Tag: travis pastrana

Vermont SportsCar eyes Nitro RX expansion after strong Group E debut

Leading U.S. rally and rallycross outfit Vermont SportsCar is aiming to expand its presence in Nitro Rallycross’ headline all-electric Group E category after acquiring two more FC1-X race cars, doubling its total number of entries in the series. VSC …

Leading U.S. rally and rallycross outfit Vermont SportsCar is aiming to expand its presence in Nitro Rallycross’ headline all-electric Group E category after acquiring two more FC1-X race cars, doubling its total number of entries in the series.

VSC has been a mainstay in U.S.-based rallycross since the discipline had its first professional season in 2010. The company earned the Nitro RX Team Championship in 2021 running the Subaru factory team with Travis Pastrana and Scott Speed and in 2022 – independent of Subaru – VSC transitioned to Group E, a new single-make category using the 1000 horsepower, all-wheel-drive FC1-X.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=5969]

Since VSC’s move to EV racing as a two-car team with Pastrana and Conner Martell, Pastrana became the first driver to win multiple races in the 2022-23 season, and won a joint high of three rounds in the 10-round season, while Martell has been a regular frontrunner and secured second in a historic one-two finish for the team in Phoenix in November.

After a strong first electric season, VSC has acquired an additional two cars, with eyes on either expanding its own footprint in the series, or running the cars for a new partner team should one be interested in joining forces.

“We have the cars and the equipment and we’re ready,” Vermont SportsCar founder and president Lance Smith told RACER. “The interest level we are seeing for Nitro RX Group E is really high right now and we are exploring all options to expand and grow with the series.

A four-car assault on Nitro Rallycross’ Group E category is planned for the 2023-24 season. Vermont SportsCar

“What Nitro RX has put together has been exceptional: between the quality of the racing, the track design, the TV package, and the cars themselves, it’s a compelling formula that we believe in.”

VSC’s planned expansion in the Group E field comes as rallycross in the United States goes from strength to strength. Having previously attracted teams like Andretti Autosport, Chip Ganassi Racing, Bryan Herta Autosport, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, and manufacturers like Ford, Volkswagen, Dodge, Honda, and Subaru, the discipline went through a slump in the late 2010s as management issues with previous series threatened its very existence Stateside.

But with grids currently at their biggest for several years, several manufacturers are said to be keen to join in and capitalize on the increased interest. Multiple manufacturers were involved in initial discussions during the development of the FC1-X, which can be customized to resemble a number of road-going EVs – with more than 20 already being considered during the machine’s design phase.

“With Nitro Rallycross’ first global season set to culminate with a championship weekend, we are having exciting discussions with several manufacturers regarding their involvement in Nitro Rallycross,” said Brett Clarke, president of Nitro Rallycross. “From the beginning, we have worked with First Corner to design the FC1-X to incorporate the bodywork of numerous SUV and CUV models from manufacturers around the globe.

“That adaptability, along with the FC1-X’s boundary-breaking performance, makes it a compelling marketing platform for OEMs as EV momentum continues to accelerate.”

Pastrana reigns in Glen Helen Nitro RX finale Race 2

Travis Pastrana became the first three-time winner of the 2022-23 Nitro Rallycross victory after dominating the second part of the season-ending triple header event at Glen Helen Raceway in California. The reigning series champion, who won at ERX …

Travis Pastrana became the first three-time winner of the 2022-23 Nitro Rallycross victory after dominating the second part of the season-ending triple header event at Glen Helen Raceway in California.

The reigning series champion, who won at ERX Motor Park in Minnesota and Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix earlier in the season, led from lights to flag after besting fellow heat winner and front-row starter Oliver Eriksson off the line.

Pastrana had the race under control but a right-rear puncture for Oliver Eriksson on the penultimate lap ended any hope he had of winning. His Olsbergs MSE teammate Kevin Eriksson inherited second, having shielded his championship-contending brother from attacks in the early part of the race.

While the younger Eriksson’s puncture made the question of race victory a certainty, third place was much less clear. Pastrana’s Vermont SportsCar teammate Conner Martell was running third going into the final lap, but was passed by Friday night victor Andreas Bakkerud as they headed to the gap jump. Robin Larsson then muscled past in the final corner of the last lap.

