SRT Motorsports/Dodge - Global Rallycross Race Advance - Round 5 - Bristol

July 16, 2013 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - 

DODGE GLOBAL RALLYCROSS NEWS
• Pastrana Racing will field two Dodge Darts at this weekend’s GRC event at Bristol Motor Speedway. Pastrana will be competing in the NASCAR Nationwide race at Sunday afternoon at Chicagoland Speedway and will not be able to compete at Bristol.
• Timur Timerzyanov will pilot the No. 199 Red Bull / Discount Tire Dodge Dart for the second time this season. Timerzyanov scored a 10th-place finish in his first effort driving the No. 199 Dodge Dart fro Travis Pastrana during Rounds 2 and 3 at X Games in Munich.
• Pastrana Racing teammate Bryce Menzies will race the No. 99 Red Bull / Discount Tire Dodge Dart entry.
• Saturday’s event is the first-ever Global Rallycross race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• Pastrana Racing has earned one Global Rallycross Series event win (Travis Pastrana, New Hampshire, 2012).

TV Coverage: Saturday, July 20 – ESPN and ESPN3 – 4:30 p.m. EDT

TIMUR TIMERZYANOV 
No. 199 Red Bull/Discount Tire Dodge Dart
Birthdate: 1/31/87
Hometown: Kazan, Tatarstan.
Crew Chief: Derik Nelson
Career Rally Highlights
• 2012 European Supercar Champion
• Seven career European Supercar victories
• Made Global Rallycross Championship debut at SEMA in 2012
• Leads the 2013 FIA European Rallycross Championship by 13 points after five of nine races
• 2010 FIO European Rallycross Champion (Super 1600) with four victories and the first Russian to win a FIA Rallycross title

BRYCE MENZIES
No. 99 Red Bull/Discount Tire Dodge Dart
Birthdate: 08/21/1987
Hometown: Mesa, Ariz.
Crew Chief: Ian Davies
Career Racing Highlights
• 2012 TORC Short Course Pro2 Class champion
• 2012 Baja 500 champion
• 2011 TORC Short Course Pro2 Class champion
• 2011 SCORE Off-Road Racing Series champion
• 2010 LOORRS Super Team of the year award
• 2010 Finished 3rd in Lucas Off Road Racing Series

FROM TRAVIS PASTRANA
“All these tracks you know they’re going to be fairly similar on the pavement. The first one kind of threw us for a loop there with pretty much all dirt. But these cars now, we’ve really got the Dodge Dart setup to handle anything that we need to. Last week with the windshield wipers, it’s not something that you focus on. You know it’s a newer car; it was the first time that we had a rain situation so okay, now we know we need to be better for the rain. I feel like we had such a huge advantage. The Dodge Dart took off on those starts. I mean, Bryce went from second row to second and that was awesome on the start you know with the wet. I think that’s really good. We’ve got something going in our advantage there so if rains there we’re excited. We’ve got the kinks worked out in the wiper system and the car is awesome so we’re good.”
-- Travis Pastrana, Owner, No. 199/No. 99 Red Bull/Discount Tire Dodge Dart

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“When you’re building your own track and don’t have to share it with another event like a Motocross you can be more specific to the kind of dirt that you’re looking for. The surface that was in Munich, for example, was very porous and allowed rainwater to go right through it. Even though we had a lot of rain just prior to Munich and even on Saturday that track drained really well and so it does make a difference at the end.”
- Gary Johnson, SRT Motorsports Racing Manager

Bryce Menzies, Driver, No. 99 Red Bull/Discount Tire Dodge Dart

AT BRISTOL ONCE AGAIN YOU ARE GOING TO TRACK THAT YOU’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THAT? “I’m really looking forward to going to Bristol. I’ve never there before. I’m just hoping that we have a really good weekend. It’s really hard on the crew because the races are so close together; I mean we don’t even have a week apart to get the cars prepped and everything. The crew has been working hard and the cars are already put back together and ready to go so I’m really looking forward to getting there and getting back behind the wheel.

“I’m feeling more and more comfortable in the car. We’re driving so much week to week that I’m just getting more comfortable with it. We’ve been struggling a little bit but I think that sometimes that we’re looking pretty good so I’m really looking forward to this weekend. Really want to get a solid performance out, just have no problems, no hiccup and come away with a really good finish for the weekend.”

IS THIS STRETCH OF RACES GOOD FOR YOUR AS A DRIVER BECAUSE YOU ARE IN THE CAR QUITE A BIT? DOES THAT HELP YOU PROGRESS AS A DRIER? “I think having back-to-back weekends racing is actually a huge thing for me to just be in the car. I stay comfortable, I stay focused on driving the car and getting used to it where if you’re off a couple weeks you kind of forget things. I really like it. I mean, I would like to be in the car every single day so racing every weekend really helps my driving performance and just helps us develop and make the car better. It’s getting better. We’re making a lot of changes from track to track so I think this stint of races being so close is kind of playing a little bit advantage for myself just because I’m getting more seat time. I’m getting more comfortable with the car and we’re getting faster.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE A WEEKEND WHERE YOU ELIMINATE THE BAD LUCK? “I think that’s going to be really key. We’ve had just some of those little things that have been going wrong that just cause you a little bit of headache. It’s going to be crucial and key to have a solid weekend of just making sure that we’re ready for the practices so we get out there and get all the laps in, get comfortable with the car so we can have a good seeding and I think that’s going to be really key. They guys are working really hard. It’s super-hard on them to fly all the way from overseas to prep the car and get it ready but I think with this week break that we’ve had the cars are going to be in great shape. I’m really looking forward to getting back in the seat. I know there’s not going to be any problems with it. We just need a solid weekend of no misfortune, no problems and see where we can end up with none of the problems that we’ve had happen.”

HOW BIG IS X GAMES LOS ANGELES FOR YOU GUYS AND WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU AND THE TEAMM TO DO WELL THERE? “I think X Games Los Angeles is one of the biggest races we have all year. Everybody knows about it. It’s close to my hometown and we’re going to have a lot of our partners out there supporting us and cheering us on. I think to go into X Games LA is huge and we need to have great performance there. We’ll see how we do in Tennessee but we need to make sure that we’re on our A-game for X Games because that’s where everybody is watching. We need to have a really solid performance.

“I raced there last year and it’s just an amazing vibe from all the fans, all the people out there. I’m really looking forward to getting back out there and racing there again and just putting on a good show for everybody.”

HOW DIFFERENT WILL THAT EVENT BE BECAUSE THE RACE SITE HAS BEEN MOVED TO IRWINDALE SPEEDWAY? “When I heard they were switching out to Irwindale I was a little bit bummed because when you think of LA X Games it’s all downtown. But looking at the big picture I think it’s a great facility. I think we’re going to have some great racing. I think we can have a lot better track that can showcase what these Rally cars can do. Looking at the big picture I think it’s going to be a lot better racing and as far as fans and everything, it has a stadium so the event is going to be that much better. I’m really looking forward to it. Kind of bummed because it was one of the races that I’d been to before so I thought that maybe we’d be a little bit knowledgeable of the track if it was going to be the same but now it’s a fully different thing so we’re going in just as everybody is. No one knows what the track is going to be like but I’m really looking forward to it. I know they’re going to put on a great show and I can’t wait to get out there.”