Tanner Foust brought himself firmly back into contention for the 2017 Red Bull Global Rallycross crown by winning the first part of the Seattle double header event.
Besides qualifying, which was topped by Subaru‘s Chris Atkinson, Foust headed very one of his sessions over the course of the event and led a Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross one-two in the final.
Foust and team mate Scott Speed began the race on the front row, with Atkinson in the middle of them. The Australian was squeezed out from the beginning and had to fend of an early assault from Sebastian Eriksson and Mitchell deJong on the opening lap.
Eriksson pulled off track at the end of lap two, leaving deJong and team mate Oliver Eriksson to challenge to Atkinson for the final podium spot. Up front, VARX duo Foust and Speed stretched to a comfortable lead of almost two seconds over the rest of the field by the mid-point in the final.
With four laps to go, deJong too retired from the race and Oliver Eriksson came under pressure from Steve Arpin who had carved his way through the field after starting at the back after a crash in his semi final. The former NASCAR driver made his move on the young Swede on lap eight of 10, and comfortable snatched fourth place.
Foust went on to take his third win of the season, having barely been challenged by Speed who was happy to consolidate second place. Atkinson followed to take his second podium of the year and Subaru’s second in the last three races after Patrik Sandell‘s second place in Atlantic City.
After his charge up the order, Arpin banked valuable points in the title race with fourth. Oliver Eriksson completed the top five, ahead of Austin Dyne and Sandell who made contact with Eriksson that put him out of contention for a top five finish.
Despite not finishing the race, Austin Cindric was classified eighth in his first Red Bull GRC Supercars outing.
The win for Foust puts him back to second in the championship standings behind Speed, demoting Arpin down to third with just two races remaining.
Red Bull Global Rallycross Seattle I Supercars Results
- Tanner Foust, #34 Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross
- Scott Speed, #41 Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross
- Chris Atkinson, #55 Subaru Rally Team USA
- Steve Arpin, #00 Loenbro Motorsports
- Oliver Eriksson, #16 Honda Red Bull Olsbergs MSE
- Austin Dyne, #14 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
- Patrik Sandell, #18 Subaru Rally Team USA
- Austin Cindric, #19 Bryan Herta Rallysport
- Mitchell deJong, #24 Honda Red Bull Olsbergs MSE
- Sebastian Eriksson, #93 Honda Red Bull Olsbergs MSE
Credit: Louis Yio/Red Bull GRC
In Red Bull GRC Lites, following on from his recent wrap up of the RX2 crown in Europe, Olsbergs‘ Cyril Raymond once again won, extending his championship lead to 93 points. Christian Brooks and Travis PeCoy of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing completed to podium.
