Nitrocross

Last updated
Nitrocross
Nitrocross Logo.png
Category Rallycross
CountryInternational
Inaugural season2021
ClassesGroup E
NEXT
SxS
Manufacturers OMSE
Can-Am
Volkswagen
Tire suppliers Yokohama
Drivers' champion Flag of Sweden.svg Robin Larsson
Teams' champion Dreyer & Reinbold Racing JC
Official website www.nitrocrossracing.com
Motorsport current event.svg Current season

Nitrocross is an American rallycross racing series. Created by rallycross driver Travis Pastrana and the Nitro Circus production in 2018, its inaugural season began in 2021. The championship is sanctioned by the United States Auto Club.

Contents

History

From 2018 to 2019, rallycross was a sport in the Nitro World Games at Utah Motorsports Campus. In late 2020, it expanded into its own series with plans of running the inaugural season in 2021 and debuting an electric class in 2022. [1]

Although American rallycross leagues like the Global Rallycross Championship and Americas Rallycross Championship had failed, Nitrocross founder Pastrana envisioned the series as an inexpensive discipline that did not need to rely on heavy manufacturer support. [2]

Nitrocross cars raced with exclusively internal combustion engines in 2021 while the electric Group E class was introduced in 2022. [3] [4] [5] Group E's electric vehicles are built using a battery-powered SUV platform called the FC1-X, which is developed by First Corner – a joint venture between QEV Technologies and Olsbergs MSE, the project received manufacturer support such as Ford, Subaru, and Volkswagen. The FC1-X began testing in February 2021 and made its racing debut at the 2022 Race of Champions. [3] [6]

Ahead of the 2023–24 season, the series was renamed from Nitro Rallycross to Nitrocross to reflect its deviation from the traditional rallycross format. [7]

Tracks

Nitrocross tracks are purpose built with mixed surfaces and jumps. [8] Speaking with DirtFish in March 2020, Pastrana stressed the construction of such courses with an emphasis on dirt, high-banked corners, and large jumps, comparing his plans to motocross courses as "every track was unique." As part of the series' development, Pastrana built a test circuit near his house. [2] The series also races on short course dirt tracks used in the defunct Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series such as Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Arizona. [9]

For the second season in 2022–23, the series expanded to include races in Canada, Sweden, and Lydden Hill Race Circuit in England. [5]

Race format

Race weekends feature the main Supercar class, the NEXT developmental division, and the electric Group E class. [5] While the Supercars have one race per weekend, NEXT runs two. [10] A weekend is split into two days, with the first consisting of qualifying while racing takes place on the second. [11]

After single-lap qualifying is conducted, drivers are paired up into a bracket tournament called battles, with the winner of each battle receiving a point in the championship. The winner of the bracket is rewarded with pole position for the next day's races. [11]

The second day features a series of qualifying races to reach the final, with the top two in each race advancing. The first pair of heat races have eight cars and last five laps apiece, and those remaining are placed into two semi-final races. Drivers who fail to qualify for the final via the heats and semi-finals enter a Last Chance Qualifier. [11] The final consists of ten cars and points are allocated in five-point intervals beginning with 50 for the winner. [12]

1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th
5045403530252015105
Bonuses
Battle winner1

Champions

YearDriverTeamCar
Nitro World Games
2018 Flag of Sweden.svg  Timmy Hansen  (SWE) Team Peugeot-Hansen Peugeot 208 T16
2019 Flag of Sweden.svg  Kevin Hansen  (SWE) Team Peugeot-Hansen Peugeot 208 T16
2020Canceled
Nitro Rallycross Championship
2021 Flag of the United States.svg  Travis Pastrana  (USA) Subaru Motorsports USA Subaru WRX STi
2022–23 Flag of Sweden.svg  Robin Larsson  (SWE) Dreyer & Reinbold Racing JC FC1-X
Nitrocross Championship
2023–24 Flag of Sweden.svg  Robin Larsson  (SWE) Dreyer & Reinbold Racing JC FC1-X

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rallycross</span> Form of sprint style automobile racing

Rallycross is a form of sprint style motorsport, held on a closed mixed-surface racing circuit, with modified production or specially built touring cars. It is mainly popular in the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Great Britain. An inexpensive, entry level type of rallycross is the Swedish folkrace or its Norwegian counterpart, the so-called bilcross. The folkrace is most popular in Finland where it was founded back in the late 1960s. In Europe, rallycross can also refer to racing 1:8 scale off-road radio-controlled buggies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lydden Hill Race Circuit</span> Racing circuit near Canterbury in Kent, England

Lydden Hill Race Circuit is a motorsport venue in Denton with Wootton, about half-way between Canterbury and Dover in Kent, England. The mile-long circuit is mainly used for Rallycross, Drift, Saloon and Sports car racing as well as Motorcycle racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travis Pastrana</span> American racing driver and stunt performer (born 1983)

