Skip to main content

Steve Arpin Strikes Silver at 2015 Summer X Games in Austin




While motorsports fail to gain the respect to be included with the Olympics, Commonwealth or Pan-Am Games, the maverick athletic spirit of the X Games has given representation to motorized warriors. For this year's Summer X Games in Austin, Texas, Competitors on motorcycles or riding inside Stadium Super Trucks and RallyCross cars get the opportunity to claim a top-three medal in a chosen event. In RallyCross, drivers from the Red Bull Rallycross series suited-up for the 2015 edition of the Summer X Games. Just a week after their official 2015 season started, the X Games event provided no points towards the Red Bull Rallycross' championship but was heavily battled. After Saturday's finals, Canada has a reason proudly celebrate the results.

Fort Frances, Ontario's Steve Arpin drove to a silver medal in the RallyCross final round on the .562-mile track within the Circuit of the America's complex. Having to aggressively fight his way through a Last Chance Qualifying heat to enter the main event, the Chip Ganassi Racing-owned Ford Fiesta ST in the Canadian driver's hands stayed out of trouble to cross the line in second place. Being the driver's first X Games podium, Arpin's in delivered the first medal performance by a Canadian in the RallyCross competition of the X Games in Austin, Texas this past weekend.

Steve Arpin finished within a second of gold medal winner Scott Speed's Volkswagen Beetle. For Speed and Andretti RallyCross, they defended their gold medal performance of last year's X Games. Following the Gold medal performance, Speed responded, “The final race was the most gratifying of my career from the fact that it took so much work, not just from myself, but from the entire Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross team,”. Claiming the Bronze medal honours, Swedish driver Sebastian Eriksson fought hard by soldiering to the finish on a flat left-rear tire. For Eriksson's race team Olsbergs MSE, it is the organization's 23rd medal in X Games competition.    

For Chip Ganassi Racing in their first X Games RallyCross competition, the result was impressive for a debut. In addition to Steve Arpin's Silver medal, Brian Deegan made his debut in the team's second Ford Fiesta ST and finished fourth in the final round. In another part of Texas during the same weekend, superteam owner Chip Ganassi watched as his IndyCar driver Scott Dixon went to victory in the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway.

The 2015 Red Rull Rallycross season resumes competition on June 20th at Daytona International Speedway. 


Photo Credit: Olsbergs MSE

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Car FYI's 2024 Canadian Automotive Guide: Ferrari

Photo Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. Product Lineup: 296 GTB, 296 GTS, Portofino M, Purosangue, Roma, Roma Spider, SF90 Spider, SF90 Stradale, SF90 XX Spider, SF90 XX Stradale Overall Brand Impression:  The devotion of the Italian artisans that has kept Ferrari as a premium sports car leader stretches right back to the company’s founder. However, while Enzo Ferrari believed in the construction of pure performance machines in disregard for creature comforts, today’s vehicles are assembled with more consideration of customers seeking luxury alongside supercar power. Despite a long resistance to engaging in the popular crossover category, Ferrari demonstrates a level of concession to the mass market in 2024 by introducing the all-new Purosangue. The Purosangue joins an exciting 2024 Ferrari lineup that also includes the introduction of the brand’s first street legal XX program vehicle. What’s New for 2024:  Every vehicle in Ferrari’s 2024 lineup is a merger of style and power. An auto brand reno

Car FYI's 2024 Canadian Automotive Guide: Fiat

Photo Credit: Stellantis Product Lineup: 500e, 500x Overall Brand Impression:  When Fiat reentered North American in 2011, there were high hopes that the Italian car make’s small yet stylish products would establish a healthy niche. Although the distinctive design of the Fiat 500 can still attract admiring stares, the brand has amounted to a very tiny share of the market with the 500x crossover being the only product available in recent years. The Fiat 500 subcompact’s reintroduction to the United States and Canada in 2024 as an entirely electric model line could allow this Stellantis brand to gain new relevance among motorists. What’s New for 2024:  The subcompact Fiat 500 returns to the United States and Canada for 2024 exclusively as a battery electric vehicle. Assembled within a tidy, elegant Italian-styled package, the 2024 Fiat 500e features a powertrain consisting of a 42-kWh battery pack as well as an electric motor generating 118 horsepower and 162 lb.-ft. of torque. With a ma

5 Designing Women of the Modern Automobile

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy On International Women’s Day, it was prudent for Car FYI to recognize the many contributions of women to the auto industry. As a piece of complex machinery with no discrimination of gender itself, it is disheartening to note how past praise and innovation of automobiles have centred around men. Looking back into history, Karl Benz’s wife Bertha ultimate undertook the automobile’s first major publicity trip and endurance test. She was also instrumental in the financing of the automobile patent but could not be recognized in connections to due to her standing as a married woman in German law. With regards to the other half of Mercedes-Benz, the Mercedes name was derived from a customer of Gottieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. When it comes to vehicle design, the female influence on automobiles is a complicated story. In cases when men tried to identify with women, a laughable result was the 1955 and 1956 Dodge LaFemme that were even insultingly sexist fo