2012B NASA RallyCross Challenge Season

2012B NASA RallyCross season
NASA RallyCross Challenge
Season
Races	8
Start date	9 September
End date	28 October
Awards
Drivers' champion	Josh Mertz
Constructors' Champion	MRT
Privateers' Champion	Tristan Hagenstein Great Lakes Motorsports
Manufacturers' Cup	Subaru
Nations' Cup	Germany
Tires' Cup	Cooper
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
2012A	2012C

The 2012B NASA RallyCross Challenge Season was the second season of the NASA RallyCross Challenge. The season started on 9 September and ended on 28 October. Brandon Lambert would not return to defend his title.

Josh Mertz won a season high four races en route to the championship, for MRT.

2012B Schedule

Round	Circuit	Location
1	Croft RallyCross	Croft, UK
2	Valkenwaard RallyCross	Valkenwaard, NED
3	Charlotte RallyCross	Charlotte, NC, USA
4	St. Eustache RallyCross	St. Eustache, CAN
5	Negus RallyCross	Canon City, CO, USA
6	Los Angeles RallyCross	Los Angeles, CA, USA
7	NASA Proving Grounds North	Lakewood, CO, USA
8	NASA Proving Grounds South	Lakewood, CO, USA

Schedule Changes

• Island Rally and Riverside Rally were dropped in favour of shorter circuits, due to complaints from the fans that the racing was too strung out.

• Valkenswaard moves forward in the schedule to partner with Croft, to help cut costs with logistics

• Charlotte and Los Angeles both paid their race fees and had their tracks complete (partially for Los Angeles, due to budget issues) before the deadline.

• St. Eustache moved ahead of Negus

• NASA Proving Grounds hosted the final two races of the season.

2012B Drivers and Teams

NASA RallyCross Car Entries eligible to score constructor points
Constructor	Team	Individual Team	No.	Driver	Rounds
Citroën (Citroën Xsara)	Team Citroën Total	Team Citroën Total	2	Nick DiPalmo	2, 4-5, 8
Ford (Ford Focus)	Great Lakes Motorsports	Team Klondike	27	Tristan Hagenstein	1-5
	MONSTER Ford World Rally Team	31hellomate Racing	5	Andrew Fessler	1-5, 7-8
Mitsubishi (Mitsubishi Lancer)	Revolution Racing	Rockstar Energy Revolution Racing	23	Chris Wetz	All
		Rockstar Energy Revolution Racing	51	Dylan Livengood	All
Subaru Subaru Impreza	MRT	MRT Red Bull RallyCross Team	81	Josh Mertz	All
		HWR Red Bull RallyCross Team	524	Cody Erdmann	All
	MRT Junior	PCK Red Bull RallyCross Team	6	Dylan Smith	4-8
		ATN Red Bull RallyCross Team	08	Adam Simons	All
	Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru RallyCross	97	Jack Stroski	1-7

Major entries ineligible to score constructor points
Constructor	Team	Individual Team	No.	Driver	Rounds
Citroën (Citroën Xsara)	Matt Wishart	Matt Wishart RallyCross	32	Matt Wishart	8
Mitsubishi (Mitsubishi Lancer)	Revolution Racing	ProCupKarting RallyCross Team	6	Dylan Smith	3
	Rookie Racing	SPEED Energy Rookie Racing	7	Nick Dawson	6
Subaru (Subaru Impreza)	Best Buy Racing	Best Buy Racing	4	Doug DeNise	1, 5
	Brian Mercurio	Turtle Beach RallyCross	41	Brian Mercurio	5-6, 8
	Ian Dowdy	Chocolate Milk RallyCross	11	Ian Dowdy	8
	Jeffrey Stanton	Jeffrey Stanton RallyCross	61	Jeffrey Stanton	7
	Pillsbury Racing	Pillsbury Racing	6	Dylan Smith	1-2
		Pillsbury Racing	32	Matt Wishart	1, 6-7
	Solstice Racing	MONSTER Energy Solstice Racing	15	Keith Sherman	7

Driver and Team Changes

• Brandon Lambert and the Red Bull Ford World Rally Team would not return to defend their titles.
  

• John Quinn and So Cal Autosport, due to lack of sponsorship, originally planned to just run Los Angeles but were forced to abandon the plans.
  

• Elliot Porterfield still remains injured after 2012A Negus. The 666 was briefly brought back to competition at Charlotte, rebranded as the #37 for Dylan Smith.
  

• Webler Motorsports sold their assets to Rookie Racing, and Nick Dawson appeared at Los Angeles.
  

• Brian Mercurio left Pillsbury Racing to form his own team, which raced at Negus and Los Angeles.
  

• The Red Bull RallyCross Team shrank from 5 cars to 3 at the beginning of the season, and renamed to Mertz Racing Technologies.
  

• The 81 and 524 were promptly kept on MRT, with the 08 moved to the new MRT Junior Team.

• Pillsbury Racing shrank from 4 cars to 2 after budget constraints, and also withdrew from Valkenswaard, Charlotte, St. Eustache, and Negus.
  

• After Valkenswaard, Dylan Smith promptly signed onto Revolution Racing for Charlotte. With a poor result, he left the team and joined the MRT Junior Team.
  

• Dylan Connolly was banned from NASA after a drug problem, and thus DC, Inc. closed.
  

