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Subaru Motorsports USA

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United States Subaru Motorsports USA
Founded2001
Team principal(s)Lance Smith
Current seriesAmerican Rally Association
Nitro Rallycross
Former seriesGlobal Rallycross
Rally America
SCCA ProRally
ARX Rallycross
Current driversCanada Brandon Semenuk
United States Travis Pastrana
United States Scott Speed
Noted driversIsle of Man David Higgins
Norway Sverre Isachsen
United States Ken Block
United States Bucky Lasek
United States Dave Mirra
Sweden Patrik Sandell
Australia Chris Atkinson
Norway Andreas Bakkerud
Sweden Oliver Solberg
Teams'
Championships
76

Subaru Motorsports USA (formerly known as Subaru Rally Team USA) is Subaru of America's motorsports arm that participates in events in the United States and its operations are managed by Vermont SportsCar,[1] previously Prodrive.

History

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The team was started in 2000 with cars prepared by Prodrive and raced in the SCCA ProRally championship and continued until 2004. In 2006, the team management was handed over to Vermont SportsCar.[2]

Since 2001 Vermont SportsCar has had a relationship with Subaru of America who has served as both a sponsor and partner. Subaru utilizes the sport of rallying to promote their line-up of all-wheel drive vehicles, specifically the Subaru Impreza WRX STI which has dominated rallying in both the US and internationally for decades.

Starting in 2006 Vermont SportsCar began managing the operations of Subaru Rally Team USA. In their first year Vermont SportsCar took Subaru Rally Team USA to four straight Rally America National Championship driver's titles with driver Travis Pastrana (2006-2009).

In 2010 the team welcomed Dave Mirra to a full-time role as the team's 2nd driver alongside Pastrana, who was participating in a limited schedule of events. In 2011 Pastrana left the team to pursue NASCAR and was replaced by multi-time British and American rally champion David Higgins. Alongside his co-driver Craig Drew, David drove his WRX STI to 8 National Championships in a 9-year span, including a Perfect Season in 2015.[3] Pastrana made a return to the team in 2014 and continues to be their main driver for stage rally competition with the American Rally Association.

The team utilizes the Subaru WRX STI and rally prepares the cars nearly entirely in-house at Vermont SportsCar, including the shell prep, roll cages, engines and many of the composite parts. The same highly skilled rally technicians that build each of team's cars at Vermont SportsCar also serve as the service crew that travel to each event.

Although they primarily compete in the American Rally Association National Championship and Americas Rallycross Championship (ARX), the team also competes occasionally in the Canadian Rally Championship, the X Games and the World Rally Championship.

In 2019, the team changed its name to Subaru Motorsports USA along with a revision to the structure of its U.S. racing activities, which now combines stage rally, rallycross, record attempts, off-road racing, and circuit racing under the banner of Subaru Motorsports.[4] Subaru Motorsports USA has been a seminal force in the rise in popularity of rallying in North America.

Rally

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Subaru Rally Team USA participated in Rally America events, Canadian Rally Championship events, and previously participated in the World Rally Championship for a short time. Since taking on the American rally stages they have amassed 15 National Championships (6 with Pastrana, 8 with Higgins). Occasionally, the team has made entries in WRC with Ramana Lagemann at Rally New Zealand in 2003 and David Higgins at Rally GB in 2015.

After four consecutive Rally America driver's championships by Travis Pastrana from 2006–2009, David Higgins took over as the team's lead driver in Rally America competition for the 2011 season.[5] From 2011–2016 Higgins won six consecutive championships,[6] including a perfect season in 2015 in which he and co-driver Craig Drew won all eight rallies on the calendar.[7]

In 2020, after several years with David Higgins as lead driver and occasional part- or full-season campaigns from Travis Pastrana or other guest drivers, Subaru announced a new two-car lineup with Pastrana partnering with Canadian freeride mountain bike athlete and rally driver Brandon Semenuk.[8]

After a shortened 2020 rally season in which Subaru Motorsports USA failed to win the U.S. rally title for the first time since 2010, the team returned to the top spot in 2021 as Travis Pastrana captured his sixth title and first alongside co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino. Semenuk finished third overall behind Ken Block competing in an independent Vermont SportsCar-prepared Subaru WRX STI run by Hoonigan Racing Division.

