The streets of downtown Los Angeles will be roaring with the sounds of 600-horsepower Subaru STI rallycross cars this weekend, as the Subaru Puma RallyCross Team (SPRT) competes in ESPN’s X Games 18. The team comprises two of X Games’ most decorated athletes, Dave Mirra and Bucky Lasek, who are joined by three-time European Rallycross Champion Sverre Isachsen of Norway. The trio will each drive highly modified 2012 Subaru WRX STI Rallycross cars on a unique dirt and tarmac course, utilizing the streets of downtown Los Angeles in front of the Staples Center, which includes a 60-foot gap jump.
The top fifteen drivers in the Global Rallycross Championship earned an invite to the X Games, the pinnacle of action sports. Its tenth year in Los Angeles, X Games 18 will feature more than 200 athletes at competition venues and event spaces including Staples Center and Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE. In addition to Rallycross competition, Subaru driver Bucky Lasek will go for Gold in Skateboard Vert, where he is favored to medal.
SPRT driver Bucky Lasek may be the busiest Rallycross competitor in the field as he plans to tackle two totally different disciplines in Rallycross and Skateboard Vert competition and will be hustling between venues as he juggles the competition schedules. “The competition at X Games has been always intense and having to prepare for two different events definitely ups the ante. Being new to Rallycross this year, it is great having an experienced crew and teammates to support my development in this sport. I am hyped to represent Subaru at the games and looking for a positive outcome.”
“I’m really looking forward to this year’s X Games. I competed as a guest Subaru driver in 2010, but the track and location of events are totally different this year, so it is all new to me again,” said Sverre Isachsen, aka “The Viking Warrior”, who is eager to fight for the win in Los Angeles. “We had two important test days before X Games, and I have a good feeling with the car. The team is great, the car suits my style more and more , and I really want an X Games medal!”
Dave Mirra has plenty of experience juggling two sports at X Games after several years of competing in both BMX and Rally with Subaru. However, 2012 will see Mirra focus solely on Rallycross. “The X Games just brings everything to another level, to be able to race my Subaru on the streets of Los Angeles against the world’s best drivers is amazing.”
Summarizing the team’s road to X Games 18, James Han, motorsports marketing manager for Subaru of America, Inc., added, “As this event has evolved heavily over the years since its introduction into the [X] Games in 2006, so too has our racing program. We have grown to field a three-car line-up, we recently established a partnership with a great brand in Puma, and the team has been tirelessly pioneering the technical developments in our WRX STI Rallycross cars to meet the heightened level of competition within the Global RallyCross Championship series. X Games 18 represents an important step in our team’s journey.”
