Titans-RX

TitansRX International Europe Series (formerly known as Red Bull Global Rallycross or Global Rallycross) is a group of rallycross series, currently organised by racing driver Max Pucher and businessman Chip Pankow. The initial series was series run in North America in 2011 and ran for seven seasons until the series folded in 2018, where the series was replaced by the Americas Rallycross Championship. In late-2018, Max Pucher revived the brand and set up the series Titans-RX Europe, starting in 2019 and the International Series starting in 2020. The 2020 campaign was cancelled in March.

TitansRX
CategoryRallycross
CountryWorldwide
Inaugural season2011 (North America)

2019 (Europe)

2020 (World Cup)
ClassesTitan, Supercar
Drivers' champion Scott Speed (North America)

Kevin Hansen (Europe)

TBC (World Cup)
Teams' championVolkswagen Andretti Rallycross (North America)

TBC (Europe)

TBC (World Cup)
Official websitetitansrx.eu

History
Ken Block (left) and Brian Deegan participating in a 2015 event at Marine Corps Air Station New River

Following Rallycross's inclusion in the 2010 Los Angeles X Games, three demonstration events were held in late 2010 at the New Jersey Motorsports Park, and Global Rallycross Management organized their first championship season of five events in 2011. Tanner Foust won the inaugural championship title in 2011. He retained the title again in 2012.

In addition to promoting the series, Global Rallycross Management managed invitations and competition for X Games Rallycross contests.

In 2013, the series held races outside the United States for the first time. Later in the season, it introduced the Lites division, a developmental series. Making its debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Joni Wiman was the inaugural champion after winning all six races.[1]

On October 28, 2016, the series announced the formation of an electric racing division.[2]

In 2018 Global Rallycross in its initial form ceased operations, only to be revived later that same year and relocating to Europe, with a plan to reintroduce the championship to North America in 2020. In February 2019, the series renamed itself to Titans-RX, removing "Global" from its name to avoid conflict with FIA sanctioned competitions.

Format (pre-2019)

[3]

Qualifying

Qualifying was conducted over the course of one hour. The field was broken up into small groups that took to the track in 10-minute sessions. Seeding for heat races was determined by a driver's qualifying lap time.

Heats

A race weekend consisted of one or two rounds of heats that count for championship points, as well as a semifinal. The heats always consisted of three sessions of four or five cars each, while the semifinals consisted of two sessions of six or more cars each. In the case of an event with only one round of heats, such as a doubleheader race, points were awarded in the semifinal, but not otherwise.

The top three finishers in the semifinals transferred into the main event, giving their teams time to work on their cars while others continue to compete. All drivers who do not make it into the main event via the semifinals would compete in the last chance qualifier for the final four remaining qualifying spots. Ten cars then compete in the main event.

Start

Races began with a standing start, where drivers are given 30- and 10-second intervals before the green. During that time they must activate launch systems, including an anti-lag system, before starting the race. The fastest driver in the previous session was given the inside lane to the first corner.

Joker lap

Each course was equipped with two routes: the main route, and the joker lap route, which each driver must only take once per race. The GRC joker lap route typically shortened the length of the track significantly (while in the FIA World Rallycross Championship the JL detour is longer than the main route, to slow the cars down for a minimum of two seconds), so when a drive takes the joker lap can affect their race strategy. Depending on venue, the joker lap route may have additional obstacles which significantly slow the cars thus making the main route faster. In mid season 2015, GRC made some change to the joker lap, where drivers were not allowed to take the joker lap on the first lap.

Penalty box

The penalty box was a new addition to series for the 2013 season, and was designed to deal with on-track infractions without having to red flag or restart the race. In event of a jump start or unsportsmanlike driving, the penalised driver would pull into a 50-metre lane off track, where they would be held until a track official releases them. The penalty box was first used at the first event at X Games Brazil, when Nelson Piquet Jr. jump-started at the beginning of Heat 2.

