Tanner Foust paced practice for the opening round of the new Americas Rallycross championship at Silverstone, beating Subaru’s Patrik Sandell by less than a tenth of a second.

The Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross driver’s time of 41.579 seconds was not only quickest of the ARX field, but also faster than all but one World Rallycross runner, with Peugeot’s Timmy Hansen the only driver to set a faster time in comparable conditions.

“It feels good. I think the Subarus are quite quick, still the Beetle’s a bit quicker,” Foust said. “I’m actually surprised how they stack up to the world cars.”

“We have the same fuel, same rules, but we’re carrying an extra 25 kilos – it’s just the cars from the US, there are some things that aren’t FIA compliant.”

Scott Speed in the other Volkswagen entry was third fastest, ahead of Munnich Motorsport’s Timo Scheider and Chris Atkinson of Subaru who rounded out the top five.

Philippe Maloigne was sixth fastest in his Renault Clio, ahead of multiple US rally champion David Higgins and Rene Munnich.

Andy Scott rounded out the runners in ninth, while Liam Doran failed to take to the track during the session with his car not yet ready.

ARX Silverstone Practice

Tanner Foust – Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross – 0:41.579

Patrik Sandell – Subaru Rally Team USA – 0:41.666

Scott Speed – Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross – 0:41.723

Timo Scheider – ALL-INKL.COM Munnich Motorsport – 0:41.754

Chris Atkinson – Subaru Rally Team USA – 0:42.385

Philippe Maloigne – G-Fors – 0:43.299

David Higgins – Subaru Rally Team USA – 0:43.978

Rene Munnich – ALL-INKL.COM Munnich Motorsport – 0:46.581

Andy Scott – Albatec Racing – 0:46.741

Liam Doran – LD Motorsport – No time