2017C NASA RallyCross Challenge Season

2017C NASA RallyCross season
NASA RallyCross Challenge
Season
Races	10
Start date	October 3, 2017
End date	December 12, 2017
Awards
Drivers' champion	Josh Mertz
Constructors' Champion	Red Bull Subaru MRT
Privateers' Champion	Casey Lester Lester Racing
Manufacturers' Cup	Subaru
Nations' Cup	Germany
Tires' Cup	Bridgestone
International Trophy	TBD
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
2017B	2018A

The 2017C NASA RallyCross Challenge season was the fourteenth season of the championship. Philip Kraus returned as the defending Drivers' Champion, but was unable to defend his title. His teammate, Josh Mertz, beat Kraus at the final race of the season in Croft to overhaul the Canadian and win his fifth championship.

Background

After two seasons of high downforce, low drag cars with a six speed gearbox, the regulations changed. Dubbed "Gen-3", the new cars were heavier, had four speed gearboxes, and had faster top speed.

2017C Schedule

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Location
1	Dutch RallyCross GP	Valkenswaard Circuit	Valkenswaard, NED
2	Canadian RallyCross GP	St. Eustache Speedway	St. Eustache, CAN
3	Wisconsin RallyCross GP	The Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, WI, USA
4	Lakewood RallyCross GP South	NASA Proving Grounds - South	Lakewood, CO, USA
5	Cañon City RallyCross GP	Negus Circuit	Cañon City, CO, USA
6	Lakewood RX GP North	NASA Proving Grounds - North	Lakewood, CO, USA
7	Irwindale RallyCross GP	Irwindale Speedway	Irwindale, CA, USA
8	Seattle RallyCross GP	Seattle Speedpark	Seattle, WA, USA
9	Vancouver RallyCross GP	Bent Twig Raceway	Vancouver, BC, CAN
10	British RallyCross GP	Croft Circuit	North Yorkshire, GBR

Calendar Changes

• NASA returns to the longtime opening round of Croft for 2017C, after one season at Lydden Hill. The venue was scheduled to host the opening round, but customs issues caused Croft to be placed as the season finale.
• After experimenting with "roval" rounds in Milwaukee, Indianapolis, and Seattle, NASA will return to Milwaukee and Seattle.
• After poor track layouts, Indianapolis and Austin have been dropped.
• The series will return to Irwindale for 2017C.
• The series will also return to having three Colorado rounds, with Pikes Peak joining the schedule.
• The series will visit the South course of the NASA Proving Grounds, per the alternating agreement with the Lakewood circuit.
• The week before the series was to visit Pikes Peak, the venue cancelled the event. The series subsequently visited the North course of the NASA Proving Grounds in nearby Lakewood.
• Evergreen Speedway's round of the Championship has been discontinued after one event. A purpose built track was constructed to host the Seattle round of the championship.

2017C Drivers and Teams

SuperCars Entry List

NASA RallyCross SuperCar entries eligible to score constructor points
Manufacturer	Constructor	Tire	No.	Driver	Rds
Subaru (Subaru Impreza WRX STi)	Red Bull Subaru MRT	B	1	Philip Kraus	All
			2	Josh Mertz	All
Honda (Honda Civic RX)	V2 Racing Technologies	F	24	Victor Vallee	3-10
			76	Noah Carmichael	3-10
Mitsubishi (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)	Revolution Racing	H	23	Chris Wetz	All
			51	Dylan Livengood	1-5, 7-10
			97		6
NASA RallyCross SuperCar entries eligible to score privateer points
Ford (Ford Focus RX)	AB Racing	M	29	Alan Ballachino	1
	Team Razer Enterprises	M	29	Jacob Krause	3
			42		2-10
	Berg RallySport	H	91	Brenden Berg	6-10
Mitsubishi (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)	Lester Racing	H	50	Casey Lester	All

Team and Driver Changes

• After a poor season, Dylan Livengood leaves MRT and returns to Revolution Racing.
• Philip Kraus leaves Area 52 Racing and moves to Red Bull Subaru MRT.
• Cody Erdmann announced his indefinite retirement from NASA RallyCross before the season.
• Casey Lester returns to privateer competition after a two-season absence, being the odd man out at Revolution Racing with Livengood's return. He once again pilots a Mitsubishi.
• Victor Vallee rejoins the series after his suspension was lifted. He recruited rookie Noah Carmichael to pilot the second Honda, renumbered #76.
• Dylan Livengood renumbered his usual #51 to the #97 at Proving Grounds North to pay tribute to his friend Makayla Grote after her tragic death on November 17th.

