2016A NASA RallyCross Challenge Season

2016A NASA RallyCross season
NASA RallyCross Challenge
Season
Races	10
Start date	December 6, 2016
End date	February 7, 2017
Awards
Drivers' champion	Cody Erdmann
Constructors' Champion	Red Bull Subaru MRT
Privateers' Champion	Doug DeNise DeNise Racing
Manufacturers' Cup	Subaru
Nations' Cup	Germany
Tires' Cup	Bridgestone
Endurance Cup	Tristan Hagenstein
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
2015B	2017A

The 2016A NASA RallyCross Challenge season was the eleventh season of the championship. Josh Mertz returned to defend his title from 2015A, along with the partial championship lead from 2015B. He returns to his old team, Red Bull Subaru MRT, as Aftershock Motorsports dissolved after the hiatus. The rulebook was tweaked for 2016A, which includes three car constructor teams and a new points system. MRT, with the help of Erdmann, Mertz, and Tristan Hagenstein, won nine out of ten races in the season, only losing to Chris Wetz and Revolution Racing in Munich. It was a season long battle for the Austrian squad, with Erdmann beating Mertz for his first championship.

2016A Schedule

Round	Circuit	Location
1	Valkenwaard RallyCross	Valkenwaard, NED
2	Munich RallyCross	Munich, GER
3	Barcelona RallyCross	Barcelona, ESP
4	St. Eustache RallyCross	St. Eustache, CAN
5	Negus	Canon City, CO, USA
6	NASA Proving Grounds	Lakewood, CO, USA
7	Aspen	Aspen, CO, USA
8	Bent Twig	Vancouver, CAN
9	Riverside Rally	Riverside, CA, USA
10	Las Vegas Stadium	Las Vegas, NV, USA

Calendar Changes

• The NASA Proving Grounds has been re-added, as track officials fixed the jump that caused controversy in 2015A.
• New races in Barcelona and Aspen have been added.
• Munich returns for the first time since 2014B.
• Riverside becomes the sole endurance round.
• Croft, Island Rally, Talladega and Irwindale have been discontinued.

2016A Drivers and Teams

Entry List

NASA RallyCross Car entries eligible to score constructor points
Manufacturer	Constructor	Tire	Individual Team	No.	Driver	Rounds
Ford (Ford Focus RX)	Area 52 Racing	M	Area 52 Team Taylor	7	Jonathan Taylor	1-7
			Area 52 Team Smith	13	Tanner Smith	1-5
			Area 52 Team Kraus	19	Philip Kraus	8-10
Mitsubishi (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)	Revolution Racing	H	Rockstar Energy Revolution Racing	22	Dylan Smith	3-10
			Rockstar Energy Revolution Racing	51	Dylan Livengood	All
			K1 Revolution Racing	71	Chris Wetz	All
Subaru (Subaru Impreza WRX STi)	Red Bull Subaru MRT	B	MRT Red Bull RallyCross Team	81	Josh Mertz	All
			CER Red Bull RallyCross Team	82	Cody Erdmann	All
			GLM Red Bull RallyCross Team	83	Tristan Hagenstein	All
Volkswagen (Volkswagen Polo RX)	H&H Racing	M	KA RallyCross Team	19	Philip Kraus	1-7
			V2RT RallyCross Team	155	Victor Vallee	1-7
			Bluvos RallyCross Team	199	Steve Rada	1-3
NASA RallyCross Car entries eligible to score privateer points
Mitsubishi (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)	Revolution Junior	Y	Revolution Junior	37	Brandon Nicholson	10
	Columbia Racing	H	Columbia Racing	39	Arnold Columbia	10
	Lester Racing	H	Lester Racing	50	Casey Lester	5-10
	Johnson Racing	H	Johnson Racing	527	Zack Johnson	8
Subaru (Subaru Impreza WRX STi)	DeNise Racing	M	Eneos DeNise Racing	10	Doug DeNise	4-10

Team and Driver Changes

The driver rosters for several teams were shaken up at the end of 2015B, and also a few changed during the course of the season.

