Pastrana Scores First Nitro Rallycross Group E Win at ERX
Image via Nitro Rallycross
The first two rounds of the inaugural Nitro Rallycross Group E season were admittedly forgettable for Vermont SportsCar’s Travis Pastrana. Last year’s Supercar champion, not to mention the series founder, couldn’t carry the luck into the finals at Lydden Hill—where he finished seventh after a brave first-corner move went awry—or Strangnas, where he missed the main event entirely.
As a result, Pastrana returned to American soil mired at ninth in points and needing to make something happen quickly. Sure, this weekend’s action at ERX Motor Park wasn’t perfect for him—after all, he did lose a $1,000 bet to 13-year-old Ben Maier over who would qualify better in the side-by-side class—but things would pick up from there. He’d qualify third in Group E, win his heat, and shortly after taking the SXS race win, he’d make it two wins in two classes on the day and end Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s win streak to start the groundbreaking Group E campaign.
DRR’s contingent of regulars would still take the next three spots behind him, with championship leader Robin Larsson in second after falling behind Pastrana, Fraser McConnell’s first podium of the year in third, and Andreas Bakkerud in fourth. That McConnell and Bakkerud were racing at all was nothing short of miraculous; the duo suffered spectacular practice accidents just moments apart on Saturday, barrel rolling after getting unsettled over a jump and McConnell’s car landing in a puddle with Bakkerud’s own totaled vehicle in the background. But both drivers were cleared to race on Sunday, and thanks to an all-night thrash by the DRR team, both cars were ready to roll for Sunday morning. Neither would need to brave the LCQ, either, as McConnell would win the first semifinal and Bakkerud finished second in the second.
Instead, that fate would befall all three drivers making their first starts of the season at ERX. Andrew Carlson, stepping into the fourth DRR car, would best them by winning it, but Jenson Button’s long-awaited Group E debut would see him fall short to Xite Energy Racing teammate Oliver Bennett and Olsbergs MSE’s Kevin Eriksson would skip the LCQ after a roll of his own early in the day. Eriksson had already missed the first two rounds of the season with a leg injury.
In NRX Next, Tommi Hallman would sweep the proceedings for the second event in a row with back-to-back wins at ERX, holding off George Megennis each day as Casper Jansson and Simon Olofsson split the third place finishes. With the NRX Next Europe finale moved to ERX after the cancellation of the Finnish round at Kymiring, Hallman would claim the series title; his final points lead would sit at 50 over Jansson after he became the only driver to finish on the podium in all six races this season.
In the SXS class, Brian Deegan would draw first blood by winning over Gregoire Michaud and Pastrana on Saturday before Pastrana’s popular win on Sunday. Maier would sneak into second on Sunday after Michaud drifted wide chasing down the finish line, keeping Deegan off the podium in fourth. Skateboarding superstar Leticia Bufoni would earn finishes of seventh and sixth in the two races as she made the move to four motorized wheels for the first time.
Nitro Rallycross Group E points through three rounds are as follows:
Robin Larsson, 161
Andreas Bakkerud, 140
Fraser McConnell, 114
Travis Pastrana, 103
Oliver Eriksson, 87
Conner Martell, 80
Oliver Bennett, 65
Ole Christian Veiby, 64
Niclas Gronholm, 60
Kris Meeke, 55
Johan Kristoffersson, 43
Andrew Carlson, 30
Kevin Eriksson, 26
Jenson Button, 18
The next two Nitro Rallycross events will take place within a three-weekend span, with Glen Helen Raceway playing host to the series on October 29-30 and Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park welcoming it back on November 12-13. While Wild Horse Pass runs on the same weekend it had initially, Glen Helen moves up three weeks on the calendar; Pastrana was the top class winner in both last year in Supercar.