Jamaica’s Fraser McConnell crowned ARX2 champion
Jamaica’s Fraser McConnell secured his fifth-straight
win to lift season two of the Americas RallyCross (ARX2) Championship title
after a compelling day at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington.
In ARX2, the official support series to
ARX, Jamaican driver Fraser McConnell capped off his record-breaking
title-winning season in style by mastering the extreme conditions to take his
fifth win of the year.
McConnell, the number 35 driver
representing DirtFish Motorsports, battled with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s
Sage Karam at the front of the semi-finals, but in the final, the Jamaican
driver took control and stormed to victory.
As the single-make ARX2 cars battled to
find traction throughout the race, Karam finished second, claiming his fifth
consecutive rallycross podium in his first season. Buhl Sport’s Alex Keyes
handled adversity all weekend-long and rounded out the podium in third.
Humility in the face of success
The championship title was especially sweet
for the 21-year-old St. Andrew native, who said during the awards ceremony that
the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was the stage for his very first rallycross win.
“This track [Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course] is
where I got my first-ever rallycross win and I think it’s only fitting it’s
also where I got my championship win. There’s no question, I had to be on my
‘A-game’ this year, with this field, there’s no room for error and it’s just
pure driving out there. Every single race, heat, final, I just had to make sure
I had my game face on and make no mistakes,” McConnell explained.
The feeling of being champion – and the
first Jamaican ever to claim the title – is a hard-earned but new sensation for
McConnell.
“Right now, it still has not sunken in
fully yet. We started off the weekend poorly but was able to come back and get
the win in the final. It was probably the slipperiest conditions I have ever
driven in, other than that, the season went well,” he said.
Outgoing ARX2 Champion Conner Martell missed out on the final with a mud-covered windshield early in the semi-finals. Fourteen-year-old Gray Leadbetter also missed out on the final despite showing impressive speed throughout the entire weekend.