It was quite the fightback for the points leader who dropped to the back of the field after a slow start from the third row of the grid. He left his joker until the final lap while those in front of him had taken it earlier, and while he couldn’t hold onto the third place he’d cycled to before taking the longer route, it represented a decent comeback.

Timo Schieder, who scored an impressive debut podium on Friday night, took sixth, with the wounded Oliver Eriksson and Oliver Bennett completing the final results.

Championship contender Fraser McConnell was a notable casualty of the preliminary rounds, failing to make the final for the first time this season. He was defeated in the Last Chance Qualifier by Bennett and Martell, Martell having to advance through the LCQ after a bizarre incident in his semifinal where his car’s kill switch was triggered.

Today’s results secured the teams’ championship for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing JC RX Cartel with 790 points. Olsbergs MSE occupies second (601 pts) with Vermont SportsCar third and XITE Energy Racing fourth.

In the Drivers’ championship, with drivers’ worst scores from the first nine rounds of the season now dropped, Larsson sits on top with 345 points and holds a slender 17 point lead over Bakkerud with 58 points still on the table on Sunday. Fraser McConnell sits third on 301 points, nine ahead of Pastrana, while Oliver Eriksson, now on 275 points, has dropped out of title contention.

In the first part of the NRX NEXT world final, European champion Tommi Hallman defeated North American champ Casper Jansson in a tense fight, with Lane Vacala completing the podium in the development class.

Gregoire Michaud beat Scottie Lawrence and Ben Maier in a shortened Side-by-Side final which was red flagged on lap four of six after Lawrence rolled. The race was scored on the first three laps alone however, hence Lawrence maintaining his podium position.

In an addition for this weekend, Class 11 Baja Buggies also featured on the bill, Ryan Rodriguez won ahead of Friday night victor Blake Wilkey.

Motor sports icon Travis Pastrana on attempting to make 2023 Daytona 500 field: ‘This is my one chance’

The motor sports icon and stunt performer will attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500 for Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s NASCAR team.

UPDATE: Travis Pastrana successfully qualified Wednesday for the 40-car Daytona 500 field.

Travis Pastrana is about to make a big jump, just perhaps not the jump you’d expect from him.

The 39-year-old motor sports icon and stunt performer famous for competing with two- and four-wheeled vehicles — his resume includes several X Games medals, along with championships in motocross, supercross, offshore powerboat racing, per the Associated Press, and Nitro RallyCross, a series he created in 2018 and is currently the reigning champ — is about to make his return to NASCAR. And he’s doing it with some help from Michael Jordan’s team.

Pastrana will attempt to qualify this week for Sunday’s Daytona 500, the NASCAR Cup Series’ season opener at Daytona International Speedway, behind the wheel of the No. 67 Toyota for 23XI Racing, which is co-owned by Jordan and Denny Hamlin.

“This was always [on] the bucket list,” Pastrana said last month. “And this is definitely not a profitable thing for me to race the Daytona 500. But it’s something I really wanted to do, and I’m not getting any younger.”

NASCAR’s biggest race of the year, the Daytona 500 features a 40-car field, but 36 of those rides are already locked into the main event as chartered teams, including fellow 23XI drivers Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick. That leaves four open entries available, and Pastrana will attempt to qualify and steal one of them.

“But this, this is my run,” Pastrana said. “It’s one chance. If I win or don’t qualify, this is my one chance to be a part of the Daytona 500. I’m pumped, man. We’re gonna have a blast all week.”

Should he qualify, the Daytona 500 will be his first career Cup race. But he competed in 42 second-tier Xfinity Series races between 2012 and 2013, including running a full schedule in the latter season. He collected four top-10 finishes in 2013 with a NASCAR career-best ninth-place finish at Richmond Raceway and won the pole at Talladega Superspeedway. He also competed in five third-tier Truck Series races between 2012 and 2020.

Pastana has made two career starts at Daytona, both in 2013. In the Xfinity season opener that year, he started fourth and finished 10th, and in the second race, he started second but crashed with a handful of laps remaining.

But the Daytona 500 is a different beast and almost twice as long as the first Xfinity race of the season.

“This is bigger than anything that I’ve done,” Pastrana said. “It’s the best drivers all over the world, but especially the best drivers in America. And to be able to line up alongside of them, especially if I can qualify and get in for the actual 500, that’ll be something that I’ll be able to smile proudly about for the rest of my life.”