• Josh Mertz and Dylan Livengood closed Aftershock Motorsports, and returned to Red Bull Subaru MRT and Revolution Racing, respectively. Also, after a sabbatical, Cody Erdmann returned to partner Mertz at MRT.
• Tanner Smith left Revolution Racing to join Area 52, partnering rookie Jonathan Taylor.
• Steve Rada left MRT following 2015B, and formed H&H Racing as a factory Volkswagen squad. He hired rookies Philip Kraus and Victor Vallee to pilot the other entries.
• Before the Spanish Grand Prix, Revolution Racing expanded to three cars, fielding an entry for the returning Dylan Smith.
• After the Spanish Grand Prix, Steve Rada withdrew his entry.
• Before Canada, Doug DeNise returned with his private Subaru squad.
• After Canada, Tanner Smith left the NASA RallyCross Challenge, leaving Jonathan Taylor as the sole driver.
• Before Negus, Casey Lester also returned with his private Mitsubishi effort.
• After Aspen, Jonathan Taylor left citing poor finishes to be the reason of the exit.
• Also after Aspen, Victor Vallee was indefinitely suspended due to criticizing Race Control on a number of occasions.
• Before Bent Twig, Zack Johnson announced his return for the first time since 2013A.
• Also before Bent Twig, Philip Kraus moved from H&H Racing to Area 52 Racing.

Events

Results

Rd.	Race	Seeding	Quarter Final 1	Quarter Final 2	Quarter Final 3	Semi Final A	Semi Final B	LCQ	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Winning Manu	Private Winner
1	Valkenswaard	Cody Erdmann	Josh Mertz	Tanner Smith	N/A	Cody Erdmann	Tristan Hagenstein	Dylan Livengood	Cody Erdmann	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	No Entries
2	Munich	Cody Erdmann	Cody Erdmann	Tristan Hagenstein	N/A	Chris Wetz	Jonathan Taylor	Josh Mertz	Chris Wetz	Revolution Racing	Mitsubishi	No Entries
3	Barcelona	Cody Erdmann	Cody Erdmann	Josh Mertz	N/A	Tristan Hagenstein	Chris Wetz	N/A	Cody Erdmann	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	No Entries
4	St. Eustache	Josh Mertz	Josh Mertz	Tanner Smith	N/A	Tristan Hagenstein	Dylan Smith	Cody Erdmann	Josh Mertz	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Doug DeNise
5	Negus	Cody Erdmannpts	Cody Erdmann	Josh Mertz	N/A	Tristan Hagenstein	Jonathan Taylor	Dylan Smith	Josh Mertz	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Doug DeNise
6	NPVG North	Cody Erdmann	Cody Erdmann	Dylan Livengood	N/A	Josh Mertz	Chris Wetz	Tristan Hagenstein	Cody Erdmann	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Doug DeNise
7	Aspen	Josh Mertz	Josh Mertz	Jonathan Taylor	Cody Erdmann	Tristan Hagenstein	Chris Wetz	Victor Vallee	Josh Mertz	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Doug DeNise
8	Bent Twig	Cody Erdmann	Cody Erdmann	Dylan Livengood	N/A	Tristan Hagenstein	Josh Mertz	Chris Wetz	Josh Mertz	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Doug DeNise
9	Riverside	Tristan Hagenstein	Josh Mertz	Chris Wetz	N/A	Cody Erdmann	Philip Kraus	N/A	Tristan Hagenstein	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Doug DeNise
10	Las Vegas	Cody Erdmann	Cody Erdmann	Philip Kraus	Dylan Smith	Josh Mertz	Dylan Livengood	Chris Wetz	Cody Erdmann	Red Bull Subaru MRT	Subaru	Casey Lester

Championship Standings

Championship leader table
Race	Championship leader	Lead
Valkenswaard	Cody Erdmann	1
Munich		5
Barcelona		9
St. Eustache		17
Negus		19
NPVG North		24
Aspen		16
Bent Twig		9
Riverside		10
Las Vegas		25

2016A 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	31	29	27	25	23	21	19	17	15	13	11	9	7	5	3	1	2	1

