Photo: NHMS/HHP
Tanner Foust made it look easy. The Global RallyCross points leader slickly drifted the corners, glided through the chicane and sailed the 70-foot gap jump with ease during Friday night’s SYLVANIA SilverStar zXe Global RallyCross Seeding Session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Foust’s time of 39.955 seconds bested the field of 14 cars in the four-lap feature.
“This track … there’s a lot of space to use and all of the elements,” said Foust. “It’s going to be hard when there’s door-to-door racing.”
Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, Stephan Verdier and Brian Deegan round out the top five spots.
Friday’s seeding session certainly drew the interest of not only the fans, but some of NASCAR’s top stars. Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson each made their way onto pit road to watch the jaw-dropping action.
The session broke the 14 cars into three groups, with cars spread out over the track and no side-by-side racing. The best lap time in the four laps gave the driver their seed for Saturday’s feature, which will involve two heats, a Last Chance Qualifier and the final.
The course involves moguls, dirt, a chicane, a gap jump, a car wash, a table top jump and a 180-hairpin turn that saw Block fly into its catch-fence and over the side. Block exited the car uninjured, but he wasn’t the only one to struggle with the hairpin. Bucky Lasek nearly toppled over the side and qualified last after failing to register a complete lap.
Despite the issues, Pastrana thinks the course is fair, yet challenging.
“The course is absolutely awesome,” he said. “It’s very, very technical. There’s going to be a lot of carnage and a lot of chaos tomorrow.”
The SYLVANIA SilverStar zXe is slated to begin at 7 p.m.
For more details and ticket information on the SYLVANIA SilverStar zXe, as well as all events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, or to purchase tickets to Sunday’s LENOX Industrial Tools 301, please stop by our Ticket Office, visit the speedway website at www.nhms.com, or call our Ticket Hotline at (603) 783-4931.