Scott Speed was left satisfied after his first runs on the Silverstone rallycross track in the opening practice session for the new Americas Rallycross series.
The three-time Global Rallycross champion was third fastest, 0.144 seconds behind pacesetter and team mate Tanner Foust.
ARX practice took place in changeable conditions, with rain from earlier in the day causing challenging conditions on the kilometre-long track.
“It was muddy! Very British,” said Speed. “It’s cool, the track’s going to be pretty fun. Getting to know the run-through of the start procedure which is quite a bit different [from GRC], starting five wide like that will be interesting.”
“We got a look at the track which is changing a lot from the first session to the last session so so whether it rains or not will be a big influence on the track, so we’ve just got to take what it gives us but the track is pretty fun to drive and tomorrow’s going to be a whole different story.”
The Silverstone ARX round marks the first time the Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Beetle has run on a more traditional European rallycross track, having been campaigned on temporary tracks in the US for the last three and a half seasons. Despite the differences in the tracks, and the change to World RX‘s control Cooper tyre, Speed said that the car hasn’t undergone major changes over the winter.
“We’ve made some tuning changes that are different on the cars but nothing really developed specifically for this,” he said. “The tyres will no doubt bring everyone closer together because they’re easier to drive, but I don’t think it will have a huge effect. I think it’s going to be the same guys [up front].”