Subaru Motorsports USA

(Redirected from Subaru Rally Team USA)

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.

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 drivers180 Canada Brandon Semenuk
199 United States Travis Pastrana
Noted driversIsle of Man David Higgins
Norway Sverre Isachsen
United States Ken Block
United States Bucky Lasek
United States Dave Mirra
United States Travis Pastrana
Teams'
Championships
76

History

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

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

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

SeasonDriverCo-Driver
2001 Mark Lovell Frank Cunningham
2006 Travis Pastrana Christian Edstrom
2007 Travis Pastrana Christian Edstrom
2008 Travis Pastrana Derek Ringer
2009 Travis Pastrana Derek Ringer
2011 David Higgins Craig Drew
2012 David Higgins Craig Drew
2013 David Higgins Craig Drew
2014 David Higgins Craig Drew
2015 David Higgins Craig Drew
2016 David Higgins Craig Drew
2017 Travis Pastrana Robbie Durant
2018 David Higgins Craig Drew
2019 David Higgins Craig Drew
2021 Travis Pastrana Rhianon Gelsomino
2022 Brandon Semenuk Keaton Williams

Video games

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

Complete Global Rallycross Championship results

(key)

AWD

YearEntrantCarNo.Driver12345678GRCPoints
2011Subaru Rally Team USASubaru Impreza GR WRX STI40 Dave MirraIRW1IRW2SEA1
5
SEA2
6
PIK1PIK2LA1
6
LA2
5
8th57
75 David HigginsIRW1IRW2SEA1SEA2PIK1
4
PIK2
2
LA1
3
LA2
7
7th57
199 Travis PastranaIRW1IRW2SEA1SEA2PIK1PIK2LA1LA2
4
19th13

Supercar

YearEntrantCarNo.Driver123456789101112GRCPoints
2012Subaru Puma Rallycross Team USASubaru Impreza WRX STI11 Sverre IsachsenCHA
12
TEX
10
LA
10
LOU
13
LV
3
LVC
12
9th40
40 Dave MirraCHA
9
TEX
11
LA
15
LOU
10
LV
13
LVC
6
12th35
75 David HigginsCHATEXLA
7
LOULVLVC19th10
81 Bucky LasekCHA
11
TEX
14
LA
13
LOU
11
LV
8
LVC
7
13th35
2013Subaru Puma Rallycross Team USASubaru Impreza WRX STI11 Sverre IsachsenBRAMUN1
17
MUN2
8
LOU
6
BRI
4
IRW
3
ATL
3
CHA
8
LV
5
7th86
40 Dave MirraBRAMUN1
15
MUN2
14
LOU
13
BRI
11
IRW
15
ATL
4
CHA
12
LV
DNS
12th36
81 Bucky LasekBRAMUN1
14
MUN2
11
LOU
8
BRI
12
IRW
11
ATL
12
CHA
16
LV
14
11th49
2014Subaru Rally Team USASubaru Impreza WRX STI11 Sverre IsachsenBAR
6
AUS
15
DC
10
NY
8
CHA
2
DAY
5
LA1
10
LA2
4
SEA
1
LV
5
5th280
81 Bucky LasekBAR
13
AUS
2
DC
11
NY
12
CHA
6
DAY
3
LA1
11
LA2
5
SEA
14
LV
3
8th215
199 Travis PastranaBARAUS
7
DCNYCHADAYLA1LA2SEALVNC-
2015Subaru Rally Team USASubaru Impreza WRX STI11 Sverre IsachsenFTA
9
DAY1
10
DAY2
11
MCAS
6
DET1
12
DET2
12
DCLA1
4
LA2
13
BAR1
7
BAR2
12
LV
14
11th136
81 Bucky LasekFTA
10
DAY1
DNS
DAY2
12
MCAS
7
DET1
11
DET2
8
DCLA1
DNS
LA2
DNS
BAR1BAR2LV
8
12th88
199 Travis PastranaFTADAY1DAY2MCASDET1DET2DCLA1
7
LA2
6
BAR1BAR2LVNCNC
2016Subaru Rally Team USASubaru Impreza WRX STI11 Sverre IsachsenPHO1PHO2DALDAY1DAY2MCAS1
11
MCAS2
C
DC
11
AC
9
SEALA1LA217th19
55 Chris AtkinsonPHO1PHO2DALDAY1DAY2MCAS1MCAS2
C
DCAC
11
SEA
6
LA1
7
LA2
7
11th88
75 David HigginsPHO1PHO2DALDAY1DAY2MCAS1MCAS2
C
DCACSEA
9
LA1
6
LA2
9
13th57
81 Bucky LasekPHO1PHO2DALDAY1DAY2MCAS1
10
MCAS2
C
DC
9
AC
10
SEALA1LA215th34
88 Toshi AraiPHO1PHO2DALDAY1DAY2MCAS1MCAS2
C
DCACSEALA1
13
LA2
13
19th4
2017Subaru Rally Team USASubaru Impreza WRX STI18 Patrik SandellMEM
9
LOUTHO1
6
THO2
5
OTT1
9
OTT2
7
INDY
8
AC1
9
AC2
10
SEA1
7
SEA2
3
LA
3
8th582
55 Chris AtkinsonMEM
9
LOUTHO1
7
THO2
3
OTT1
4
OTT2
9
INDY
8
AC1
9
AC2
4
SEA1
3
SEA2
5
LA
9
7th585

Complete Nitro Rallycross results

Supercar

YearEntrantCarNo.Driver12345PosPoints
2021Subaru Motorsports USASubaru WRX STi13 Andreas BakkerudUMC
9
ERX
6
WHPHLN
3
FIR8th71
41 Scott SpeedUMC
5
ERX
1
WHP
3
HLN
2
FIR
3
2nd219
199 Travis PastranaUMC
6
ERX
2
WHP
1
HLN
1
FIR
4
1st219
ZipRecruiter #GONITRO9A Chase ElliottUMCERXWHPHLNFIR
8
15th15
51 Kyle BuschUMCERXWHP
4
HLNFIR11th35

References