• Solstice Racing appeared to close their doors, but fielded the #15 Subaru for Kieth Sherman at the North Proving Grounds.
  

Results and Standings

Races

Championship leader table
Race	Championship leader	Lead
Croft	Josh Mertz	3
Valkenswaard		4
Charlotte	Chris Wetz	3
St. Eustache	Josh Mertz	5
Negus		13
Los Angeles		9
Proving Grounds North		4
Proving Grounds South		9

Rd.	Race	Heat 1	Heat 2	Heat 3	LCQ	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Winning Manu.
1	Croft	Josh Mertz	Chris Wetz	N/A	Andrew Fessler	Josh Mertz	MRT	Subaru
2	Valkenswaard	Josh Mertz	Chris Wetz	N/A	Dylan Livengood	Chris Wetz	Revolution Racing	Mitsubishi
3	Charlotte	Jack Stroski	Tristan Hagenstein	N/A	Dylan Livengood	Cody Erdmann	MRT	Subaru
4	St. Eustache	Andrew Fessler	Dylan Smith	N/A	Josh Mertz	Josh Mertz	MRT	Subaru
5	Negus	Josh Mertz	Josh Mertz	Dylan Livengood	Brian Mercurio	Josh Mertz	MRT	Subaru
6	Los Angeles	Cody Erdmann	Adam Simons	N/A	Chris Wetz	Chris Wetz	Revolution Racing	Mitsubishi
7	NPVG North	Josh Mertz	Cody Erdmann	Andrew Fessler	Matt Wishart	Dylan Smith	MRT Junior	Subaru
8	NPVG South	Chris Wetz	Cody Erdmann	N/A	Josh Mertz	Josh Mertz	MRT	Subaru

2012B 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	Heat Win
Points	20	17	15	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	1

Pos. Drivers Team CRO NED CHA CAN NEG LA PVGN PVGS  Pts  1 Josh Mertz MRT Red Bull RallyCross Team 1 3 9 1 1 5 5 1 131 2 Chris Wetz Rockstar Energy Revolution Racing 4 1 3 7 6 1 2 3 122 3 Andrew Fessler 31hellomate Racing 2 4 6 2 4 4 2 105 4 Cody Erdmann HWR Red Bull RallyCross Team 7 6 1 4 8 3 8 6 100 5 Jack Stroski 555 Subaru Rally Team 11 2 2 6 2 4 7 94 6 Dylan Smith ProCupKarting RallyCross Team 8 9 7 3 7 10 1 4 93 7 Dylan Livengood Rockstar Energy Revolution Racing 6 5 4 9 4 8 6 11 83 8 Adam Simons ATN RallyCross Team 10 8 8 10 10 2 9 7 75 9 Matt Wishart Pillsbury Racing 3 6 3 5 53 10 Tristan Hagenstein Team Klondike 5 10 5 5 12 49 11 Brian Mercurio Turtle Beach Racing 3 7 8 34 12 Nick DiPalmo Citroen Total Racing 7 7 11 10 33 13 Doug DeNise Best Buy RallyCross Team 9 9 16 14 Nick Dawson SPEED Energy Rookie Racing 9 8 15 Ian Dowdy Chocolate Milk RallyCross 9 8 16 Keith Sherman MONSTER Energy Solstice Racing 10 7 17 Jeffrey Stanton Jeffrey Stanton RallyCross 11 6 Pos. Drivers Team CRO NED CHA CAN NEG LA PVGN PVGS  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) BOLD - Driver won their heat, they get an extra bonus point Italics - Driver transferred through to the final via the LCQ

2012B Manufacturers' Championship

Pos. Manufacturer CRO NED CHA CAN NEG LA PVGN PVGS  Pts  1 Subaru 1 2 1 1 1 2 1* 1 158 2 Mitsubishi 4 1 3 7 4 1 2 3 124 3 Ford 2 4 5 2 5 4 2 104 4 Citroen 7 7 11 5 38 With the victory at the North Proving Grounds, Subaru clinched the 2012B NASA RallyCross Challenge Manufacturers' Championship. 2012B Constructors' Championship Pos. Constructor No. CRO NED CHA CAN NEG LA PVGN PVGS Points 1 MRT 81 1 3 9 1 1 5 5 1 231 524 7 6 1 4 8 3 8 6 2 Revolution Racing 23 4 1 3 7 6 1 2 3 205 51 6 5 4 9 4 8 6 11 3 MRT Junior 6 3 7 10 1 4 118 08 10 8 8 10 10 2 9 7 4 Subaru World Rally Team 97 11 2 2 6 2 4 7 94 5 MONSTER Ford World Rally Team 5 2 4 6 2 4 4 2 87 6 Great Lakes Motorsports 27 5 10 5 5 12 49 7 Team Citroen TOTAL 2 7 7 11 10 26 Pos. Manufacturer No. CRO NED CHA CAN NEG LA PVGN PVGS Points 2012B Nations Cup Pos. Nation CRO NED CHA CAN NEG LA PVGN PVGS  Pts  1 Germany 1 3 1 1 1 3 1 1 158 2 United States 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 146 3 Canada 6 5 4 9 4 8 6 11 83 4 Australia 10 8 8 10 10 2 9 7 75 5 Netherlands 5 10 5 5 12 49 Pos. Nation CRO NED CHA CAN NEG LA PVGN PVGS  Pts