This weekend Stephan Verdier will be driving his STi in X Games 17 in Rally and Rallycross competition.

Tune in to ESPN or ESPN3.com on Saturday from 1-3PM PST for Rally and 2-4PM PST on Sunday for RallyCross action.

Stephan’s car has undergone changes in preparation for X Games which includes a brand new Tarmac spec Gr.N damper. Our in-house engineer, Katsuma Nakai, has been on-hand to help setup and tune the suspension for the new X-Games street course. Stephan should be a force to be reckoned with. He has been  considered an underdog all year long as he is one of a few teams/ drivers which is not factory backed (big budget). Yet his Crawford powered STi can compete right alongside the factory Fords, Subarus and Hyundais. Stephan has been competing all year in the Global Rally Cross and currently sits 4th in the overall standings behind Foust, Gronholm and Jernberg.

Root for Stephan this weekend, we will be.

A little over a month ago Stephan drove the Zenkai Motorsports STi at Pikes Peak Hillclimb. He is featured in a video just released by Motul. The Zenkai STI is powered by a Crawford built motor and utilizes Super Racing coilovers.

Stephan unfortunately crashed about 2/3 rds up the hill. The heavy winds and road surface conditions change by the minute making Pikes Peak one of the most dangerous hill climbs in the world. We are glad Stephan walked away unscathed.