Championship points

As of 2014, championship points were awarded only to drivers who had committed to running at least half of the season. Under that point system, one-off drivers were skipped over when points were awarded; for example, if the race winner was not eligible to earn points, the event runner-up would earn first place points. Points were awarded at the conclusion of the event to eligible finishers as follows:

Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th and below
Points 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 1

In addition, points were awarded in all rounds of heats and semifinals. First place earned five points, second place earned four points, and so on through fifth place and below, which earn one point. Only drivers who were disqualified from a heat or fail to pull to the starting grid did not receive points for their heats. On race weekends with three rounds of heats, the third round solely determined starting spots in the main event and did not award points.

At the end of the season, the driver to score the most points was crowned Global Rallycross champion. The top two cars per manufacturer also scored points in the manufacturer's championship.

Format (2019 onwards)

The new format will first be used in the European championship which will consist of 10 one-day events driven on 5 closed circuits with mixed surface (mostly asphalt and gravel), with an 11th event acting as a series final. Each event consists of:

  • 3 Qualifying heats. In each of the 3 series there will smaller races containing 3 to 5 cars called groups, and the driver with the fastest overall race time after 5 laps is declared the qualifying winner of Q1, Q2 and/or Q3. Drivers earn 'intermediate points' based on their positions. After the 3 qualifying series, the points are added up and the 12 drivers with the most points in the 'intermediate standings' move into the next round.
  • 2 Semi-Finals. 6 cars race in each of both semi-finals, which are run over 6 laps. The top 3 drivers in each semi-final move into the final round.
  • Final. Like the semi-finals, this race is contested by 6 cars but over 7 laps. The winner of the final is deemed to be the event winner and receives 25 championship points

Unlike other rallycross championships, Titans-RX has abolished Joker Laps and instead has modified the intermediate point system to encourage overtaking on the main part of the track. [4]

Points system

[4] [5]

Intermediate points are split into two categories, Race Time points (for race time, regardless of group) and Race Position points (for position in each group), which are scored as follows:

Points Scale Position
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th
Race Time 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
Race Position 30 25 20 15 10


Championship points are scored as follows:

Points Scale Position
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th
Heats 3 2 1
Semi-Finals 12 10 8 6 5 4
Final 25 22 20 18 16 14
  • A red background denotes drivers who did not advance from the round

Categories

From 2019 onwards, the newly introduced TitansRX class, a one-make car class designed to be as fast as the Supercar class but a fraction of the price. [4]

Champions

North America (TitansRX Class)
Season Driver Series Team Series
Driver Team Car Team Car
2020 Pantera RX6 Pantera RX6

North America (Supercar Class)
Season Driver Series Championship for Manufacturers
Driver Team Car Manufacturer Car
2011 Tanner Foust Olsbergs MSE Ford Racing Ford Fiesta not held
2012 Tanner Foust Olsbergs MSE Ford Racing Ford Fiesta
2013 Toomas Heikkinen Olsbergs MSE Ford Racing Ford Fiesta ST Ford Ford Fiesta ST
2014 Joni Wiman Olsbergs MSE Ford Racing Ford Fiesta ST Ford Ford Fiesta ST
2015 Scott Speed Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Volkswagen Beetle Ford Ford Fiesta ST
2016 Scott Speed Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Volkswagen Beetle Volkswagen Volkswagen Beetle
2017 Scott Speed Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Volkswagen Beetle Volkswagen Volkswagen Beetle
2018 Not held. Series discontinued in this class.

Europe (TitansRX Class)
Season Driver Series Team Series
Driver Team Car Team Car
2019 Kevin Hansen Hansen Motorsport Pantera RX6 not held

International Series (TitansRX Class)
Season Driver Series Team Series
Driver Team Car Team Car
2020 Pantera RX6 Pantera RX6

See also

References
  1. Leone, Chris (July 11, 2015). "TODAY IN GRC HISTORY: JULY 11". Global Rallycross. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  2. "Red Bull Global Rallycross Adding Electric Racing for 2018". Yahoo! Sports. October 28, 2016. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  3. "Red Bull Global Rallycross Changes Race Format, Increases Points On Offer". New England Sports Network. April 20, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  4. Pucher, Max (2018). Global Rallycross Europe Series Introduction.
  5. Pucher, Max (January 19, 2019). "Concerning the format of GRC Europe 2019". B.D. Blower Sport (Interview). Interviewed by B.D. Blower. Bristol: Yahoo!.
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