Scott Speed finished qualifying for Dirtfish ARX of COTA at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas in first place, despite enduring a tough race in Q4.

The Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross driver topped the first three qualifying heats, but lost out in the final round of heats after an aggressive move from Ken Block saw him lose the lead of the race early on.

Tanner Foust was the second highest qualifier, finishing second to team mate Speed in each of the first three heats, before winning Q4.

Block was third with a fifth, two thirds and a fourth place finish in the updated Ford Focus RS RX, while Patrik Sandell was the highest qualifying Subaru in Fourth.

A difficult qualifying for Steve Arpin saw him eventually wind up fifth, ahead of the Subarus of Chris Atkinson and Travis Pastrana, while late entry Oliver Bennett showed flashes of pace, but eventually wound up eighth overall after the four heats.

VARX’s sweep of the top two spots means that there will be a Beetle on pole for each of the semi finals. Speed will line up ahead of Block, Arpin, and Pastrana; while Foust will head Sandell, Atkinson, and Bennett.

McConnell stars on maiden rallycross outing

The competitive order in ARX2 was much harder to predict than in Supercars, with three different drivers winning across the four heats, although those three drivers were all fromt he same team.

Jamaican Fraser McConnell won the first heat, before DirtFish team mate Scott Anderson took the honours in Q2 after retiring from the opening heat.

After failing to score in the second heat, Conner Martell won the final two heats, taking Q4 with the class’ fastest time of the day.

McConnell, the first Jamaican driver to take part in a major rallycross series, will line up on pole for the first ARX2 semi final, ahead of Anderson, fellow debutant Matt Carpoff, and Alex Keyes. Despite missing out on a heat win, Christian Brooks‘ consistency – which saw him never fail to finish outside the top four – means that he will start the other semi final on pole, ahead of James Rimmer, Martell, and Cole Keatts.

Travis PeCoy finished qualifying at the bottom of the charts after an engine change kept him out of Q2 and Q3.