Travis Alan Pastrana is an American professional motorsports competitor and stunt performer who has won championships and X Games gold medals in several disciplines, including supercross, motocross, freestyle motocross, rally racing and offshore powerboat racing. He runs a show called Nitro Circus and the rallycross racing series Nitrocross.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dreyer & Reinbold Racing</span> Racing team

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is an automotive racing organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and Nitrocross. The team is owned by Indianapolis BMW, Infiniti, Volkswagen, MINI, and Subaru dealer Dennis Reinbold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanner Foust</span> American racecar driver, stunt driver and television host

Tanner Lee Foust is an American professional racing driver, stunt driver, and television host. He competes in rally, drift, ice racing, time attack, hill climb and rallycross with multiple podium placements, national championships, and world records. He was a co-host of the American version of the motoring television series Top Gear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subaru Motorsports USA</span>

Subaru Motorsports USA is Subaru of America's motorsports arm that participates in events in the United States and its operations are managed by Vermont SportsCar, previously Prodrive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johan Kristoffersson</span> Swedish racing driver

Johan David Kristoffersson is a Swedish racecar driver. He is a six time World Rallycross Champion having won the FIA World Rallycross Championship in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. In 2018 he won a record breaking 11 out of 12 events in the championship. He is the son of former racing driver and Kristoffersson Motorsport (KMS) team owner Tommy Kristoffersson. He also won the Superstars Series championship in 2012, the same year in which he claimed the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship and Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia titles.

The FIA World Rallycross Championship is a rallycross series organised by the FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH. From the inaugural season in 2014 to 2020, IMG Motorsport fulfilled the role of promoter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Larsson</span> Swedish racing driver

Robin Christian Zacharias Larsson is a Swedish racing driver currently competing in Nitrocross. He is the current Nitrocross champion driving for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing JC. He has won the Nitrcross championship the last two rows in a row, in 2022–23 and 2023-24 respectively. He previously won the 2014 FIA European Rallycross Supercar Championship. He is the son of double European Rallycross Champion Lars Larsson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electric motorsport</span> Category of motor sport

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extreme E</span> Electric auto racing series

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Americas Rallycross Championship</span>

The Americas Rallycross Championship, also known as ARX Rallycross, was an American rallycross series organized by IMG Motorsport. Formed in 2018, it was a feeder series to the FIA World Rallycross Championship. After two seasons, ARX shut down in late 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Extreme E Championship</span> Electric car racing season

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The 2022–23 Nitro Rallycross Championship is the second season of Nitro Rallycross competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Extreme E Championship</span> Electric car racing season

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vermont SportsCar</span> Race car builder in Vermont, USA

Vermont SportsCar (VSC) is a race car manufacturer that designs, engineers, and builds rally, rallycross and other specialty vehicles for teams and private clients. Since 2006 Vermont SportsCar has been the technical partner to Subaru of America and manages the automaker's racing division Subaru Motorsports USA.

Gray Leadbetter is a professional American race car driver from Morganton, North Carolina. Leadbetter has competed in a broad range of motorsports including Motocross, Karting, legends, Rallycross, Championship Off-Road short course, midgets, micro 600s, and sprint cars. She is the first in her family to drive a race car.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023–24 Nitrocross Championship</span>

The 2023–24 Nitrocross Championship is the third season of Nitrocross competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lia Block</span> American racing driver (born 2006)

Lia Block is an American racing driver currently competing in F1 Academy for ART Grand Prix. She previously competed for Block House Racing in the American Rally Association and Carl Cox Motorsport in Extreme E. She also competed in Nitrocross in the 2023–24 season for OSME. She has been a member of the Williams Driver Academy since November 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024–25 Nitrocross Championship</span>

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References

  1. ↑ Vijayenthiran, Viknesh (December 7, 2020). "Travis Pastrana launching an electric rallycross series in 2022". Motor Authority. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Wilde, Dominik (May 12, 2020). "Pastrana's plan for a full Nitro Rallycross championship". DirtFish. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Glendenning, Mark (December 2, 2020). "Nitro Rallycross expands into full championship; adds electric class". Racer . Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  4. ↑ Wilde, Dominik (October 30, 2020). "Revealed: first details of 2021 Nitro Rallycross series". DirtFish. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 "Nitro Rallycross announces first global series". Racer . March 29, 2022. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  6. ↑ "FC1-X Electric Rallycross SUV, to make competition debut at 2022 Race Of Champions". Race of Champions . November 15, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  7. ↑ Wilde, Dominik (May 15, 2023). "Nitrocross needs a separate identity from Rallycross - Clarke". Racer . Retrieved May 15, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Nitro Rallycross unveils inaugural calendar; broadcast schedule". Racer . March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  9. ↑ "First Nitro Rallycross series schedule revealed". DirtFish. 2021-03-11. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  10. ↑ Wilde, Dominik (October 1, 2021). "How Nitro RX is tweaking its format for round two". DirtFish. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 Wilde, Dominik (September 22, 2012). "All you need to know about Nitro Rallycross's debut season". DirtFish. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
  12. ↑ "About". Nitro Rallycross. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
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