For the second season in a row Tanner Foust AKA “Foxy” AKA “The Golden Child” AKA “Racerboy” AKA “slightly effeminate tv show co-host” has won the Global Rallycross Championship. He had a close points battle for the first half of the season with Marcus Gronholm until Marcus had an unfortunate accident at X Games this summer. With his biggest competition taking some much needed R&R Tanner took advantage of the opportunity and rose to the top of the points until he finally solidified his 2012 title by winning the final event in Las Vegas. Congrats Tanner!
TANNER FOUST WINS GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE
YEAR-END WIN CAPS SUCCESSFUL RACING SEASON
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (November 1, 2012) - Rockstar Energy Drink driver Tanner Foust successfully defended his Global Rallycross Championship title with a win at the season finale held Tuesday in Las Vegas.
“This was a whole team effort,” said Foust after the race. “The Global Rallycross Championship was very competitive and it is a credit to the strength of the Ford Fiesta that we were able to bring home this championship and the manufacturer’s title again in 2012.”
Racing took place under the lights on a purpose-built rallycross course constructed at the Convention Center in downtown Las Vegas, where the automotive industry is gathered this week for the world-famous Specialty Market Equipment Association (SEMA) show.
The course featured a 30 per cent to 70 per cent mix of dirt and tarmac more similar to the traditional tracks Foust has faced in two strong European Rallycross Championship seasons. For this round, the traditional 70′ gap jump was constructed from dirt, adding a crowning touch to what many considered a true driver’s course.
“It was awesome to have this race at SEMA,” said Foust. “We finally got to show the core group of professionals in the automotive industry what the rallycross hype is all about.”
The title fight came down to a tight contest between Foust and his teammate Brian Deegan. The two have traded split-seconds in competition before. In 2010, Foust won the two gold medals for rally car racing competition at X Games, while Deegan earned a pair of silvers. They swapped positions in 2011.
Foust’s overseas competition experience played to his benefit in Las Vegas. He has run full rallycross campaigns in both Europe and the United States for the past two years. He had a pair of wins and took third place overall in the European Rallycross Championship this season – despite having to miss three rounds due to scheduling conflicts.
In Las Vegas on Tuesday, Foust won both of his heat races to bypass the Last Chance Qualifier and advance directly to the Final. After an exciting battle with fellow Ford driver Ken Block, Foust took the lead with one lap to go. But his championship bid was momentarily denied when Block’s Fiesta caught fire, prompting a red flag and race restart. In the re-run of the Final, a determined Foust led from start to finish, fending off a capable challenge from teammate Deegan.
“I could hear the crashing behind me as I led through the first corner and I knew there was a battle going on,” said Foust. “But I never saw another car out there.”
It was the second 2012 win for Foust in the six-round championship. He stood on the top step of the podium a month ago in Las Vegas. He was the only repeat winner in the field on Tuesday. Foust also scored the Discount Tire America’s Tire Cup. A trophy and prize purse of $25,000 were awarded to the driver who earned the top points tally in three select events in the six-round series: Texas, New Hampshire, and Las Vegas.
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 and changing track and surface conditions that can include dirt, gravel, and wet and dry tarmac.
Ever since Ken Block started releasing his famous Gymkhana videos many started to wonder just how good Mr. Block would be at drifting. Many think that he would probably suck because he is used to AWD cars which many believe save you from just about any slide which is true to a certain extent. Others think his skill set would be perfectly suited for drifting because above all drifting requires high car control and a low sense of self preservation instincts which pretty much describes Ken Block to a T.
Well Ken got together with his Hoonigans film crew to at least try to answer the eternal question as he attempted to drift his AWD Ford Fiesta HFHV (Hybrid Function Hoon Vehicle) around Irwindale Speedway AKA “The House Of Drift” following the same course that Formula Drift drivers did in the final round (pics coming soon).
These days Tanner Foust is a pretty well known guy in gear head circles and even a little beyond that. He gets recognized on the streets, signs autographs, and rumor has it has done well enough to buy himself a few toys. I knew him back when he was drifting a humble 240SX for McKinney Motorsports back in the early years of Formula Drift. He has definitely come a long way since those days and deservedly so. If there is one thing about Tanner that has never changed since the early days is that he always has a lot of F’ing jobs. If I did not know what he looked like and someone told me about all the jobs he had I would think he was Jamaican (note: I am Jamaican, I can make that joke).
If he is not hosting Top Gear USA, he is racing rally cross on the other side of the planet, if he is not doing that then he is stunt driving for a Hollywood blockbuster, if not that he is risking his life for the sake of the challenge. “Busy” is a major understatement when it comes to Mr. Foust. So, to help his fans get some inside perspective on Tanner’s career, he got together with Rockstar Energy Drink to produce a web series called “Life In The Foust Lane”. In this series cameras follow Foust on all his adventures and all the while we get some insight from the man himself about what he is up to.