The 2021 championship marked the emergence of Brandon Semenuk and co-driver Keaton Williams in a season-long battle with rivals Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino competing in a modified Hyundai i20 WRC.[9] Semenuk would ultimately win the title in the final rally of the season, earning his first major rally title.[10]

Rallycross

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The team participated in the Global RallyCross Championship and X-Games events until they were replaced by the Americas Rallycross Championship in 2018. In 2006 and 2007, Colin McRae participated in X-Games with the team. He rolled the car due to an awkwardly landed jump, but still managed to finish in second place, right behind Travis Pastrana.

On May 4, 2012, Subaru announced their partnership with Puma and their new rallycross team, Subaru Puma Rallycross Team USA. The three-driver team consisted of Dave Mirra, Bucky Lasek, and Sverre Isachsen.[11] On September 11, 2013, SRT USA contracted their Global Rallycross effort to two cars, releasing Dave Mirra.[12] The team eventually made a shift in their lineup switching out Lasek and Isachsen with global rallycross star Patrik Sandell and former Subaru World Rally Team driver Chris Atkinson before the Global RallyCross Championship ended in 2017.

In 2018 IMG founded the Americas Rallycross Championship which effectively replaced GRC. Sandell and Atkinson continued with the team during the transition and added Scott Speed to the roster the following year.

In 2019, Sandell, Atkinson and Speed combined for four Americas Rallycross Championship event victories and won the ARX Teams Championship, the first rallycross championship for Subaru.[13] After the 2019 season, series promoter IMG announced that ARX would cease operations.

After a 2020 season in which no rallycross events were held due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Subaru Motorsports USA returned to rallycross in 2021 for the first season of the Nitro Rallycross (NRX) series with drivers Scott Speed and Travis Pastrana.[14] Pastrana and Speed scored three wins out of five events and tied on points for the NRX driver's championship ahead of Timmy Hansen, with Pastrana being named champion due to the series' tiebreak rules.[15]

Championship wins

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Season Driver Co-Driver
2001 United Kingdom Mark Lovell United States Frank Cunningham
2006 United States Travis Pastrana Sweden Christian Edstrom
2007 United States Travis Pastrana Sweden Christian Edstrom
2008 United States Travis Pastrana United Kingdom Derek Ringer
2009 United States Travis Pastrana United Kingdom Derek Ringer
2011 Isle of Man David Higgins England Craig Drew
2012 Isle of Man David Higgins England Craig Drew
2013 Isle of Man David Higgins England Craig Drew
2014 Isle of Man David Higgins England Craig Drew
2015 Isle of Man David Higgins England Craig Drew
2016 Isle of Man David Higgins England Craig Drew
2017 United States Travis Pastrana United Kingdom Robbie Durant
2018 Isle of Man David Higgins England Craig Drew
2019 Isle of Man David Higgins England Craig Drew
2021 United States Travis Pastrana Australia Rhianon Gelsomino
2022 Canada Brandon Semenuk United Kingdom Keaton Williams

Video games

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SRT USA heavily appeared in the racing game Colin McRae: DiRT 2 with 2008 drivers Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, and Dave Mirra. The #199 and #40 SRT USA cars also appeared in DiRT 3 Ramana Lagemann's SCCA ProRally #4 rally car appears on the cover Colin McRae Rally 2005. SRT USA cars also are included in RalliSport Challenge, RalliSport Challenge 2, Colin McRae Rally 04, Project Gotham Racing, V-Rally 3, Sega Rally 2006, Enthusia Professional Racing, and Sega Rally Revo. In 2016 both Travis Pastrana and David Higgins appeared in Forza Horizon 3, as DLC.

