Pastrana, Larsson Become First Nitro Rallycross Group E Repeat Winners at Wild Horse Pass
He might not be leading the Nitro Rallycross Group E standings, but Vermont SportsCar’s Travis Pastrana added a new title to go with his status as the series founder and inaugural Supercar champion over the weekend: its first repeat race winner. Pastrana took top honors in the first leg of the doubleheader at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park on Friday night, while points leader Robin Larsson of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/JC Raceteknik returned to the top step himself in the Sunday round.
The last planned event at the Arizona facility, owing to next year’s widening of Interstate 10, got a well-deserved boost with the addition of an all-Group E Friday night round. That round, ostensibly a replacement for the postponed Saudi Arabia event planned for December, not only sent Wild Horse Pass off with twice the premier class action, but also gave NASCAR guest stars Chase Elliott and Austin Cindric twice the seat time in their only planned events of the season. Unfortunately, that didn’t translate in on-track success for either driver, as neither made a main event appearance.
Pastrana took down a surprise appearance from Xite Energy Racing’s Oliver Bennett in the final battle bracket round on Friday, electing to take the top spot in the second heat and going toe to toe with Bennett’s teammate Kris Meeke for the win. They’d renew their battle in the final under the lights, but Meeke would have to pull off after a lap, opening the door for Pastrana’s teammate Conner Martell to make it a 1-2 for VSC. DRR’s Andreas Bakkerud would complete the podium, pulling him within 13 points of Larsson going into the weekend round.
Larsson bounced back by making it to the battle bracket final on Saturday. Although he fell short of Olsbergs MSE’s Oliver Eriksson in that race, he beat Eriksson to the finish line in the main event after both drivers won their heats to earn front row starting spots. With Meeke’s first career NRX podium in third, the weekend saw six different drivers score Group E podiums. Larsson’s points lead swelled back to 45 after Bakkerud suffered a spectacular accident in the feature; he would walk away from the crash.
In NRX Next, Casper Jansson and George Megennis would split the race wins at Wild Horse Pass just as they did at Glen Helen Raceway. In fact, the feature results of the two rounds would exactly match those of Glen Helen, but in reverse order; this time, Jansson would beat Megennis and Jimmy Henderson in the first race, and Megennis would beat Henderson and Lane Vacala in the second. Megennis’ points lead sits at 26, with Jansson and Henderson tied for second. In SXS, with Pastrana and Brian Deegan sitting this round out, Gregoire Michaud asserted the points lead by 81 over Ben Maier thanks to his first win of the season, joining Scottie Lawrence on the top step of the podium in the doubleheader weekend.
Nitro Rallycross Group E standings through six rounds are as follows:
1. Robin Larsson, 299
2. Andreas Bakkerud, 254
3. Fraser McConnell, 233
4. Oliver Eriksson, 212
5. Travis Pastrana, 197
6. Conner Martell, 169
7. Oliver Bennett, 159
8. Kris Meeke, 125
9. Kevin Eriksson, 101
10. Ole Christian Veiby, 64
11. Niclas Gronholm, 57
12. Johan Kristoffersson, 43
13. Chase Elliott, 34
14. Austin Cindric, 31
15. Andrew Carlson, 30
16. Jenson Button, 21
The 2022-23 Nitro Rallycross season continues with a pair of Canadian rounds, with a visit to Quebec scheduled for January 21-22 and Alberta on February 4-5.
Image via Nitro Rallycross