For the second time this season, Scott Speed and Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross have claimed victory in Red Bull Global Rallycross, winning Saturday’s event at X Games Austin. Speed took his second X Games gold medal in as many years over first-time rallycross medalists Bucky Lasek and Nelson Piquet Jr.
“Plan A worked to perfection!” an overjoyed Speed exclaimed after the race. “We had a really bad qualifying draw, and I think our best performance of the week was qualifying second. That set the tone—that let us know that we had the pace again. Then it was just on to me not making mistakes, and we were able to do that in every single heat race.”
Speed swept all five of his race sessions, earning victories in both heats, the quarterfinal, and semifinal before making his way into the final. There, he outlasted the field by driving a clean race as Piquet took the joker twice to earn a penalty and Liam Doran spun in the final corner. Those incidents allowed Lasek, who had earned the 10th seed and was viewed as a long shot coming in, to take his first Red Bull GRC podium with a clean second place.
The limited six-car final gave numerous newcomers the opportunity to assert themselves as X Games royalty, with rookie Austin Dyne among the drivers. Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, and Brian Deegan did not make it out of the semifinals, while Tanner Foust and Joni Wiman were eliminated in the quarterfinals.