Despite the fact that SRT USA vehicles were heavily featured in rally video games instead of the one used by the WRC, this is mostly due to licensing issues as WRC had the rights to their own video games at that time which were developed by Evolution Studios.

Racing record

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Complete Global Rallycross Championship results

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(key)

AWD

[edit]
Year Entrant Car No. Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 GRC Points
2011 Subaru Rally Team USA Subaru Impreza GR WRX STI 40 United States Dave Mirra IRW1 IRW2 SEA1
5
SEA2
6
PIK1 PIK2 LA1
6
LA2
5
8th 57
75 Isle of Man David Higgins IRW1 IRW2 SEA1 SEA2 PIK1
4
PIK2
2
LA1
3
LA2
7
7th 57
199 United States Travis Pastrana IRW1 IRW2 SEA1 SEA2 PIK1 PIK2 LA1 LA2
4
19th 13

Supercar

[edit]
Year Entrant Car No. Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 GRC Points
2012 Subaru Puma Rallycross Team USA Subaru Impreza WRX STI 11 Norway Sverre Isachsen CHA
12
TEX
10
LA
10
LOU
13
LV
3
LVC
12
9th 40
40 United States Dave Mirra CHA
9
TEX
11
LA
15
LOU
10
LV
13
LVC
6
12th 35
75 Isle of Man David Higgins CHA TEX LA
7
LOU LV LVC 19th 10
81 United States Bucky Lasek CHA
11
TEX
14
LA
13
LOU
11
LV
8
LVC
7
13th 35
2013 Subaru Puma Rallycross Team USA Subaru Impreza WRX STI 11 Norway Sverre Isachsen BRA MUN1
17
MUN2
8
LOU
6
BRI
4
IRW
3
ATL
3
CHA
8
LV
5
7th 86
40 United States Dave Mirra BRA MUN1
15
MUN2
14
LOU
13
BRI
11
IRW
15
ATL
4
CHA
12
LV
DNS
12th 36
81 United States Bucky Lasek BRA MUN1
14
MUN2
11
LOU
8
BRI
12
IRW
11
ATL
12
CHA
16
LV
14
11th 49
2014 Subaru Rally Team USA Subaru Impreza WRX STI 11 Norway Sverre Isachsen BAR
6
AUS
15
DC
10
NY
8
CHA
2
DAY
5
LA1
10
LA2
4
SEA
1
LV
5
5th 280
81 United States Bucky Lasek BAR
13
AUS
2
DC
11
NY
12
CHA
6
DAY
3
LA1
11
LA2
5
SEA
14
LV
3
8th 215
199 United States Travis Pastrana BAR AUS
7
DC NY CHA DAY LA1 LA2 SEA LV NC -
2015 Subaru Rally Team USA Subaru Impreza WRX STI 11 Norway Sverre Isachsen FTA
9
DAY1
10
DAY2
11
MCAS
6
DET1
12
DET2
12
DC LA1
4
LA2
13
BAR1
7
BAR2
12
LV
14
11th 136
81 United States Bucky Lasek FTA
10
DAY1
DNS
DAY2
12
MCAS
7
DET1
11
DET2
8
DC LA1
DNS
LA2
DNS
BAR1 BAR2 LV
8
12th 88
199 United States Travis Pastrana FTA DAY1 DAY2 MCAS DET1 DET2 DC LA1
7
LA2
6
BAR1 BAR2 LV NC NC
2016 Subaru Rally Team USA Subaru Impreza WRX STI 11 Norway Sverre Isachsen PHO1 PHO2 DAL DAY1 DAY2 MCAS1
11
MCAS2
C
DC
11
AC
9
SEA LA1 LA2 17th 19
55 Australia Chris Atkinson PHO1 PHO2 DAL DAY1 DAY2 MCAS1 MCAS2
C
DC AC
11
SEA
6
LA1
7
LA2
7
11th 88
75 Isle of Man David Higgins PHO1 PHO2 DAL DAY1 DAY2 MCAS1 MCAS2
C
DC AC SEA
9
LA1
6
LA2
9
13th 57
81 United States Bucky Lasek PHO1 PHO2 DAL DAY1 DAY2 MCAS1
10
MCAS2
C
DC
9
AC
10
SEA LA1 LA2 15th 34
88 Japan Toshi Arai PHO1 PHO2 DAL DAY1 DAY2 MCAS1 MCAS2
C
DC AC SEA LA1
13
LA2
13
19th 4
2017 Subaru Rally Team USA Subaru Impreza WRX STI 18 Sweden Patrik Sandell MEM
9
LOU THO1
6
THO2
5
OTT1
9
OTT2
7
INDY
8
AC1
9
AC2
10
SEA1
7
SEA2
3
LA
3
8th 582
55 Australia Chris Atkinson MEM
9
LOU THO1
7
THO2
3
OTT1
4
OTT2
9
INDY
8
AC1
9
AC2
4
SEA1
3
SEA2
5
LA
9
7th 585

Complete Nitro Rallycross results

[edit]

Supercar

[edit]
Year Entrant Car No. Driver 1 2 3 4 5 Pos Points
2021 Subaru Motorsports USA Subaru WRX STi 13 Norway Andreas Bakkerud UMC
9
ERX
6
WHP HLN
3
FIR 8th 71
41 United States Scott Speed UMC
5
ERX
1
WHP
3
HLN
2
FIR
3
2nd 219
199 United States Travis Pastrana UMC
6
ERX
2
WHP
1
HLN
1
FIR
4
1st 219
ZipRecruiter #GONITRO 9A United States Chase Elliott UMC ERX WHP HLN FIR
8
15th 15
51 United States Kyle Busch UMC ERX WHP
4
HLN FIR 11th 35

References

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  1. ^ "Vermont SportsCar » About Vermont SportsCar". vtcar.com. Archived from the original on 2010-06-18.
  2. ^ "Subaru Cars, Sedans, SUVs | Subaru of America".
  3. ^ "Subaru Cars, Sedans, SUVs | Subaru of America".
  4. ^ "Subaru Cars, Sedans, SUVs | Subaru of America".
  5. ^ "Video: Subaru Rally Team USA Names David Higgins As Second Driver". Motor Authority. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  6. ^ Wheel, The News (2016-10-20). "Subaru Closes 2016 Rally America National Championship with Dominating Win". The News Wheel. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  7. ^ Turpen, Aaron (2015-10-20). "David Higgins Completes Perfect Season". CarNewsCafe. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  8. ^ offroadteam. "TRAVIS PASTRANA RETURNS TO SUBARU FOR 2020 RALLY SEASON – JOINED BY TEAMMATE BRANDON SEMENUK – Motorsports Media". Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  9. ^ Media, DirtFish (2022-07-26). "Block vs Subaru - Who'll take the 2022 ARA title?". DirtFish. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  10. ^ Hansford, Rob (2022-10-15). "Semenuk wins his first ARA title". DirtFish. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  11. ^ "SUBARU ANNOUNCES PUMA® AS NEW TEAM SPONSOR FOR THREE-CAR GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP PROGRAM". vtcar.com. 2012-05-04. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
  12. ^ "The Subaru PUMA RallyCross Team Announces Two-Car Lineup to Conclude 2013 Global RallyCross Season" (Press release).
  13. ^ ARX (2019-10-07). "Tanner Foust wins 2019 Americas Rallycross Championship". Autoweek. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  14. ^ Parker, Ben (2021-09-20). "Subaru Announces 2021 Nitro Rallycross Lineup and Schedule". The News Wheel. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  15. ^ fvr. "2021 Nitro Rallycross title for Travis Pastrana. Timmy Hansen wins final round – rallycross.com". Retrieved 2023-03-23.
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