| BARCELONA, Spain (May 21, 2013) – Rockstar Energy Drink driver Tanner Foust is looking forward to a chance to score X Games gold in Munich next month, after torrential rain forced the cancellation of this weekend’s much-anticipated Barcelona contest. “I am bummed for the fans, but the Global Rallycross Championship and ESPN made a good call on this one,” said Foust. “It was already a tight space to hold a race, and in the mud and slime the racing would have been so slow that even the hardcore fans would have been disappointed in the action.” It was a first visit to Barcelona for the X Games, a four-day action sport event featuring competitions by the world’s top athletes in rallycross, skateboarding, BMX, and motocross. The Spanish stop, which was broadcast live worldwide on the ESPN family of networks, drew huge crowds to the historic 1992 Barcelona Olympic site. The rallycross roster for this second of four X Games events in 2013 was stacked with international stars. Foust has more X Games rally car racing medals than any other driver in the field and was widely favored for a medal in his Rockstar Energy Drink Ford Fiesta ST. Fans donned rain gear and packed into the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on Sunday to see the showdown. “It’s always amazing to me how passionate fans are about motorsport around the world,” said Foust. “In Spain, for fans to ignore the rain and still come out in the thousands was an awesome example of that.” But, when the drivers took the start line for their first qualifying laps, the skies opened and the dirt racing surface dissolved into thick, mucky clay. Officials made every effort to wait out the rain and repair the course, but ultimately had to make the difficult decision to call it off. It is hoped that there will be a make-up date announced in the coming weeks. “I’m glad to know that fans got their tickets refunded, and I’m looking forward to making up this race at another venue,” said Foust, who was one of the most popular drivers in an impromptu autograph session held for the fans during the first hour of the rain delay. Foust is a regular competitor in Europe, where he drives in select rounds of the European Rallycross Championship. He is the first American driver to win a round of that championship and finished both 2011 and 2012 ranked in the top three. Unusually stormy weather proved difficult for event organizers in Barcelona, who were also forced to call off the popular Freestyle Motocross competition a day earlier. Despite the cancellation, a media event with Ford, along with autograph signings and appearances, kept the popular American driver and his Ford teammates Brian Deegan and Ken Block busy throughout the week. The course, which featured some 450 truck-loads of dirt on the floor of the Olympic Stadium was a technical and innovative design wholly visible from any of the grandstand seats. “Considering how small the stadium space was for a car race, the course would have been fun,” said Foust. “The jump looked huge and the first corner looked fun as hell, and I’m disappointed that we never got a chance to really put it to the test.” Rallycross is a blend of circuit racing, off-road racing and rally competition. It promises intense crowd-pleasing action in a fan-friendly track environment. As many as 10 drivers line up to start at once, piloting high-horsepower compact cars through race traffic over a challenging short course that features jumps, unbanked turns, hills and transitions between pavement and gravel. It was first introduced to the United States at X Games in 2010, and Foust has won every domestic rallycross championship since then. Foust returned to the United States on Monday to continue filming the fourth season of Top gear USA. He is slated to run a full X Games and Global Rallycross schedule as well as select events in the 2013 European Rallycross Championship. He will next compete in the Rockstar Energy Drink Ford Fiesta ST in X Games rallycross in Munich, Germany, June 30. ABOUT TANNER FOUST: Tanner Foust is a versatile and multi-talented driver known for his supreme car control and a proven track record of podium placements, national championships and world records. He is a three-time U.S. rallycross champion (2012, 2011, 2010) who has also won three X Games gold medals for rally (2010, 2007), and two Formula Drift championships (2008, 2007). He has also held multiple world records including for last summer’s astonishing Hot Wheels Double Loop Dare, when he drove a car through a 66-foot loop-the-loop. He also scored the indoor speed record for TV’s Top Gear USA, and set a distance jump record with Hot Wheels when he made a 332′ ramp-to-ramp leap in a truck at the Indy 500. His varied race experience includes multiple years of open wheel competition, the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, rally racing, various types of sports car racing and the SCORE Baja. He has represented the USA in the annual Race of Champions three times, teaming with NASCAR star Carl Edwards in 2008, Travis Pastrana in 2009, and Mick Doohan in 2010. When he isn’t racing, the professional driver also performs in films and on television. He is an on-air host for the U.S. version of the seminal BBC auto show Top Gear, produced by BBC Worldwide Productions and airing on the HISTORY channel. Foust is also one of the stars of Ford Racing’s Octane Academy, which returns for a second season in 2013, and handles stunt driving in numerous popular films, TV shows and commercials. He is featured as a stunt driver in the upcoming Need 4 Speed film, as well as other major releases including the Bourne Legacy, Bourne Ultimatum, Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, Dukes of Hazzard, Red Dawn and Iron Man 2 movies. TANNER FOUST’S RALLYCROSS PROGRAM IS MADE POSSIBLE BY: Rockstar Energy Drink (); Ford Racing (); ENEOS Motor Oil (); Motegi Racing (), ODYSSEY Battery (); Illest (); and Horizon Hobby () MORE INFORMATION: www.tannerfoust.com To arrange interviews, contact Fred Chang from Tanner Foust’s management team. E-mail: Office: 949.660.7972 x. 29 EFAX: 949.480.0638 Mobile: 714.623.1995 |
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