Travis Pastrana has now made it two consecutive wins for the Subaru manufacture team, placing him on the atop the championship leaderboard. The action sports star sped through the weekend after finishing second in the battle brackets and making easy work of his heat race come Sunday. In the final he made a great get away at the start leading to a three way subaru lineup as they dominated the front of the field. Pastrana held his own against teammate Scott Speed and Andreas Bakkerud, albeit the ladder was there to support the team this weekend and not challenge for position. Travis now leads the points with a total of 182 points going into the final round while Speed is hot on his tails at 175.
Team Hansen had a troubling weekend after they couldn’t get the car settled properly leading to some ups and downs all weekend. Timmy Hansen struggled Saturday finding the quickest pace but made it through to round 2 of the battle brackets where he ultimately fell short to Fraser McConnell. Meanwhile the younger brother, Kevin, took to the battle brackets with ease finishing first to take home a few extra points for the drivers championship.
However, his luck would turn continuing into Sunday as he didn’t compete well in the heats or LCQ finding himself in a drama filled LCQ. Kevin Hansen and Liam Doran had a bit of a battle in the second LCQ which resulted in the Hansen brother to go a bit sideways into a wall. Unfortunately this placed him on the backfoot as Ronalds Baldins was able to pass making the best of an opportunity. While the result of the race was go be debated and a penalty given to Doran, it didn’t change the end result for Kevin as it ended his championship contention as he won’t make enough points by the final round to challenge for the drivers title. Timmy found himself through to the final where he would finish fifth to take home a few points keeping him contention sitting third in the championship.
Over at OMSE, the drivers are seeing a mixed bag of results but more positives this weekend than last. Kevin Eriksson’s on track battles and pace have been improving upon each weekend as he continues his fued with Scott Speed offering some great battles this weekend. The swede had his best weekend all season after making it to the final finishing fourth overall. Meanwhile stand in driver Ronalds Baldins made his debut in the final and finished seventh. Fraser McConnell and Oliver Eriksson weren’t so fortunate in making it to the finals this week but they did show strong pace throughout.
Solo driver Steve Arpin managed to get himself into the final this weekend after missing out on Saturdays activities. The Canadian-American lost the first race of the day to Kevin Hansen when race control didn’t do a proper restart forcing him to miss the start. After some discussions with race control, he was allowed to go again but it didn’t make the difference as Hansen still remained on top. Come Sunday his luck had turned as he battled his way through his Semi Final to come out on top pushing him through to the final where he would finish sixth after a lake joker strategy and subsequent puncture. The GRX Loenbro driver now stands fifth in the standings overall with a potential to make up one spot if he can bring the battle to Kevin Hansen in the final round.
RX Cartel still manages to have a disappointing season as they proceed on with the season. Robin Larsson was able to find some peace in that he made the final without issue. However his teammate had a weekend that took a turn for the worst following his LCQ. With the aforementioned racing incident in the LCQ, Doran finished the race poised to make his first final appearance all season. That was taken away after the stewards made the call to give the driver a five second penalty for his contact with Kevin Hansen. Ultimately it served as no benefit to either driver as it pushed Ronalds Baldins through instead of one of the faster drivers. While they managed to keep their cars in one piece this weekend, the racecraft just did not swing their way.
In the other tent full of Audi’s, Dreyer Reinbold Racing the team continues with its rollercoaster of a season. Tanner Foust was looking on pace this weekend until a rock took him out early Saturday afternoon. His issues would continue into Sunday where he would fail to appear for the LCQ and not finish the round. Cabot Bigham also had similar issues albeit a bit less pronounced. The driver wasn’t exactly as up to pace as the rest of the field but a mechanical issue caused him to pull out after the the Heats had concluded. Dreyer Reinbold needs some better performances coming into the final round.
Down at Xite Racing, Oliver Bennet made his presence known but not without the usual issues. The Brit just seemed a bit off pace this weekend, even with minimal mechanical issues. Bennet ultimately finished racing after the first LCQ.
Racing in the NRX Next class continues to heat up as Casper Jansson took the win this weekend over Sage Karam and Martin Enlund. Jansson now leads the championship with 320 points total after round 8 while Enlund follows closely behind with 305.
Nitro Rallycross ends its season at The Firm in Jacksonville, Florida come 2/3 of December and Subaru Motorsports will be looking to capitalize on the inaugural season with one of its top two drivers.
