

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Dominik Wilde is a professional motorsport and motoring writer that has covered events in both the UK and USA. His main focus for the Checkered Flag is covering Americas Rallycross and Nitro Rallycross.
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