Red Bull GRC Media Alert // Race Previews: Phoenix

Red Bull GRC Race Preview: Phoenix
IN BRIEF: The 2016 Red Bull GRC season kicks off with a doubleheader for the first time in series history, as drivers will battle for a pair of victories at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix. Defending series champion Scott Speed will lead many of the world’s best rallycross drivers into battle as everyone looks to start off the season on a high note.
TUNE IN INFORMATION:
Sunday, May 22, 2PM ET on NBCSN and liveextra.nbcsports.com<http://liveextra.nbcsports.com>
Saturday, May 21, 4PM ET and Sunday, May 22, 5:30PM ET on Red Bull TV
NBC Sports will have a broadcast of this weekend’s Global Rallycross races from Phoenix on Sunday from 2-4pm ET on NBCSN. Fans can see it all in spectacular high definition via NBC Sports Live Extra online at NBCSports.com/LiveExtra<http://nbcsports.com/LiveExtra>, or through the Live Extra app on mobile, tablet and through the Apple TV or Roku connected TV devices.
TICKETS: Click here<http://www.redbullglobalrallycross.com/tickets>
EVENT SPOTTER GUIDE: Click here<http://redbullglobalrallycross.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2016-RBGRC-SPOTTER-PHX-FINAL.pdf>
LAST RACE: Joni Wiman’s reign as defending Supercar champion may have ended, but he managed to do it in style as he finally took his first main event victory in Las Vegas. Olsbergs MSE teammate Sebastian Eriksson followed him to the line, with Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross driver Scott Speed rounding out the podium and taking the mantle of series champion.
DRIVER CHANGES: A busy offseason has seen numerous changes within the Red Bull GRC field:

· Olsbergs MSE have partnered with Honda for the 2016 season, bringing the Civic to Red Bull GRC competition for the first time this year. Wiman and Eriksson have been retained to race for the team, after a pair of top-five points finishes last year.

· Brian Deegan steps up to full-time Supercar competition for the first time since 2013, elevating his program with Chip Ganassi Racing. He will once again partner Steve Arpin on the Ganassi squad.

· Jeff Ward, Deegan’s fill-in for three rounds last year, will move to full-time status with SH Rallycross in 2016.

· Austin Dyne will campaign under his own AD Racing banner in 2016, returning to a car that saw him take two heat victories and a pole last year. IndyCar veteran Sebastian Saavedra, who will make his debut in the series, will partner Dyne on the team in Phoenix.

