Michael Andretti has paid tribute to his team following a third-successive Red Bull Global Rallycross championship triumph for his team in 2017.
Andretti Autosport also competes in IndyCar, Indy Lights, Formula E, and Supercars in Autstralia, but their rallycross programme has been by far their most successful in recent seasons. The team has been championship contenders every year since they entered the series in 2014, and has won the last three drivers titles with Scott Speed.
Speed and his team mate Tanner Foust have more wins than any other drivers in Red Bull GRC history and Andretti believes that the all-star pairing, allied with Volkswagen‘s engineering input, are the reasons why Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross are consistently ahead of the rest of the field.
“I think a lot of it has to do with our drivers, I think we’ve got great drivers,” he told The Checkered flag at the season finale in Los Angeles. “I think we’ve got great engineering as well so we’re not sitting still. I think if we sat still we’d have been passed a long time ago so we’re constantly improving the car ourselves so it’s a combination of all those.”
“You don’t let up,” he added. “You never let up, and we’re not going to rest on our laurels for sure.”
Andretti enjoys an extremely close relationship with Volkswagen. The team was the German brand’s first full factory-backed effort in rallycross, and the Beetle GRC was the company’s first in-house produced rallycross car. At each round, engineers from Volkswagen fly from Europe to work with the core staff of the Indianapolis-based operation too.
Volkswagen and Andretti are also evaluating a move into electric rallycross. Red Bull GRC is set to introduce an electric division in 2019.
