Charlotte, NC – Alcon brakes swept the podium at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend during the season opener and inaugural event for the Global RallyCross series. Two-time World Rally Champion Marcus Gronholm claimed his first victory of the season in his Alcon-equipped Ford Fiesta after claiming the lead in the first corner of the nine-lap feature.

The race took place on a custom-built course that utilized the front stretch of the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval main track, along with pit lane and a quarter-mile loop typically used for a Legends Cars event. The RallyCross event was run with four six-lap heats filling eight feature spots, and a three-lap last-chance qualifier yielding two more positions in the feature race.

Marcus Gronholm claimed the pole position. 2011 Champion Tanner Foust, Travis Pastrana and Samual Hubinette captured heat race wins and Andy Scott claimed the last-chance position.

The narrow course caused tight conditions from the start of the race with several spins and shoving incidents at the drop of the green flag. Gronholm took the lead on the first turn of the very first lap. Gronholm paced a pack of five cars that took the shortcut on the first lap (the shortcut could only be taken once during the race, survived a bump with Toomas Heikkinen and never relinquished the lead.

The win was the first for Gronholm and his new Ford Fiesta team. The Alcon-equipped cars of Tanner Foust and Stephen Verdier rounded out the top-three. Seven of the top ten finishers ran Alcon Advantage brake products. In total Alcon-equipped cars made up 59% of the 17 car field.