Subaru launch control returns for ninth season

The award-winning Subaru Launch Control documentary series returns today for its ninth season, going inside the 2021 Subaru Motorsports USA rally and rallycross campaigns and starring team drivers Travis Pastrana, Scott Speed and Brandon Semenuk. The season’s first episode, kicking off the American Rally Association (ARA) season at the Sno*Drift Rally, debuts today on YouTube. New episodes will follow each Wednesday, covering the ARA and Nitro Rallycross (NRX) championship seasons as well as one-off events like Pastrana’s stunning record attempt at the 2021 Mt. Washington Hillclimb.

“It’s been a wonderful opportunity for us to bring Launch Control back for a full season this year, after a shortened series in 2020,” said William Stokes, Motorsports Manager, Subaru of America. “This was an absolutely remarkable year, with so many stories playing out over the course of eleven months of racing – all of it leading up to Subaru hoisting three championships at the end of 2021. We’re thrilled to bring fans of rally and rallycross inside a Subaru Motorsports USA program that is performing at a level higher than ever before.”

The 2021 campaign was a long road of redemption for Subaru and technical partner Vermont SportsCar, after a 2020 season in which the team failed to retain the U.S. stage rally championship for the first time in nearly a decade and a year in which there were no in-person rallycross events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For 2021, the mission was audacious: return to the top of American rallying by winning the ARA driver’s title, capture Subaru Motorsports USA’s first-ever rallycross driver’s championship, repeat as rallycross team champions, and set a new benchmark at the Mt. Washington Hillclimb with the 862-horsepower Airslayer STI from Gymkhana 2020.

With four-time champion Scott Speed returning to rallycross after a 2019 back injury, five-time rally champion Travis Pastrana seeking his sixth title and Brandon Semenuk out for more wins after a successful debut with the team in 2020, Launch Control’s ninth season tells the story of a team hungry to regain its dominant form in American rally and rallycross competition.