· Rhys Millen will continue his streak of starting at least one Supercar event every year by starting this weekend’s doubleheader.
Arpin (Chip Ganassi Racing), Patrik Sandell (Bryan Herta Rallysport), Tanner Foust (Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross), and Speed (VARX) will return to the series this year with their 2015 programs mostly intact.
THE TRACK: At .929 miles, the Wild Horse Pass course features 12 turns, multiple dirt sections, and a Joker Lap that allows drivers to bypass the jump once per race session. Click here<http://redbullglobalrallycross.com/news/latestnews/red-bull-grc-reveals-929-mile-phoenix-track-layout/> for more information on the track.
SPEED LOOKS TO DEFEND FIRST SUPERCAR TITLE: Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross driver Scott Speed won last year’s Red Bull GRC championship by 56 points over Olsbergs MSE driver Sebastian Eriksson. He’ll look to become only the second driver in series history to win back-to-back titles this year, following his teammate Tanner Foust, who accomplished the feat in 2011 and 2012. Key championship rivals include Foust, Eriksson, 2014 champion Joni Wiman, and the duo of Brian Deegan and Jeff Ward, each of whom will run a full 2016 season after splitting a car last year.
DOUBLEHEADER OPENS RED BULL GRC SEASON FOR FIRST TIME: Aside from being one of four new events on the 2016 calendar, Red Bull GRC Phoenix also holds the distinction of being the first doubleheader event to ever open the series schedule. As was the case in 2015, four Red Bull GRC events will crown dual victors in 2016; the other three will take place at Daytona International Speedway, The Base, and the Port of Los Angeles.
HONDA MAKES RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS DEBUT: Honda becomes the latest manufacturer to back a Red Bull GRC team this weekend, as the new Honda Red Bull Olsbergs MSE outfit makes its debut with Sebastian Eriksson and Joni Wiman behind the wheel. OMSE, led by principal Andreas Eriksson, won the first four Red Bull GRC Supercar titles and currently boasts back-to-back GRC Lites crowns.
QUOTES: A selection of quotes in advance of this weekend’s Red Bull Global Rallycross Phoenix:
Brian Deegan, #38 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford Fiesta ST: “I think my advantage is that I’ve been to Wild Horse Pass a bunch of times, racing in general in that area. I like Arizona—we have a bunch of Mulisha fans in Arizona, and it’s a cool spot. As far as track time, I think we’re all going to be in the same boat. All of us will kind of be new to that track. I think everyone’s going to be fast on it—it’s going to come down to the starts. It’s a short start straightaway, to the left, and then the first turn and second turn. I think there’s going to be a lot of contact, but it’ll come down to who’s going to be smart.”
Sebastian Eriksson, #93 Honda Red Bull Olsbergs MSE Civic Coupe: “The Civic car is more like a racecar than the other ones that are here. It’s low and wide, which will make it really good on tarmac and we can feel that on the tests as well. But where we stand compared to others you never know. But it’s for sure the best racecar I’ve driven. I would say that the trick in the doubleheader is to not lay back on anything, to qualify first and be in the front all the time. If you are in the back of the pack and try to fight your way through, then your problems come. So we will try to stay up front and go from there.”
Patrik Sandell, #18 Bryan Herta Rallysport: “I was out up on the spotter stand and I looked out at the track and it looks really cool. I really like it. It seems to be very fast and flowing. I think a lot of passing will happen during breaking into course because there it’s not really a lot of places you can drive past people. But you can really break past people if you have the guts. I have the guts, so I’m going to try and use them this weekend!”
————
GRC Lites Race Preview: Phoenix
IN BRIEF: The largest full-time field in GRC Lites history will take to the track at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix for the start of the fourth-ever Lites season. Oliver Eriksson will kick off his attempt to become the first back-to-back Lites champion as no fewer than seven drivers make their debuts in the series.
TUNE IN INFORMATION:
Wednesday, May 25, 4:30PM ET on NBCSN and liveextra.nbcsports.com<http://liveextra.nbcsports.com>
Saturday, May 21, 4PM ET and Sunday, May 22, 5:30PM ET on Red Bull TV
TICKETS: Click here<http://www.redbullglobalrallycross.com/tickets>
EVENT SPOTTER GUIDE: Click here<http://redbullglobalrallycross.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2016-RBGRC-SPOTTER-PHX-FINAL.pdf>
LAST RACE: A rainy Las Vegas course proved no match for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Alex Keyes, who took his third win of the season over debutant Andreas Wernersson and champion Oliver Eriksson. Eriksson claimed the crown after teammate Austin Cindric suffered terminal damage on the first lap of the race, ending his championship hopes.
DRIVER CHANGES: Major overhaul was common in the GRC Lites paddock coming into the 2016 season, with a mixture of new drivers and new teams coming out to play:

· While Oliver Eriksson returns to Olsbergs MSE X Forces to defend his championship, he will be partnered by a pair of rookie drivers, Miki Weckstrom and Cole Keatts.

· AF Racing adds short course front-runner Travis PeCoy and karting expert Christian Brooks to its stable, joining third-year returning veteran Alejandro Fernandez.

· Collete Davis takes her River Racing program to Rhys Millen Racing, where she will partner the returning Harry Cheung for the 2016 season.

