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GRC Los Angeles II Results: Brian Deegan, Penalty Play Spoiler

By Brittany Frederick

Brian Deegan competes at Red Bull Global Rallycross, in Los Angeles, CA, USA, on 8 October, 2016. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Red Bull Global Rallycross.
Brian Deegan competes at Red Bull Global Rallycross, in Los Angeles, CA, USA, on 8 October, 2016. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Red Bull Global Rallycross. /
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Brian Deegan and a questionable semifinal penalty played spoiler in the Red Bull Global Rallycross title fight at Sunday’s GRC Los Angeles II season finale.

Sunday’s Red Bull Global Rallycross season finale was supposed to be a championship slugfest between Volkswagen teammates Scott Speed and Tanner Foust. Instead Brian Deegan crashed the GRC Los Angeles II party for his first race win in five years while the battle was between Foust and a controversial penalty that ruined his chances at keeping his slim title lead.

Deegan took a late Joker Lap that enabled him to leap from fourth position all the way to first in Sunday’s final. It was the first time he’d been to the top step of the podium since, ironically, GRC Los Angeles II back in 2011.

In winning the race the Chip Ganassi Racing driver also jumped from fourth to third place in the final 2016 Red Bull Global Rallycross standings, as Deegan’s teammate Steve Arpin had mechanical problems that made him one of three people unable to finish the final on Sunday.

But the real story was the penalty that damned Foust from protecting his seven-point championship lead, which Deegan had a hand in as well.

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During the day’s semifinal action Foust and Deegan made hard contact, enough to cause significant damage to the front of Foust’s No. 34 VW Beetle. The two then battled to the very end of the heat, with Foust sliding across the finish line just in front of Deegan – which should have netted him a crucial front-row starting position in the final.

However, GRC officials chose to penalize Foust for the contact and dropped him from first to fourth place in the semifinal.

That forced him to compete again in the Last Chance Qualifier to earn his spot in the title race. And while he won the LCQ, Foust was relegated to starting in the second row for the final – a very hard position when Global Rallycross places so much emphasis on the start.

Though Foust was able to move forward after the drop of the green, Speed was starting on the front row, and thus began the race with a clear lead on his teammate that he never surrendered.

The difference between the two for the championship wound up being a mere six points, which equates to roughly just one position in the final.

It’s unquestionable that Foust’s penalty had a massive impact on the championship results, and that didn’t go over well with him afterward. “I’m just gutted. I’m gutted for our team,” he said. “It’s great for Scott and for the [Andretti] team as a whole to take one and two in the championship but today was such a tease.”

When asked specifically about the penalty, Foust further added, “That sent it into a downward spiral.”

Race fans never want to see something trivial decide the outcome of an event. Just ask IndyCar fans, some of whom are still debating whether new champion Simon Pagenaud crossed the blend line too early in winning the 2016 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. But it’s even more frustrating when it factors into the result of a championship.

GRC fans will likely have differing opinions as to whether or not Speed, Deegan, both or neither deserved a penalty in that semifinal. But given how much was on the line, unless one of them was purposefully ramming the other one, would it not have been better to just let them race?

We’ll never know, and Speed now joins Foust as the only two people to win multiple Red Bull Global Rallycross championships.

“Such a crazy weekend here. Today’s just been so many ups and downs,” an elated Speed commented afterward. “I don’t know really what to say, to be honest. They’re [the championships] different obviously but both of them we had to come from behind. They mean so much because we had to work so hard at the end.”

Next: IndyCar Shows Lighter Side In New 'Blooper Reel'

Below are the complete results from Red Bull GRC Los Angeles II:

1. Brian Deegan, Chip Ganassi Racing
2. Scott Speed, Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross
3. Patrik Sandell, Bryan Herta Rallysport
4. Tanner Foust, Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross
5. Joni Wiman, Honda Red Bull OMSE
6. Tanner Whitten, SH Rallycross
7. Chris Atkinson, Subaru Rally Team USA
8. Austin Dyne, AD Racing
9. David Higgins, Subaru Rally Team USA
10. Steve Arpin, Chip Ganassi Racing
11. Mitchell deJong, Honda Red Bull OMSE
12. Sebastian Eriksson, Honda Red Bull OMSE

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