The first race day of the Global RallyCross Championship Finale in Las Vegas fell prey to Ford, the Fiesta Mk7 SuperCar drivers Ken Block, Tanner Foust, Timur Timerzyanov and Brian Deegan claiming the places one to four during the first qualifying runs.

While the Sunday at the SEMA show grounds in Las Vegas saw two Free Practice sessions, on Monday the final round of the GRC series continued with the Official Free Practice, the Official Timed Practice and the 1st Qualifying Heats. On Tuesday, but due to the zone time difference of 8 hours it will already be Wednesday in central Europe by then, the event will go on with the 2nd Qualifying Heats and the Last Chance Qualifier, before the 2012 Global RallyCross Championship is going to witness its last race, the Main Final of 8 laps.

Four Ford drivers claimed the wins of the four so-called seeding races in which a total of 14 drivers competed, after American Subaru Impreza GD campaigner Jimmy Keeney during practice had been the next one who fell victim to the notorious gap jump. After day one “Hoonigan in Chief” Ken Block found himself on top of the timekeepers list, with title contender Tanner Foust finishing in close second.

Brian Deegan made it to first place in Heat 1D: “The first day is done, battled through a lot of ups and downs, a few mechanical issues and ended up winning my heat race – took the win! Tanner [Foust] didn’t gain any more points on me, so tomorrow it will be a battle,” stated Deegan. Reigning European Rallycross Champion and Best Buy’s replacement for WRC legend Marcus Grönholm in their OMSE Ford Fiesta Mk7 SuperCar for Las Vegas, Tatarstan-Russian Timur Timerzyanov, finished first in Heat 1C and will be paired with regular ERC rival Foust in the second round of heats, starting Wednesday at 01.00h CET.

Hattrick European Rallycross Champion Sverre Isachsen faced some hard cheese: “I was fifth fastest in Timed Practice and won the start of my first heat, but that race was soon stopped by the red flag. After the re-start me and Swede Samuel Hübinette had contact that damaged the steering of my Subaru Impreza. However, I still hope to reach the A final to make it to a place on the podium here.”