Christmas might be in the rearview, but we’ve got quite the gift coming for you this weekend – Nitro Rallycross’ very first snow and ice event!
The return to the track for us also means the return of DraftKings betting odds, giving you the chance to start the year off nicely with a win of your own.
Once again, Dominik Wilde is here to take you through the odds for this weekend and who you should look out for
The favorite
Top of the points table, and leading the charge in the betting lines too. At +250, Robin Larsson is your safest bet, and hailing from Scandinavia, he's of course no stranger to the ice. In fact, like a few other drivers in our field, he's been a winner in RallyX on Ice, an annual contest hosted by RallyX Nordic that uses the same RX Lites cars used in NRX NEXT.
His team-mate Andreas Bakkerud is close by at +350, and he too has snow and ice experience, previously competing in the famous Trophée Andros ice racing series over in France.
The outsider
There’s a bit of ‘Cool Runnings’ about this one... Fraser McConnell isn’t much of a favorite in betting terms, ranking seventh at +1200, but he’s spent recent weeks honing his skills in Sweden, so he’ll be as sharp as ever when we switch surfaces this Friday. Not to mention he has already proven to be a formidable competitor in Group E this season.
He might hail from the sunny Caribbean, but Frazzz will no doubt be as much of a threat in sub-zero Canada as he has all season long.
The expert’s pick
For me, it’s hard to look past the Eriksson brothers. Both Kevin (ranked third by DraftKings at +550) and Oliver (fourth at +650) have been a strong threat all season long, and with their annual experience of RallyX on Ice, their team’s experience both running and competing in that contest, and their knowledge of the FC1-X race car, they’ll be tough to beat.
But while the Erikssons are a subtle, yet somewhat obvious pick, another, perhaps clearer one to look out for is Travis Pastrana. While he might not have much racing experience on the ice, he is a four-time winner of the Sno*Drift rally – an event that forbids the same sort of high-grip, studded tires we’re running in Canada – so the reigning series champ knows a thing or two about car control on the ice.