Subaru Launch Control | Season One
Subaru “Launch Control” follows the struggles and successes of the 2013 season in both Rally America and Global RallyCross competition. Grab some popcorn and buckle up because we have all the episodes below… enjoy!!
Launch Control: Episode 1 | Rinse & Repeat
In this debut episode of Launch Control, Subaru Rally Team USA driver, David Higgins is preparing and training in Wales, UK for the upcoming season, while the Vermont Sports Car team is hard at work preparing the 2013 Subaru race cars.
The day their season finished in 2012, was the day preparation for 2013 began. If there is a team that knows what goes into winning a championship, this would be it. Subaru’s 2012 Rally America championship victory marked their 2nd in a row and their 6th in 7 years.
Rallycross, on the other hand, is relatively new for the team. Competing against established rallycross teams from Europe, the learning curve for Bucky Lasek, Dave Mirra, Sverre Isachsen, and the team has been steep. New venues. New race format. New Rules, New Cars. As quickly as the three Subaru STI’s ran on-track, the pace of development at the race shop has been just as quick.
Launch Control: Episode 2 | Blank Sheet (Part 1)
In episode 2 of Launch Control, Subaru Rally Team USA reunites in Michigan for the 2013 Sno*Drift Rally. For fans and competitors, the first day of the season is an exciting one. This is a new beginning, a chance for a fresh story starting from a blank sheet. The one-off ice and snow event provides a unique challenge for the team, where just a small mistake can be costly. Holding a slim lead into the night stages on Day 1, David Higgins and Craig Drew find out just how treacherous these roads can be.
Launch Control: Episode 3 | Blank Sheet (Part 2)
Episode 2 left off with the Subaru Rally Team USA facing an overnight rebuild after a crash on the first day of Sno*Drift Rally 2013. The mechanics had a long night ahead of them to get the car back in action. Would the car be ready? Could Higgins and Drew hold on to their slim lead? Episode 3 has the answers.
Launch Control: Episode 4 | Buck Up!
Subaru PUMA Rallycross Team driver, Bucky Lasek, drops in at Vermont SportsCar to check out his new rallycross car and show the team his gratitude. Lasek then gets sideways with Ryan Tuerck on some snow covered forest roads. Meanwhile Subaru Rally Team USA is in Missouri testing for the highspeed Rally in the 100 Acre Wood, where Mother Nature throws competitors a curve ball.
Launch Control: Episode 5 | David vs. Goliath
David Higgins and Craig Drew of Subaru Rally Team USA may be back-to-back champions, but at the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood, Ken Block has been king. A win here at round two for Higgins would rock the boat and shake things up for the rest of the series. But, an overnight storm in Missouri has dumped snow on the high-speed stages, placing the whole outcome into question. Can the teams keep it on the road in the treacherous conditions? Can Higgins and Drew get their first career win at this event?
Launch Control: Episode 6 | Tale of Two Cities
It’s 9:36 PM on April 24th and the crew at Vermont SportsCar is putting in a late night loading the three Subaru PUMA Rallycross cars into the transporter for a final pre-season test. Three thousand miles away on the west coast, another part of the crew is preparing the Subaru Rally Team USA car for a final shakedown before the Oregon Trail Rally. Two teams, one week, one goal.
In this episode, David Higgins and Subaru Rally Team USA are on the west coast for the Oregon Trail Rally, while Bucky Lasek, Dave Mirra, Sverre Isachsen and the Subaru PUMA Rallycross Team are hard at work in Connecticut testing the new cars in preparation for the first overseas event. Balancing two teams in separate championships is a logistical game of chess. Packing up for X Games Barcelona is just the next step in the long season ahead.
Launch Control: Episode 7 | When It Rains, It Pours
The Global RallyCross season kicks off for the Subaru Puma Rallycross Team, as Bucky Lasek, Dave Mirra, and Sverre Isachsen head overseas for X Games Barcelona. After a test session its time to hit the track in anger for the first time this season. However, nobody was expecting the sequence of events that would transpire on race day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHCbNfgYxX4&
Launch Control: Episode 8 | Nothing Comes Easy
David Higgins and Craig Drew of Subaru Rally Team USA fight back from a Day 1 mechanical problem (see Episode 7) to salvage any Rally America Championship points they can, as their main rival heads towards a win. Can they possibly get a podium, after starting the day in 21st overall? It is maximum attack, and the pair are flying…but not everything goes smoothly.
In Munich, the Subaru PUMA Rallycross Team drivers, Bucky Lasek, Dave Mirra, and Sverre Isachsen are finally getting the opportunity to race door-to-door in Global Rallycross competition. Sverre Isachsen makes it to the finals, and finds himself on two wheels through turn one. His ongoing rivalry with Ken Block gets heated only three turns before the finish. It’s a dramatic finish to a busy month for the Vermont Sportscar and Subaru rally teams.
