2018 finally had Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross deliver on its promise of the last few seasons and pull off a completely unbeaten season, while Ken Block returned to domestic US competition to challenge Scott Speed and Tanner Foust at the top.
With the maiden ARX season all being a bit last-minute, the campaign actually began at Silverstone in the great American state of Northamptonshire (spoiler: It’s not in the Americas). Foust began the year as he ended the last, by winning in dominant fashion. The American had won the last three GRC events in 2017, then took a pair of heat wins and his semi-final by more than two seconds before proving to be untouchable in the final.
Credit: ARX Rallycross
Returning to American soil for the second round of the season, it was the turn of Speed to take the honours, winning at ARX’s first-ever standalone event at the Circuit of the Americas. The three-time GRC champions three heat wins, in addition to his semi and final victory gave him the championship lead at the mid-way point in the season, a position has wasn’t going to relinquish.
The first visit to COTA also marked the return of Loenbro Motorsports. The GRC title-challengers skipped the opening round of the season while it worked on developing its new Ford Focus RS RX alongside Hooningan Racing Division which it had entered a partnership with. The team joined Subaru and VARX as the series’ full-time competitors for the remainder of the year.
Next up was a visit north of the border to Canada in support of the World Rallycross event at Circuit Trois-Rivières in Quebec. The third round of the season proved to be eventual champion Speed’s defining moment of the year as he went four rounds of heats, a semi-final, and the final completely unbeaten. It was ARX’s first clean sweep and it put Speed in a prime position going into the final round of the season.
Credit: ARX Rallycross
Credit: ARX Rallycross
The finale was once again at COTA, only this time as a support to World Rallycross’ first visit to the US.
Despite Foust topping to qualifying heats and winning his semi-final race, Speed’s outstanding performance in Canada, coupled with his own semi-final win meant that he only needed to start the final to be mathematically assured of winning the first ARX crown and his fourth US rallycross title in as many years.
As it turns out, the last round of the 2018 season proved to be an almost carbon copy of the final GRC race, with Foust winning as Speed took overall season honours.
Behind the dominant Volkswagen pairing, Patrik Sandell took third in the season standings with top-five finishes in every round. He beat Ken Block into fourth who scored two podium finishes in the middle of the year, but missed the first round of the season then retired from the last, ruining his chances of a top-three finish. Chris Atkinson, the only other full-time competitor alongside Speed, Foust, and Subaru team mate Sandell rounded out the top five, ahead of Steve Arpin who had a tough part-time campaign adapting to the Focus RS RX platform, although he did finish the final round of the season on the podium.
Final Points Standings (top 10)
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 41 | Scott Speed | USA | Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross | 112 |
| 2 | 34 | Tanner Foust | USA | Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross | 107 |
| 3 | 18 | Patrik Sandell | SWE | Subaru Rally Team USA | 75 |
| 4 | 43 | Ken Block | USA | Loenbro/Hoonigan | 68* |
| 5 | 55 | Chris Atkinson | AUS | Subaru Rally Team USA | 66 |
| 6 | 100 | Steve Arpin | CAN | Loenbro/Hoonigan | 54* |
| 7 | 42 | Oliver Bennett | GBR | Xite Racing | 32* |
| 8 | 33 | Liam Doran | SWE | LD Motorsport/GC Kompetition | 30* |
| 9 | 77 | Rene Munnich | GER | Munnich Motorsport/Team STARD | 29* |
| 10 | 44 | Timo Scheider | GER | Munnich Motorsport | 21* |
Source: The Checkered Flag