In this first episode Tanner takes us behind the scenes of his role in Ford’s Octane Academy, we also learn his philosophy on rental cars and their abuse therein. It is a pretty entertaining way to spend eight and half minutes! Watch for yourself below.
I will make this short. I saw Gymkhana FIVE already during X Games weekend and it is f**king awesome! You are about to watch Ken Block hoon the hell out of San Francisco, consequently having your mind blown. Now scroll down and watch below!
Yesterday I made the arduous trek to downtown Los Angeles to pick up my credentials for X Games 18 this weekend. When I got there I saw two things that caught my interest. The first being a giant life-sized bright orange Hot Wheels looped track and the second was a very jet-lagged Tanner Foust who was fresh off a short break from his European Rallycross tour. I knew somewhere between the two was an interview. Since the Hot Wheels track is an inanimate object and likely would not talk back, I decided to interview Tanner instead. I talked to him about his progress in Europe, what possessed him to try this crazy Hot Wheels stunt, and what will be on his mind going into the Rallycross race this weekend at X Games. Watch below!
We told you a short while ago that Ken Block’s next Gymkhana video would take place on the streets of San Francisco. Well, juding by this new teaser it looks like things may kick off in the open ocean! Check out this Gymkhana FIVE teaser with Mr. KB doing smokey donuts on a floating barge during rush hour on the Golden Gate bridge! If the teaser makes you hungry for more then just stay tuned for the official release of Gymkhana FIVE on July 9th.
The ultimate hoon, Ken Block has just put the world on notice that Gymkhana FIVE is coming and he is going to take this one to the streets! For the next Gymkhana video Block wants to return to the pure hard-driving, hoonage roots of the Gymkhana THREE video and he wants to do it on the steep streets of San Francisco. Since the presenting sponsor of the next Gymkhana video will be the new Ford Focus ST, I am predicting at some point there will be some type of homage to the movie, Bullit (they even mention the movie in the press release below). I for one am looking forward to seeing what Block manages to do on public streets and I am also wondering how he will be able to pull this off (if he hasn’t filmed the spot already) without any by-standers shooting and leaking video from the set! This is the first time Ken Block as done a Gymkhana video on public streets so I am sure it will prove to be a challenge.
DC also promises that within the video world records will be broken and there will also be a mystery special guest. Interest piqued yet? I thought so. Well we have to wait until July 9th 2012 at 10am EST to see the finished product.
KEN BLOCK AND DC SHOES ANNOUNCE THE UPCOMING RELEASE OF GYMKHANA FIVE, PRESENTED BY THE FORD FOCUS STJUNE 18th, 2012 – Huntington Beach, California – After much anticipation, Ken Block and DC Shoes are proud to announce the coming of Gymkhana FIVE, which will debut globally on Monday, July 9th at 10 AM EST via the DC ShoesYouTube channel. Filmed on the streets of San Francisco, California, Gymkhana FIVE builds on the previous successes of the Gymkhana viral video series and it’s 140+ million views.
“My idea for Gymkhana FIVE was simple,” said Block. “I wanted to build on the ultimate playground concept from Gymkhana THREE, and bring the franchise back to that raw and fast feel that the earlier videos had. I’ve always wanted to film a Gymkhana video in a city and there are few places as unique and iconic with such amazing topography as San Francisco. While movies like Bullit and various chase scenes have tried to use San Francisco to the fullest, I’m pretty confident that I’ve proven there was a lot left to be done on those amazing streets!”
Without question, the streets of San Francisco make Gymkhana FIVE the most unique project to date in the franchise’s history. And for good measure, a few world records and a surprise guest have been thrown in too. Making a return for the second year in a row is Block’s Ford Fiesta H.F.H.V. racecar, which can be seen slaying its tires on the streets of San Francisco globally on the July 9th release date. For select media and action sport VIPs, DC will premiere the video on Friday, June 29th during Summer X Games 18.
While at X Games 17 this weekend we went out of our way to annoy Top Gear USA Tanner Foust until he agreed to grant us a short interview. During which we got him to weigh in on the possibility of Rally Cross becoming more popular than drifting. He also surprised us at the end by mentioning that he is putting fourth an effort to make it into an Indy Car race before the end of the season. Some digging was done after the interview and it looks like he may be trying to put together a one-off drive for the Las Vegas Indy Car race. Scroll down to check out the full interview.
X Games 17 Rally has come and gone but we were on site to bring you as much of the action as possible. We are starting off by answering the question “What do the rally cars do the night before X Games?” The answer: They jump! A special jump session was set up to test out the 50 foot gap jump made entirely from dirt and gravel. We were there to take a few shots and we even compiled a short video of all the jump action. You can see a few pics and the video below. For a full photo gallery just visit our Facebook fan page.
The latest video by our good friend Bill Wood takes you on an in-car journey of WIN with Tanner Foust as Bill lets us ride shotgun with the golden child through a full rally cross heat in his Rockstar Ford Fiesta rally car. You are definitely going to want to turn up the volume on this one. The engine sounds from this car are amazing!
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