UPDATED now with video: Global RallyCross X Games Munich Saturday Report

Wet and Cold weather greeted the competitors for the first day of racing in Global Rallycross (GRC) in Munich.

The track for this event has been created in a large parking lot and it is made up  of an equal  amount of dirt and gravel sections, some very tight corners, a very long start/finish straightaway, and of course a large jump. This events jump is made out from a large mound of dirt, a nice change to the metal table tops we have seen in the past in the US rounds of GRC.
A new addition to the championship this year is the Penalty box. It is a 50m lane, much like a shortened pit lane, it  is designed to allow the event organisers to hand out stop go penalty’s to drivers who jump the start or are rough driving.
“This feature allows Race Control to quickly and efficiently deal with infractions without having to resort to a red flag and/or re-start the race,” explains GRC Founder Brian Gale. “It keeps the action going, and this is what our fans and drivers alike are looking for.”
Read our full race report after the jump and see videos from all Heats, LCQ and Final


The first heat showed off the diversity of the championship with four different brands of car manufacture represented on the start line a Mini, Dodge, Ford and Subaru.

The first heat featured Timur Timerzyano (who is filling in for Travis Pastrana this weekend as he is racing Nascar) in the Dodge Dart, Brian Deegan in the Ford Fiesta, Liam Doran in the Mini and Bucky Lasek in the Subaru.
Timerzyano gets a great start and leads for most of the race until Deegan takes the Joker lap, a shorter course which the competitors are only allowed to take once per lap, on the last lap and allows him to takes over the lead.
Going into the next corner Timerzyano fights back hits Deegan as they enter the corner, which then opens the door for Doran to scoop in and take over the lead and then charge to the finish line ahead of Deegan and take the heat win.  The first two head through to the final, where as Timerzyano & Lasek head to the last chance qualifier (LCQ).
Heat 1 Video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAuQp7do_f4&w=560&h=315]
Heat 2 features Tanner Foust, Patrik Sandell, and Scott Speed all in Ford Fiesta’s and Guiga Spinelli in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.

Foust wins the start and just runs away with the lead, after three laps he has built up a lead up of 9secs over Sandell.  Foust goes on to take an easy win unchallenged by Sandell who finishes in second 5.5secs behind, they are followed by Speed and Spinelli.  Again first two to the Final and third and fourth go through to LCQ.
Heat 2 Video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyB6HXv6N6Y&w=560&h=315]

Heat 3 features another diverse field of cars, Sverre Isachsen and Dave Mirra in Subaru WRX’s, Ken Block in a Ford Fiesta, Bryce Menzies in a Dodge Dart and Mattias Ekstrom in a VW Polo.
Menzies takes leads from the start, Isachnsen and Mirra both struggle to get off the start line, when they finally get going Mirra spins on a corner and stalls which results in the heat being red flagged.
Mirra is then excluded from the restart due to his stall and his car causing the track to be blocked, Mirra is sent straight to the LCQ
On the restart Ekstrom jumps the start and Isachsen again fails to get away from the start line.
Going into the first corner Ekstrom hits the water barriers which causes him to be held up, Menzies takes the lead and is followed closely by Block.
Ekstrom is told to go to the Penalty box for a stop go for his jump of the start line, he performs this on the start of lap three.
After chasing him down Block takes the lead from Menzies on lap 3. Menzies seems to have a problem as he slows and then pulls of the course only half a lap later. It turns out that his windscreen wiper had stopped working and because of the amount of concrete dust and mud on course he cannot see where he is going.

Ekstrom then takes over second place, Blocks lead is 7.5 secs going into the last lap. Block goes on to take the win by 8.7 over Ekstrom, both thru to the final.
After the finish of the race Isachsen car comes to a stop on the top of the table top with a small fire under the bonnet, which is quickly put out.
Heat 3 Video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWZ3k9F30Fk&w=560&h=315]
Heat 4 features Toomas Heikkinen, Steve Arpin,  and ex Indy car driver Townsend Bell in Ford Fiesta’s, with Anton Marklund in a VW Polo.
A very good start for all cars, they are all very close going through the first corner.  Heikkinen takes the lead and opens up a gap over the other three.  Marklund chases after Heikkinen whilst Arpin and Bell bump and rub their way through the course. Bell spins out and loses time.
Heikkinen takes a 4.5sec leads at the half way point and goes on to win by 7.8secs over Marklund, Arpin is third and Bell is fourth.
Heat 4 Video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R0X7DCDGrQ&w=560&h=315]
Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ)
Arpin, Timerzyano, Speed, Menzies, Spinelli, Bell, Lasek, Mirra
Isachsen doesn’t make the start line as his car is damaged.
Clean start by all cars in to the first corner but Speed is hit coming through next corner resulting in him sliding all over the track, this allows Timerzyano to run away with lead.
Mirra spins again and falls down the leader board, his spin also results in a spin for fellow Subaru driver Lasek.
Speed drives very well to hold onto second from a fast charging Spinelli.
Timerzyano takes the win 7.8sec in front of Speed, both drivers advance to the final.
Video from LCQ
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejEA7sjZyMw&w=560&h=315]
The Final
Doran, Heikkinen, Foust and Block on the first row.
Deegan, Sandell, Marklund and Erkstrom on the second row.
Speed and Timerzyano on row three.
Video of the Final
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy9a-dgJtXQ&w=560&h=315]
Doran leads Foust and Deegan into the first corner, Sandell and Degan are bumping into each other, as Doran runs away to an early lead.
Block spins after collecting Timerzyano, sending Timerzyano into the wall, his rear wheels are stuck up on the tyre barriers and a red flag is called.
Timerzyano gets going after being removed off the wall allowing him to regrid for the restart.
At the regrid we saw Marklund come to line missing his entire front bumper.

After the restart Foust and Speed spin on the first corner, which also causes Timerzyano to again end up in the wall. Speed and Timerzyano are out but Foust manages to get going but his day is done as his car has suffered major suspension damage.
Heikkinen leads from Doran, Block and Marklund but Doran takes the lead from Heikkinen after he goes wide on a corner and is slowed by the deep ruts.
Heineken begins to chase down Doran and reduces the gap; Doran is driving so well that he laps Deegan who is at the back of the pack.
Suddenly it emerges that Doran has a flat left rear tyre but this doesn’t stop him as he continues to drive hard and is sliding all over the road.

The Mini suddenly becomes very wide as Doran tries everything to stop Heikkinen from passing him.
This allows Block to catch up, Block takes Heikkinen with only a few laps to go, as Heikkinen appeared to slow.
Block then puts his foot down and pushes very hard to catch Doran, he is all over the back of that Mini over the last lap of the race, but he just can’t get past Doran.
Doran takes the win with only three tyres left on the car, and celebrates by sliding around track until he slides into the wall but manages to keep going.



Rallycross Gold Medal number two for Liam Doran at X Games, Ken Block takes the Silver and Toomas Heikkinen takes Bronze.

So a great finish to the first Gold Medal Race for Global RallyCross at X Games Munich, and we get to do it all over again tomorrow.
The action will again be live from Munich on ESPN and ESPN3 from 11am Sunday 30^th June EST USA/ 1am Monday 1^st July Australian time
For those with Foxtel in Australia, this is link to ESPN3 http://www.foxtel.com.au/espn3/default.htm
One final video from the team at Ford Racing. A Super Slow Motion video of action
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3HhmXOCIMw&w=560&h=315]