Americas Rallycross Heads North to Trois-Rivieres This Weekend
Americas Rallycross Heads North to Trois-Rivieres This Weekend
Story By: Parker Smith/ARX
TROIS-RIVIERES, Quebec, Can. (August 2, 2019) – Americas Rallycross (ARX) begins the second half of the 2019 season at the famous Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres circuit in Canada this weekend, where for the second year in a row the premiere North American rallycross championship will share the legendary street circuit with the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy.
Last year, the Canadian round of ARX proved to be pivotal in the fight to become the first-ever ARX Champion. Scott Speed recorded a perfect weekend on-track, sweeping the qualifying rounds and semi-finals and going on to lead every lap of the final, claiming his second consecutive ARX victory. Meanwhile, Speed’s former Andretti teammate, Tanner Foust, had to overcome major suspension damage after an incident in the second round of qualifying.
This season, in the opening three rounds of the year at Mid-Ohio Sports Course and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, three different drivers have stood on the top step of the podium, all driving for the Subaru Motorsports USA team.
In Round 1 at the Cooper Tires ARX of Mid-Ohio, it was the reigning ARX Champion Speed who took the first win of the season in a dramatic final, but in the double-header at the ARX of Gateway, it was his Australian and Swedish teammates – Chris Atkinson and Patrik Sandell – who took the dramatic wins at what is now regarded as one of the best rallycross circuits in the United States.
Speed continues to lead the drivers’ championship standings by 12 points over Tanner Foust, but while it has been a blue-and-yellow Subaru WRX STI winning streak in 2019 so far, the ARX field is so even that any one of seven drivers could win in Canada.
The Canadian crowd-favorite will be home country hero Steve Arpin, who finished on the podium in Ohio, with Loenbro Motorsports teammate and 2019 rookie Travis PeCoy. Arpin, driver of the No. 00 cbdMD Ford, nearly won the final in Round 2 at Gateway until he was passed by Atkinson in the final turn. With the Ford Fiesta ST Supercar being constantly developed by the team, Arpin and PeCoy have their sights on ending Subaru’s run.
Foust, racing the popular Rockstar Energy Drink Volkswagen Beetle R with Andretti Rallycross, will be looking for redemption for the incident that cost him a chance of victory last season. Along with rookie teammate Cabot Bigham, the pair will be targeting at least podium finishes on the 60% asphalt and 40% dirt .8-mile street circuit.
As in all ARX rounds, the official ARX single-specification support category, ARX2, will also race in Trois-Rivieres in a double-header format.
Live coverage of ARX and ARX2 will be shown all weekend long on Facebook.com/ARXRallycross along with an event highlights program for both series airing on CBS Sports Network on Wednesday, August 7 at 8:00 p.m. ET. ARX of Canada begins on Saturday at 1:35 p.m. ET live on Facebook.com/ARXRallycross.