Launch Control: Episode 9 | Small Victories
A season of racing for any team is filled with steps forward, and steps back. In the off-season, the Subaru PUMA Rallycross Team took many steps forward. A complete redesign of the car leveled the playing field. But, the team was met with adversity at the first two events of the season – a canceled race in Spain and a take-out from behind in Germany. Now, the team is back on home soil at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and eager to accelerate their progress.
Episode 9 takes you behind the scenes as Sverre Isachsen and Bucky Lasek advance to the finals, and the team puts in a huge effort to repair Dave Mirra’s car after a freak mechanical failure left his car on three wheels.
Launch Control: Episode 10 | High Pressure Art
The Subaru PUMA RallyCross Team was fighting at the top during Round 5 of the Global RallyCross Championship held July 20th at Bristol Motor Speedway. Team driver Sverre Isachsen, a former three-time European RallyCross Champion, won his heat race advancing him to the front row of the Final. An impressive start by the Norwegian saw him run as high as 2nd Overall before race-contact crushed his exhaust, robbing his Subaru STI of power and dropping him back to 4th Overall, the team’s best finish thus far in 2013 after competing in three earlier events. Teammates Dave Mirra and Bucky Lasek showed impressive pace but narrowly missed out on advancing to the Final.
With two events remaining after the New England Forest Rally, you wouldn’t call this the home stretch, but everyone’s focus is starting to shift to the bigger picture. The loss and gain of seconds, stage by stage, shows how close the battle is with their rivals.
Day one ends with the Subaru team conceding 16 seconds to Block… but the dust is far from settled.
Launch Control: Episode 11 | Eyes on the Prize
It’s calm in sunny LA the week before the X Games, but on the other side of the country Subaru Rally Team USA is in the heat of battle at the New England Forest Rally.
The team knows that here, on the biggest stage of the season, a clear and obvious step forward is important. It wont be easy though as X Games Los Angeles features the deepest lineup of GRC competitors yet, all eyeing a coveted X Games medal!
This is everything it takes to win. This is everything that gets in the way of victory. This is Launch Control.
Launch Control: Episode 12 | Swinging for the Fence
30 minutes outside of San Diego, California, Bucky Lasek is home for a rare two days off before his next event. It doesn’t take long for regular life to settle in, and Bucky enjoys a rare one-on-one day with his daughter. Bucky’s passion for motorsports is only surpassed by his desire to prove himself. And he feels that with nearly two years in Global Rallycross, his goal can now shift from development to fighting for podiums.
The true joy of rallycross is that predicting the outcome is simply impossible. A podium finish is never out of reach until three cars cross the finish line. And as the cars leave the start line for a 10 lap final, the script changes once again….
Launch Control: Episode 13 | In The End, Season Finale Part 1
If it was simple, anyone could do it. There would be no need for hours of toil. No reason for endless development. There would be no need to race. But instead, the pursuit of speed never ends.
The 2013 Ojibwe Forests Rally features nearly 140 miles of technical sandy gravel roads around the western Minnesota town of Detroit Lakes. In rally, you race the elements as well as your opponents. The concern here at Ojibwe Rally is dust. Even a 3-minute dust window might not be enough to get a clear line of sight when racing at speed. Ken Block is first on the road, and evidence of a difficult event is already apparent. As David and Craig pull up to the start line behind Block, the dust still lingers around them.
On the season finale of Launch Control, Subaru Rally Team USA tries to save their championship hopes. All while looking ahead to a new season in both disciplines. A championship will be handed out at the final event of the year. Will Subaru be handed a trophy, or a hand shake? That’s next time on the season finale of Launch Control.
Launch Control: Episode 14 | In The End, Part 2 (2013 Season Finale)
With an unbroken string of podium finishes, Subaru Rally Team USA has lead the Rally America championship for the majority of the season. However, with the competition stepping up their game and only two events remaining, the points gap has tightened. Hanging dust, power steering failure, and injuries to David Higgins at the penultimate event have put the Subaru team into damage control. Their ability to finish the event is now in question, but with bandages and ice David Higgins refuses to give up valuable championship points and finishes the Ojibwe Rally. The final rally will be a winner-take-all battle royale.
Houghton, Michigan. Home of the Lake Superior Performance Rally – the final and deciding round of the twenty-thirteen Rally-America Championship. This is the closest championship race in years, and both sides have claimed their intention to win.
It’s a fight to the final hours of the 2013 championship season. Will Subaru Rally Team USA receive a trophy or a handshake?