May 2, 2010
I finished 8th overall at my debut European Rally Cross Championship event this weekend in Portugal.
Learning a new discipline is a process and I’m happy with the result – especially considering the level of competition here and how tricky this track is. Of course I made mistakes this weekend, but I tried to learn the associated lessons and build on this experience for next time. I’m somewhat familiar with the track in England, so I’m looking forward to battling it out there — while realizing I’m still on the steep side of the learning curve.
The team is quickly working things out with the cars and I am starting to come to grips with how to get them around the track. It’s hard to describe just how fast the Rockstar Energy Ford Fiesta is. All the cars in the top class have twice the horsepower of a World Rally Car! And the aggressiveness of the other drivers is also something I may not be able to do justice in words. Even so, I got caught behind some wild guys in an early heat and almost got black-flagged myself for being too aggressive.
Like a rally, there are so many variables that are out of our control, like short rainstorms that can affect your results, but unlike rally the most important thing is: every single corner!
My next round is ERC Great Britain at the end of the month (May 29-31). Hope to see you out there.
April 30, 2010
We’ve arrived in Portugal for the first round of the European Rally Cross Championship. The new Rockstar Energy Fiesta Rallycross car looks awesome! With a new turbo design from Garret it should be pushing more than 50lbs of boost.
The competition will be good here with some of the best rally cross drivers in the world taking on this contest. There will be more than 30 top-level cars and dozens of competitors in other classes this weekend.
Today is scrutineering and we’ll get out on the Montalegre rally cross track to compete tomorrow. The track is extreme. Most of the track consists of tight gravel turns, but we’ll see 115 mph on the front straight.
Look for the coverage of this event and others from the European Championship on ESPN2 later this summer.