Pos. Driver Cup Team NED GER ESP CAN NEG PVGN ASP BTW RVR LV  Pts  1 Cody Erdmann C CER Red Bull RallyCross Team 1A 21 11 4LCQ 21 11 53 51 2A 11 298 2 Josh Mertz C MRT Red Bull RallyCross Team 51 6LCQN1 72 11 12 3A 11 1B 31 8A 273 3 Chris Wetz C K1 Revolution Racing PO 1A 3B 2 4 2B 2B 2 LCQ 42 7 LCQ 264 4 Tristan Hagenstein C GLM Red Bull RallyCross Team 4B 42 4B 5A 5A 5LCQ 4A 6A 1 4 254 5 Dylan Livengood C Rockstar Energy Revolution Racing 3LCQ 7 6 DNS 9 62 6 32 7 3B 216 6 Philip Kraus C KA RallyCross Team 6 8 DNS 7 DNS DNS 3 DNS 6 22 187 7 Dylan Smith C Rockstar Energy Revolution Racing 5 3B 3LCQ DNS 11 DNS DNS 63 155 8 Doug DeNise P Eneos DeNise Racing 6 7 4 9 4LCQ 5 11 139 9 Jonathan Taylor C Area 52 Team Taylor DNS 5B DNS DNS 6B DNS 72 117 10 Victor Vallee C V2RT RallyCross Team 7 9 DNS 8 8 7 8LCQ 116 11 Tanner Smith C Area 52 Team Smith 22 3 2 92N2 DNS 113 12 Casey Lester P Lester Racing 10 8 10 7 DNS 5 100 13 Steve Rada C Bluvos RallyCross Team 8 DNS DNS 43 14 Zack Johnson P Johnson Racing 8 17 15 Arnold Columbia P Columbia Racing 9 15 16 Brandon Nicholson P Revolution Junior 10 13 Pos. Driver Cup Team NED GER ESP CAN NEG PVGN ASP BTW RVR LV  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

• N1 Car #81 was put to the back in the final after the stewards found him to have intentionally wrecked Car #7 in Semi Final B.
  
• N2 Car #13 was disqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix due to multiple infractions, but still retained points for ninth place. As a result, seventh, eighth and ninth moved up one place.

2016A Manufacturers' Championship

Pos. Manufacturer NED GER ESP CAN NEG PVGN ASP BTW RVR LV  Pts  1 Subaru 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 324 2 Mitsubishi 3 1 3 2 3 2 2 2 4 3 287 3 Ford 2 3 2 9 6 DNS 7 DNS 6 2 223 4 Volkswagen 6 8 DNS 7 8 7 3 137 Pos. Manufacturer NED GER ESP CAN NEG PVGN ASP BTW RVR LV  Pts  2016A Constructors' Championship Pos. Constructor No. NED GER ESP CAN NEG PVGN ASP BTW RVR LV  Pts  1 Red Bull Subaru MRT 81 51 6LCQ 72 11 12 3A 11 1B 31 7A 595 82 1A 21 11 4LCQ 21 11 53 51 2A 11 83 4B 42 4B 5A 5A 5LCQ 4A 6A 1 4 2 Revolution Racing 22 5 3B 3LCQ DNS 9 DNS DNS 5 514 51 3LCQ 7 6 DNS 8 62 6 32 6B 3B 71 PO 1A 3B 2 4 2B 2LCQ 2 42 6LCQ 4 Area 52 Racing 7 DNS 5B DNS DNS 6B DNS 72 315 13 22 3 2 82 DNS 19 DNS 5 22 4 H&H Racing 19 6 8 DNS 6 DNS DNS 3 255 155 7 9 DNS 7 7 7 8 199 8 DNS DNS Pos. Constructor No. NED GER ESP CAN NEG PVGN ASP BTW RVR LV  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) 2016A Privateers' Cup Pos. Driver Team NED GER ESP CAN NEG PVGN ASP BTW RVR LV  Pts  1 Doug DeNise DeNise Racing 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 211 2 Casey Lester Lester Racing 2 2 2 2 2 1 176 3 Arnold Columbia Columbia Racing 2 29 4 Zack Johnson Johnson Racing 3 27 5 Brandon Nicholson Revolution Junior 3 27 Pos. Driver Team NED GER ESP CAN NEG PVGN ASP BTW RVR LV  Pts