Tanner Foust fought back in the latest weekend of Red Bull Global Rallycross at Evergreen Speedway in Seattle, with a dominant doubleheader sweep to get back into the championship chase.
In Saturday’s race one, Foust completed a perfect day with a pair of heat race wins and a semifinal win before a pristine, lights-to-flag victory in the 10-lap final aboard his No. 34 Volkswagen Beetle GRC.
Foust, who delivered the 25th final race win for the Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross team, led a 1-2 finish over teammate Scott Speed, who retained his points lead. Foust cut the gap in points to 31 behind Speed, 687-656, following his nightmare weekend in Atlantic City.
RACE ONE REPLAY (via NBC Sports App)
“The last weekend in Atlantic City was so rough; less for me than for the guys. These guys have been rebuilding this car every time. To bring it home clean after two days of driving is so good, especially with a doubleheader. These guys can go home and have a beer after this one. It feels so good,” Foust told NBC’s Will Christien after the race, his 14th Red Bull GRC final win.
“It’s pretty high-speed here on the front straight, driving into the oval there’s a focus on brake release. Then there’s little potholes to avoid. Then it’s complete ice but there’s one patch of grip you have to get. It’s almost like snow driving. The last corner is all about saving tires. This entire track has something special you have to focus on.”
Chris Atkinson posted his first final round podium of the year in his Subaru with Steve Arpin in fourth. With two races left, Arpin fell to 54 points off Speed in the championship hunt, with all others 130 or more points behind.
On a sunnier Sunday, the result repeated itself with Foust leading Speed home for a second straight 1-2 finish. Speed won two heats and a semifinal earlier with Foust only winning only one heat. Foust closed one more point to a 30-point gap (756-726), but Speed still has a significant margin heading into the single race finale in Los Angeles next month.
RACE TWO REPLAY (via NBC Sports App)
“It’s true – Scott could have swept the title this weekend. We held him off from that, but more importantly we held off [Steve] Arpin from gaining points,” Foust said.
“Finishing 1-2 twice, that puts [Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross] in the championship 1-2 with Scott [Speed] leading. It was just an amazing effort from all the guys – Kyle, Brett, Pricey, Graham, Boomer – everybody put in everything. Especially with Atlantic City, this is sort of pay back for them because they rebuilt the car so many times there. Here, it stayed virtually clean the whole time – I’m happy and can’t tell you what a relief it is. So happy for the whole team.”
Patrik Sandell was third in his Subaru, extending Subaru’s podium streak, while Atkinson incurred a post-race penalty that provisionally knocked him down the order, promoting Austin Cindric to an impressive fourth place finish for Bryan Herta Rallysport in his first Supercars weekend and second race start.
Red Bull GRC concludes its 2017 season in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 14, with coverage slated for 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC.