Pastrana commands the Nitro RX Friday at Phoenix

The Wild Horse Pass circuit is host to rounds 5 and 6 of the 2022/23 Nitro Rallycross season, and the first round of the double header saw the best display from Vermont SportsCar since they left behind the Subaru WRXs and the supercar class, with Travis Pastrana adding another victory to his account while Conner Martell crowned an impressive performance with a second place finish.

The rounds at Wild Horse Pass had the return of Kris Meeke replacing Jenson Button in the second XITE Racing machine, while two extra Olsbergs MSE cars were given to NASCAR Cup aces Austin Cindric and Chase Elliott. Meeke came back hungry and was showing how he is honing his rallycross skill, while Cindric had to not only get used to driving an electric car, but also to compensate for the years away from the discipline, and Elliott’s car was plagued with a motor sensor failure that left on three of the four motors, making him lose a lot of time.

Heat 1 started with too many cars going for the same spot, which left Oliver Bennett with a broken suspension on Turn 1 while Kevin Eriksson was trying to go away from Robin Larsson and Fraser McConnell in total pursuit mode. Larsson tried his best into creating an opening, but Eriksson stood strong in the racing line, blocking all moves coming onto him to win the race.

Heat 2 had Travis Pastrana leading but conceding it in favor of an early Joker, only to go back again and have Kris Meeke hot on his heels. Meeke tried to tighten his line to pose a threat to Pastrana, but Pastrana’s pace was clearly superior, to a point where not even Oliver Eriksson could get close to them, meaning that the American got straight to the Final.

Semifinal 1 had Larsson outpaced Oliver Eriksson at the start, with the two Swedes staying on their own cold war as no one would risk losing the Final spot for a position. Their pace was too much for Oliver Bennett despite being close during the whole, and with this they could negate any threat that the XITE Racing driver could pose to them.

Semifinal 2 left the sunset and went into the night sky, and Kris Meeke was shining despite the pressure from McConnell and Andreas Bakkerud, while Conner Martell would lurk in the shadows to make his move. Meeke was clear of the chasing pack, so the worry was all over McConnell as Martell was on his back wing, but hitting the tire barriers wasn’t part of Martell’s offensive, so he had to back off and let McConnell go for second while Meeke won it.

LCQ  was decisive for Bakkerud to not miss the Final, and he was doing enough for it by staying behind Martell, and he was quite safe in his position as Bennett simply lost too much time fighting with Austin Cindric for third, though he was a bit off the pace that Martell established during the whole race.

The second row was working wonders from the Heats for everybody there, and Larsson would need it to keep his championship lead stable after the Final, but all those in front of him were decided to give him a rough day, even putting him off the line in the first lap. Meeke was set to steal the lead from Pastrana but his car stopped on track, and with the chasing pack being 2 seconds behind, this was in Pastrana’s hands.

The Vermont SportsCar machines had it covered for the rest of the race, which secured Pastrana’s win while Martell had pace to close on him from second place, with Bakkerud taking the misfortunes at the back to his advantage for a third place finish.

NRX of Phoenix I - Event results

Larsson obviously holds the lead with 243 points, but sees Bakkerud gets much closer with 230 points, while their nearest threat is McConnell with his 201 points. Round 6 follows the traditional Nitro RX format, so the finals will be on Sunday.

PHOTO: Vermont SportsCar