Tanner Foust Wins 2010 X Games 16 Rally Race Gold
By OR Staff, Photography as credited
Tanner Foust, drifter, TV show host, stunt driver, and rally racer, added another asterisk to his resume at this year’s X-Games 16 rally racing competition. Featuring such drivers as Kenny Brack, Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, Dave Mirra, Samuel Hubinette, Andrew Comrie-Picard, and Brian Deegan, the rally race was both competitive and highly anticipated.
Photo by Lars Gange/Shazamm/ESPN Images
With TV bragging rights on the line and no standardized rulebook to worry about, X-Games was the place for rally to let its hair down. The special stadium exhibition event was run using unrestricted Open Class rally cars. With the normal intake restrictors removed, most of the turbocharged, all-wheel drive cars were making near 600hp.
Foust, one of the leading Rally America stars, raced to his second gold medal in the X-Games rally car racing final. This is the first time the event has been held at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum; it was previously held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. The new course venue provided many challenges for the drivers, the most important of which was a lack of visibility.
“It was a tricky course but to be honest, I am ready to go again,” said Foust. “You make your own dust cloud and get lost so you need to find your way. Like the motocross freestyle guys, I visualize the course. It does get confusing but today, it seems I had clear vision.”
Going into the final elimination round, Foust found himself facing off against motocross rider and Rockstar/Ford Fiesta teammate Brian Deegan.
Photo by Christian Pondella/Shazamm/ESPN Images
The two drivers were neck and neck for most of the run until Deegan made a wrong turn off the course and was disqualified. He would finish second for a silver medal.
With the rally race held late in the day, the setting sun made it difficult to see through the huge clouds of dust which were kicked up by the rally cars and refused to blow away. The course design and organization received some complaints due to the sheer number of red flags thrown, many of which were done for driver safety. Add in a few blind crests and drops and the rally course pushed the drivers to their limits.
“I was almost going to scratch rally [racing] off of my list,” Deegan said. “I’m glad I didn’t because I definitely did better than I thought I would. I wanted to win so badly but I am still getting used to this racing event.”
Rally champion Andrew Comrie-Picard (who we caught up with during practice here – Ed.) and Canadian driver Antoine L’Estage tied for bronze, each receiving their very first X-Games medal.
Final Results
1. Tanner Foust – Capistrano Beach, CA
2. Brian Deegan – Bellevue, NE
3. Andrew Comrie-Picard – Los Angeles, CA
