Reigning Rally America champion Travis Pastrana took victory at the Sno*Drift Rally, the first round of the season, in extremely slick road conditions.
Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom built a solid early lead and continued to put time on the rest of the field over the course of the two-day rally – despite a badly injured left shoulder.
“I’m really excited, everybody next rally is going to come with a sling!” joked Pastrana. “As slick a the roads were out here, I drove as smooth as I could – for the shoulder – and it made me focus a little bit more,” he said at the finish. “It was probably the best thing that could have happened for us.”
Over a minute back was former Canadian champion Antoine L’Estage in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, only running selected events this season.
“I was hoping to be closer to Travis and fight for the win but he was the fastest this weekend. It was such a tough rally with crazy conditions – glare ice on all the stages.”
The ‘crazy conditions’ claimed some high profile victims – on day one Ken Block had retired due to suspension faiure – and today BMX star turned rally driver Dave Mirra took a trip through a snowbank while in fourth place, only then to hit a tree on the following stage. He salvaged 6th place by the finish – but with his Impreza shedding parts as it crossed the line, mangled after his multiple off-road incidents.
Mirra wasn’t the only one – Andrew Comrie-Picard also got stuck in a snowbank, this time on Stage 9, and had to be helped out by another driver. However he managed to hang on to 4th place, in a rally where finishing at all was an achievement.
This means Pastrana takes all 10 points and leads the title race heading to the 100 Acre Wood Rally in late February.
Rally Results
| O/A | Car # | Class | I/C | Driver / CoDriver | Time | Diff Leader | Diff Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 199 | O | 1 | Travis Pastrana / Christian Edstrom 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI |
2:31:01.1 | 0:00.0 | 0:00.0 |
| 2 | 17 | O | 2 | Antoine L’Estage / Nathalie Richard 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X |
2:32:38.8 | 1:37.7 | 1:37.7 |
| 3 | 68 | O | 3 | William Bacon / Peter Watt 2006 Mitsubishi EVO IX |
2:37:40.8 | 6:39.7 | 5:02.0 |
| 4 | 20 | O | 4 | Andrew Comrie-Picard / Jeremy Wimpey 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutio |
2:45:28.2 | 14:27.1 | 7:47.4 |
| 5 | 523 | SP | 1 | Travis Hanson / Terry Hanson 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI |
2:48:05.1 | 17:04.0 | 2:36.9 |
| 6 | 40 | O | 5 | Dave Mirra / Derek Ringer 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI |
2:55:50.9 | 24:49.8 | 7:45.8 |
| 7 | 693 | O | 6 | Carl Decker / Adam M Craig 1993 Subaru Impreza |
2:58:08.2 | 27:07.1 | 2:17.3 |
| 8 | 61 | SP | 2 | Piotr Wiktorczyk / Grzegorz Dorman 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STi |
2:58:21.1 | 27:20.0 | 0:12.9 |
