Wildcard gets dirty in the 600hp DirtFish Subaru WRX STI

David Higgins got his first taste of Global Rallycross and it was a wet welcome back in the new DirtFish Subaru WRX STI. It was steady rain yesterday as the second to last round of the Red Bull Global Rallycross series kicked off in Seattle. The heavy rain combined with the mostly dirt heavy track made for a messy day one for round nine of Red Bull GRC hosted at the DirtFish Rally School.

The slick spec high-performance GRC tires needed to be swapped for treaded tires so the 600hp cars could gain some needed traction on the wet dirt portions of the track. All the drivers have had to adjust to driving on the DirtFish tracks' predominately loose dirt. The initial report from Subaru Motorsports, tells us that “It was evident during practice that the conditions were outside many drivers comfort zones.”

This track is more demanding

The track is extremely rough and the wet slippery conditions kept drivers and technicians “on their toes” keeping the suspensions tuned properly since this track is more demanding on the cars than most GRC events. The risk vs reward will come into play as the GRC teams have to think about preserving their cars for the final that is scheduled for today.

Higgins is the wild card

David Higgins is the “wild card” coming into this weekends race in Seattle. But Subaru Motorsports says he is feeling right at home on the track with his years of stage rally experience. Everyone will be watching Higgins as he comes into this race with high expectations for him to be a strong podium contender in the main event. But the Rally America Champion was still finding his stride on Friday in the wet conditions.

Will Higgins have an advantage?

SRT USA is looking to be the team to beat today with Higgins having plenty of experience in the dirt. Higgins is driving a new Subaru WRX STI with the first-ever special DirtFish livery. All the GRC teams have a very short turn-around from last weekend’s double-header in LA. Will it be an advantage for Higgins driving the fresh DirtFish Subaru WRX STI? The forecast is for fog and 10 percent chance of rain today, so conditions won’t be drying out much. Stay tuned for GRC race coverage here at Torque News.

Todays action at Red Bull Global Rallycross Seattle will be broadcast tomorrow, September 28 at 4:30PM ET on NBC.

Other Subaru WRX STI GRC stories of interest.
Newest Subaru WRX STI GRC with special DirtFish livery revealed