· At Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Cabot Bigham becomes the team’s lone full-time championship threat. 2015 race winners Alex Keyes and Tanner Whitten will split the team’s second car, with Keyes behind the wheel in Phoenix this weekend.

· Conner Martell moves to DirtFish Motorsports to replace the departing Whitten on a full-time basis.

· The new PMG Rallysport team enters the 2016 season with drivers Parker Chase and Harry Gottsacker behind the wheel. With Chase unavailable to the team this weekend, Trenton Estep will substitute in the season-opening doubleheader.

· CORE autosport will join the Lites division as early as Daytona in June, campaigning two cars for to-be-announced drivers.
THE TRACK: At .929 miles, the Wild Horse Pass course features 12 turns, multiple dirt sections, and a Joker Lap that allows drivers to bypass the jump once per race session. Click here<http://redbullglobalrallycross.com/news/latestnews/red-bull-grc-reveals-929-mile-phoenix-track-layout/> for more information on the track.
ERIKSSON AIMS TO BECOME FIRST TWO-TIME LITES CHAMPION: Olsbergs MSE X Forces driver Oliver Eriksson will defend his Lites title in 2016, the first series champion to ever make an attempt at doing so. Eriksson led all Red Bull GRC drivers with nine podium finishes last year, taking three victories and 12 heat wins on the way to earning the crown.
FULL-TIME LITES FIELD EXPANDS TO LARGEST IN SERIES HISTORY: The 2015 Lites finale saw a record-setting 14 cars take to the track in Las Vegas, and this weekend’s field will see just one shy of that number take to the track. However, with CORE autosport entering the series later in the year, expect to see the record broken at least once in 2016. After 10 cars ran the full schedule last year, this year’s 13 full-time entries have set a record for the class.
ROOKIE DRIVERS COMPRISE MORE THAN HALF OF LITES ENTRIES: This weekend’s top rookie will be hard to predict, as seven of the 13 drivers competing this weekend have never raced in GRC Lites. Out of the newcomers in the field, only Miki Weckstrom enters with race experience in the car, having competed in RallyX on Ice this winter.
QUOTES: A selection of quotes in advance of this weekend’s GRC Lites Phoenix:
Oliver Eriksson, #16 Olsbergs MSE X Forces: “I think mostly the last corner that is completely in dirt will be a good passing zone. That’s where I will gain a lot in from my experience from RallyX On Ice, but mostly because we have been testing a lot. I feel confident with the car and the settings. I think it will be a great weekend for the team.”
Conner Martell, #21 DirtFish Motorsports: “I think the dirt section is going to be pretty tricky because it looks like there is a hairpin that goes from tarmac to dirt. So you’re really going to have to get that transition down really good to make some speed. And I think a lot of people are going to drift really wide there. So I think if you keep tidy on that turn, there’s a lot of good passing that could happen there. I am just super excited to get out on the track. I’ve only seen the track from on the track map, and just looking from the grandstands. But it looks like an awesome track.”
Harry Gottsacker, #69 Performance Motorsports Group: “I haven’t really walked the track yet but it looks really big. I’m really excited to get some top speeds out there and see how fast these things can really go. It should be fun. I think it’ll be a piece of cake especially coming from shifter kart racing. Shifter kart racing is just so crazy—so much stuff is going on, and I really feel like this is going to be a lot like that. The dirt might be al little hairy the first time, but I think I should be able to get used to that pretty quick.”
————
If you do not wish to receive further correspondence on this email list, please contact cleone@redbullglobalrallycross.com.
Red Bull Global Rallycross
17383 Sunset Blvd. A210
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 USA
P: +1(213)745.2123
www.redbullglobalrallycross.com
Twitter: RedBullGRC
FB: RedBullGRC
Instagram: RedBullGRC

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE!<https://www.tixr.com/groups/redbullgrc>

[cid:4B340D31-24D6-40DD-B503-82493FF31E2D]