Fansided

Cabot Bigham replaces Patrik Sandell on Herta Global Rallycross team

By Brittany Frederick

Cabot Bigham racing at Red Bull Global Rallycross Los Angeles in San Pedro, California USA on October 9th, 2016. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Red Bull Global Rallycross
Cabot Bigham racing at Red Bull Global Rallycross Los Angeles in San Pedro, California USA on October 9th, 2016. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Red Bull Global Rallycross /
facebooktwitterreddit

Bryan Herta Rallysport has found their replacement for Patrik Sandell: Cabot Bigham will drive for the team in the 2017 Red Bull Global Rallycross season.

Bryan Herta Rallysport is replacing experience with youth in the upcoming Red Bull Global Rallycross season. A month after Patrik Sandell announced he was leaving to join Subaru Rally Team USA, BHA has named Cabot Bigham as Sandell’s replacement.

Bigham won the 2016 championship in GRC’s junior series GRC Lites. He had two wins, five podium finishes and eight Top 10 results over the season’s 12 races.

However, that comes with the caveat that it was only his first year in Rallycross. That means he’ll have just one season of experience under his belt as he moves up to the major leagues – akin to a college player who leaves early for the pro draft.

To his credit, the 20-year-old is approaching the new season as a learning experience as much as a championship opportunity.

“I am extremely excited to make the move up to Supercars with such an amazing team,” Bigham said in a press release on Friday. “Winning the Lites championship last year meant a lot to me, but for 2017 I’m hitting the reset button and will immerse myself within the team to learn as much as possible and perform from the very first weekend.

“The entire team has warmly introduced themselves and made me feel right at home. I feel as though we both passionately want to prove that Bryan Herta Rallysport is a force to be reckoned with. In 2017 our collective efforts will show the true potential of our outfit.”

Here’s the official announcement video with remarks from both Cabot Bigham and Bryan Herta:

Bigham will be entering into a league where many young drivers have made a quick leap up from GRC Lites and many of them have not become the successes they were tabbed to be. Joni Wiman won the 2014 Red Bull Global Rallycross championship after just one season in Lites, but since then has struggled, finishing 5th in 2015 and 6th in 2016.

Wiman’s teammate Sebastian Eriksson likewise only spent one season in GRC Lites and he came second for the 2015 Supercar title (albeit more than 40 points behind champion Scott Speed), but likewise hit a sophomore slump and came in 7th last year.

The Top 4 championship contenders last season were all very experienced drivers — Speed, Tanner Foust, Brian Deegan and Steve Arpin.

But on the flip side, Sandell will have his own challenge joining Subaru Rally Team USA and forming a new team with Chris Atkinson, who is himself going to be in his first full-time Rallycross season. So everyone involved in this transition has something to work on.

Bigham just has a bigger bar to meet because of his lack of experience that comes with being a Supercar driver before he’s even legally allowed to drink. That’s something that is not unique to him, but to many of the new faces we’ve seen come into the league in the last few years.

Next: IndyCar champion Scott Dixon will race at Le Mans

So should Red Bull Global Rallycross teams spend more time developing talent in GRC Lites before pulling them up to the primary league? Or will Cabot Bigham be the young driver who’s able to put together more than one good season and make new precedent? Fans will find out when the new Red Bull Global Rallycross season begins April 29 in Memphis.