Tanner Foust won the Americas Rallycross season finale at Circuit of the Americas, but the victory wasn’t enough to take the championship crown, which went to his team mate Scott Speed.
Foust topped qualifying and won his semi-final, but Speed’s own semi-final victory meant that he only needed to start the final to be mathematically assured of a fourth straight US rallycross title following his three consecutive Global Rallycross triumphs.
Foust made a strong start to the final, holding off a charging Steve Arpin while Speed opted to take the joker lap. The Volkswagen driver’s pace was strong enough that he had a lead of over a second by the end of the first lap.
With Arpin taking the joker, Speed moved up to second place by lap three, but would remain there for the rest of the race. Foust’s joker a lap later offered the former-Formula 1 driver some hope, but Foust emerged into the lead and resisted a challenge from Speed as both approached the jump.
Behind them Arpin had slipped back into the clutches of Subaru pairing Toomas Heikkinen and Patrik Sandell, but was able to resist both to claim his first podium of the season, which was also his first top three finish since switching to his Ford Focus RS RX.
Heikkinen finished his first rallycross event in the US since 2014 in fourth place, ahead of Sandell, while Ken Block – the final driver to make it into the final – failed to finish after pulling off the track with a mechanical issue just after the start of the race.
ARX COTA 2 Final results
Tanner Foust – Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross – 3:34.722
Scott Speed – Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross – 3:36.822
Steve Arpin – Loenbro Hoonigan – 3:38.163
Toomas Heikkinen – Subaru Rally Team USA – 3:38.988
Patrik Sandell – Subaru Rally Team USA – 3:39.955
Ken Block – Loenbro Hoonigan – DNF
2018 Americas Rallycross final standings
1. Scott Speed – 112pts
2. Tanner Foust – 107pts
3. Patrik Sandell – 75pts
4. Ken Block* – 68pts
5. Chris Atkinson – 66pts
6. Steve Arpin* – 54pts
7. Oliver Bennett* – 32pts
8. Liam Doran* – 30pts
9. Rene Munnich* – 29pts
10. Timo Scheider* – 21pts
11. Travis Pastrana* – 17pts
12. David Higgins* – 16pts
13. Jacques Villeneuve* – 12pts
14. Andy Scott* – 10pts
15. Philippe Maloigne* – 9pts
* Didn’t complete the full season.
Credit: ARX Rallycross
In ARX2, one day after taking his first rallycross win in nearly two years, Alex Keyes won again, beating Fraser McConnell. Keyes was only the second driver to win in ARX2 this season with Conner Martell winning the first three rounds of the five round season.
Martell was leading the final ahead of McConnell until a puncture early on in the race forced him to retire. Ultimately it had no bearing on his final championship position with him clinching the title after qualifying.