Events & Results

Rd.	Race	Seeding	Quarter Final 1	Quarter Final 2	Semi Final A	Semi Final B	LCQ	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Winning Manu	Private Winner
1	Valkenswaard	Josh Mertz	Josh Mertz	Chris Wetz	Philip Kraus	Dylan Livengood	Casey Lester	Chris Wetz	Revolution Racing	Mitsubishi	Casey Lester
2	St. Eustache	Josh Mertz	Philip Kraus	Chris Wetz	Dylan Livengood	Josh Mertz	Casey Lester	Josh Mertz	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Casey Lester
3	Milwaukee	Philip Kraus	Philip Kraus	Josh Mertz	Chris Wetz	Dylan Livengood	Casey Lester	Philip Kraus	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Casey Lester
4	NPVG South	Josh Mertz	Philip Kraus	Casey Lester	Josh Mertz	Chris Wetz	Dylan Livengood	Philip Kraus	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Casey Lester
5	Negus	Josh Mertz	Josh Mertz	Dylan Livengood	Philip Kraus	Victor Vallee	Chris Wetz	Josh Mertz	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Casey Lester
6	NPVG North	Josh Mertz	Josh Mertz	Philip Kraus	Chris Wetz	Dylan Livengood	Victor Vallee	Josh Mertz	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Brenden Berg
7	Irwindale	Josh Mertz	Chris Wetz	Philip Kraus	Josh Mertz	Dylan Livengood	Victor Vallee	Chris Wetz	Revolution Racing	Mitsubishi	Casey Lester
8	Seattle	Josh Mertz	Josh Mertz	Philip Kraus	Chris Wetz	Dylan Livengood	Victor Vallee	Josh Mertz	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Casey Lester
9	Bent Twig	Chris Wetz	Brenden Berg	Philip Kraus	Chris Wetz	Dylan Livengood	Victor Vallee	Brenden Berg	Berg RallySport	Ford	Brenden Berg
10	Croft	Philip Kraus	Josh Mertz	Brenden Berg	Philip Kraus	Dylan Livengood	Chris Wetz	Josh Mertz	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Brenden Berg

Championship Standings

Championship leader table
Race	Championship leader	Lead
Valkenswaard	Chris Wetz	2
St. Eustache	Josh Mertz	1
Milwaukee	Philip Kraus	4
NPVG South		8
Negus		6
NPVG North		1
Irwindale		4
Seattle		1
Bent Twig		1
Croft	Josh Mertz	3

2017C Drivers' Championship

Points are awarded to the top 16 finishers.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	QF Win	SF Win
Points	20	17	15	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	2	1

Pos. Driver Cup Team NED CAN MIL PVGS NEG PVGN IRW SEA BTW GBR  Pts  1 Josh Mertz C Red Bull Subaru MRT 31 1B 32 3A 11 11 3A 11 2 11 192 2 Philip Kraus C Red Bull Subaru MRT 2A 21 11 11 2A 32 22 22 32 2A 189 3 Chris Wetz C Revolution Racing 12 42 2A 2B 3LCQ 2A 11 4A 6A 5LCQ 166 4 Dylan Livengood C Revolution Racing 4B 3A 4B 5LCQ 42 5B 6B 5B 4B 6B 135 5 Casey Lester P Lester Racing 5LCQ 5LCQ 5LCQ 62 6 9 5 6 7 8 110 6 Victor Vallee C V2 Racing Technologies 4 5B 6LCQ 4LCQ 3LCQ 5LCQ 3 92 7 Jacob Krause P Team Razer Enterprises 6 6 8 7 8 8 8 8 9 85 8 Brenden Berg P Berg RallySport 4 7 9 12 42 68 9 Noah Carmichael C V2 Racing Technologies 7 8 7 9 7 9 7 65 10 Alan Ballachino P AB Racing 6 11 Pos. Driver Cup Team NED CAN MIL PVGS NEG PVGN IRW SEA BTW GBR  Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Made Final, Points Finish Red Made Final, Non-Points Finish Blue Missed final, Points Finish Purple Missed final, Non-Points Finish Black Disqualified (DSQ) Light blue Practiced only (PO) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Withdrew entry before the event (WD) Suspended (SUS) Icon Championship C Constructors P Privateers Bold – Fastest time in seeding 1 2 – Winner of Quarterfinal 1, 2, or 3 A B – Winner of Semifinal A or B LCQ – Winner of the Last Chance Qualifier

2017C Manufacturers' Championship

Pos. Manufacturer NED CAN MIL PVGS NEG PVGN IRW SEA BTW GBR  Pts  1 Subaru 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 207 2 Mitsubishi 1 3 2 2 3 2 1 4 4 5 172 3 Ford 6 6 6 8 8 4 7 8 1 4 121 4 Honda 4 6 6 4 3 5 3 92 Pos. Manufacturer NED CAN MIL PVGS NEG PVGN IRW SEA BTW GBR  Pts  2017C Constructors' Championship Pos. Constructor No. NED CAN MIL PVGS NEG PVGN IRW SEA BTW GBR  Pts  1 Red Bull Subaru MRT 1 2A 21 11 11 2A 32 22 22 22 2A 386 2 31 1B 32 3A 11 11 3A 11 1 11 2 Revolution Racing 23 12 42 2A 2B 3B 2A 11 4A 5A 4LCQ 305 51 4B 3A 4B 5LCQ 42 5B 4B 3B 5B 97 4B 3 V2 Racing Technologies 24 4 5B 5LCQ 4LCQ 3LCQ 4LCQ 3 171 76 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 Pos. Constructor No. NED CAN MIL PVGS NEG PVGN IRW SEA BTW GBR  Pts  Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Made Final, Points Finish Red Made Final, Non-Points Finish Blue Missed final, Points Finish Purple Missed final, Non-Points Finish Black Disqualified (DSQ) Light blue Practiced only (PO) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Withdrew entry before the event (WD) Suspended (SUS) 2017C Privateers' Cup Pos. Driver Team NED CAN MIL PVGS NEG PVGN IRW SEA BTW GBR  Pts  1 Casey Lester Lester Racing 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 191 2 Jacob Krause Team Razer Enterprises 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 3 3 147 3 Brenden Berg Berg RallySport 1 2 3 1 1 92 4 Alan Ballachino AB Racing 2 17 Pos. Driver Team NED CAN MIL PVGS PPIR NEG IRW SEA BTW GBR  Pts