Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Red Bull Global Rallycross
Pre-Race Notes – Bader Field, Atlantic City, NJ
Round 8 & 9 of 12 in the 2017 Red Bull Global Rallycross Season
DATE:
Saturday – Sunday, August 12-13, 2017
FINALS BROADCAST:
NBC will air coverage of the finals beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET Saturday, August 12 and 4:30 p.m. ET Sunday, August 13
ENTRY:
No. 14 M-Sport Fiesta for Austin Dyne
TRACK LAYOUT:
0.902 miles, 10 turns
EVENT HISTORY/DETAILS:
Second event at Bader Field but new course layout.
COMPETITION DETAILS:
Wheel-to-wheel action on dirt, asphalt and a signature 70-foot tabletop jump
NEWS & NOTES:
AUSTIN DYNE REWIND ON ROUND SEVEN IN INDIANAPOLIS
“Indy was hard at the start. We had big engine issues which caused us to make a call to miss the rest of the day and change the engine. But I was really proud of the effort and the team pulled together to make sure the car was good for race day. We were able to pull a top five and had pace from the start with basically zero practice.”
AUSTIN ON THE 2016 ATLANTIC CITY RACE
“Last year was a tough event and the track was a lot faster. It was hard to keep the tires healthy with the amount of tire degradation we were getting but I enjoyed it. It reminded me of when I raced NASCAR stuff and you had to save tires basically every race.”
COURSE DETAILS
Compared to 2016, the new Atlantic City course features two key differences. The first is a change in direction: this year’s layout is counterclockwise after a clockwise track last year. The second is a shorter layout that cuts off just over two-tenths of a mile, but also adds multiple new dirt corners into the equation. As was the case last year, the lengthy straightaways of the airfield will strongly define the course. Drivers will charge down the first one and into a hard left first turn to approach the second one, while the first right turn of the lap leads into the four-corner dirt section. Once drivers conquer the dirt corners, they’ll take the jump and slide into another hard left—the same corner that served as Turn 1 in 2016. They’ll then accelerate toward the finish line, hitting a left-right-left “bus stop” feature to conclude the lap. While last year’s Joker Lap allowed drivers to bypass much of the dirt and jump, giving Patrik Sandell the chance to jump from fifth to second on the final lap, this year’s Joker will be a smaller shortcut enabling drivers to bypass Turn 7. With drivers likely to brake heavily into that corner, especially as their tires carry dirt from the jump, there’s an opportunity for a brave driver to keep the throttle up, club the curbs, and take full advantage of the alternate route.
AUSTIN ON THE NEW LAYOUT IN ATLANTIC CITY
“The new course looks like a lot of fun with some technical sections. The sand section will be hard but I’m really looking forward to racing. It’s been one month since the last race.”
AUSTIN ON THE CHALLENGES OF DOUBLEHEADERS OVERALL AND SPECIFICALLY AT ATLANTIC CITY
“Well, first your first job is to keep the car in one piece to enable yourself to have a healthy car for Race 2. It’s fun getting to run so much but it’s challenging because the schedule gets compressed which makes it quite difficult to make big changes or repairs in between heats.”
ABOUT AUSTIN DYNE
Dyne, a native of Los Angeles, California, got his start in racing in karting at the age of 15, progressed to the Skip Barber Regional series in 2010 and raced late model stock cars at Irwindale Speedway in 2011. He moved up to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, where he was the Rookie of the Year in 2012, and competed in the East division in 2013. Also in 2013, he made his move to Red Bull Global Rallycross in the GRC Lites class and earned a season-best second place at Bristol. He moved up to Supercar with Barracuda Racing in 2014 then competed for Bryan Herta Rallysport in 2015 where he earned his first podium (Daytona) and first pole (Barbados). For 2016, he started his own team — AD Racing — and finished a career-high eighth in points as well as added a second car to his team at Phoenix.
ABOUT RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS
The 2017 Red Bull Global Rallycross season will kick off with a brand new event at Memphis International Raceway on Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29. The new event will represent the first of 12 rounds on this year’s championship schedule. For more information visit www.redbullglobalrallycross.com, or follow Red Bull GRC on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @GRCseries.
WHERE TO WATCH RED BULL GRC
NBC and NBCSN will combine to produce more than 20 telecasts of the Red Bull GRC Supercar and GRC Lites series, and all events will be live streamed on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app – NBC Sports Group’s live streaming platforms for desktops, mobile devices, tablets, and connected TVs. See above for broadcast times for this event.