The Nitro Rallycross season so far has been a tough one for teams, cars and drivers alike, but quietly racking up the points has been DirtFish’s Fraser McConnell.
Driving for Olsbergs MSE, the Jamaican currently sits fifth in the points – the best of the rest outside the dominant Hansen and Subaru squads. But while both of those teams have shared the wins so far this year, McConnell is confident that his resilient Ford Fiesta ST can carry him to victory lane before the season is out.
“The car’s held up great the whole season,” he told DirtFish. “I haven’t had the same amount of testing as some of the big teams, but we’re working with what we have. We don’t have the biggest budget either.
“So definitely keeping the car and maintaining the car in a respectable fashion and not destroying stuff is on my mind of course, to not break the car and incur a lot of expense. It’s been a very solid car for me to work with so far, it’s held up pretty strong and I know that it’s good enough to bring home a win.”
This weekend Nitro RX heads to Phoenix Arizona after a five-week break, kicking of a championship run-in that comprises three rounds in just four weeks.
While McConnell’s first impressions of the Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park extends to nothing more than a glance at a flat track map (see above), he was full of praise for the work done on the venues used already this year.
“Full respect and hats off to Travis and his team for making sure that these tracks are rallycross race-able,” he said.
“You don’t want to send all 15 cars to a track that isn’t proven to be safe and we’re all putting our full confidence and trust in Travis to make sure that they make that happen.”
After returning to Europe during the break to help run the RX2e series, McConnell will once again be team-mates to brothers Kevin and Oliver Eriksson in Phoenix, with Latvian racer Ronalds Baldiņš joining too in a fourth Olsbergs entry.
