Steve Arpin, Chip Ganassi Racing Earn First Red Bull GRC Victory

Steve Arpin added to Chip Ganassi Racing’s extensive Daytona International Speedway trophy count with a win in today’s Red Bull Global Rallycross Supercar final. Arpin took the first Supercar victory for both himself and the team, adding to Ganassi’s Rolex 24 at Daytona and Daytona 500 victories. Teammate Brian Deegan finished second, while 2015 Daytona winner Sebastian Eriksson placed third.

“You have to be super aggressive on this first corner to give yourself some track position to be in a position to race,” Arpin said. “One of the things that I’ve learned here are there are some areas of the track where you just have to attack it like a dirt track, to almost where you are being overaggressive. Then, there are other areas where you have to be super disciplined, just back everything up and stay calm through there. It’s just finding that happy medium in those areas around different parts of the racetrack.”

Persistent lightning delayed the proceedings until the early evening, with Arpin winning the first semifinal in dry conditions and Tanner Foust winning the second in wet conditions roughly four hours later to earn lane choice for the main event alongside Arpin and Joni Wiman. The showers through the afternoon made for a slippery track, with drivers struggling to find grip on the .742-mile course.

A chaotic final saw Speed take the lead initially, before Foust used the Joker Lap to reclaim the lead early on. After Foust spun from first place, collecting second-place Patrik Sandell, Speed reclaimed the lead, but after driving with the car on fire for a lap and a half, he finally had to pull off after taking the white flag. From there,

Red Bull Global Rallycross Daytona (I) unofficial results are as follows:

  1. Steve Arpin, #00 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford Fiesta ST
  2. Brian Deegan, #38 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford Fiesta ST
  3. Sebastian Eriksson, #93 Honda Red Bull Olsbergs MSE Civic Coupe
  4. Joni Wiman, #31 Honda Red Bull Olsbergs MSE Civic Coupe
  5. Jeff Ward, #07 SH Rallycross/DRR Ford Fiesta ST
  6. Rhys Millen, #67 Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster
  7. Scott Speed, #41 Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Beetle
  8. Patrik Sandell, #18 Bryan Herta Rallysport Ford Fiesta ST
  9. Tanner Foust, #34 Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Beetle
  10. Austin Dyne, #14 AD Racing Ford Fiesta ST

Red Bull GRC action from Daytona continues on Sunday with the second leg of this weekend’s doubleheader. The action can be seen live tomorrow at 2:30PM ET on NBC and at 3:30PM ET on Red Bull TV.

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