Pastrana does it again: takes 2007 Rally America points lead in snow

On Jan 6, 2007

Subaru Rally Team USA’sÿTravis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom have piloted the #199 car to victory at Rally America’s Sno-Drift rally in Atlanta, Michigan. Despite being burdened with the starting position all day, Travis and Christian managed to hold off the fierce competition from Tanner Foust & Scott Crouch in their new Subaru WRX STI. Final positions were still unclear within minutes of the champagne celebration in Hillman. A mere six second lead secured the win for Travis; and Andrew Pinker with Robbie Durant co-driving, in their WRX STI, was only twenty four seconds behind Foust for third place as Subarus filled the podium.

A full spectrum of winter weather challenged the drivers throughout day two at Sno-Drift. Freezing rain in the morning gave way to snow and sleet midday. The skies cleared in the afternoon and the sun shined on the later stages. However, despite the break in the clouds, roads were mostly covered with snow and around three inches fell throughout the day. The snow did keep stages looking clean and certainly made for some spectacular photography.

Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino ran excellent stage times all day, winning Stage 11 outright. However, after having lost significant amounts of time on the last stage yesterday, they decided that running a bit conservative to secure a clean finish was the best option. At the end of the rally Ken & Alex found themselves in sixth place overall, two minutes back. Their approach may also have helped Travis clinch the ferociously coveted event win. At the final service of the day it was time to fit the light pods, but there was one problem. Travis had damaged his on a transit yesterday; thus he had no lights to fit on his #199 WRX STI. Ken, knowing that this could cost Travis the win, offered up his light kit. This was a strategic team move that definitely paid off.

When asked about his last few stages, Travis responded “I was basically going as fast as I could without going off!” Well it worked out and a huge congratulation goes out to Travis Pastrana & Christian Edstrom from Subaru Rally Team USA. It’s a fantastic start to the 2007 season and with tough competition it’s looking like it’s going to be an action-packed year.

In the Group N class, Jonathan Bottoms and Carolyn Bosley took the class win, ending the event with a tenth overall finish. Their Subaru WRX STI performed as expected and had a good race with runner up in the Group N class, Otis Dimiters & Alan Ockwell. Otis gets the prize for the most air on Stage 9, and looked fast all weekend.

The next the Rally America Championship race is in Salem, Missouri on February 23-24.