The 2022 American Rally Association season continues this weekend in Washington for the Olympus Rally.
Championship Rundown
This is the 3rd round of the ARA championship, Matt Piatkowski currently leads the ARA national standings with 34 points. Brandon Semenuk is in second place with 25 points. Piatkowski is not taking part in the Olympus Rally and is currently not registered for the Oregon Trail Rally. This is Semenuk’s chance to take the lead in the ARA national standings.
Olympus Rally Run Down
The Olympus Rally consists of 14 Special Stages and 140 Stage Miles. The longest stage of the Rally will be the Nahwatzel stage which is 15.46 Miles and will be run twice, once on Saturday and once on Sunday.
A Bit Of History
The Olympus Rally is one of the most historic Rally events in North America and used to be a round of the World Rally Championship. Between the years 1986-1988 and was also the last event ever raced with the iconic Group B era Rally cars.
He’s Back!
10-time ARA Champion and Off-road Motorsports Hall Of Famer David Higgins is back for the Olympus Rally. Higgins is tied for the most wins at this rally with 4. This is his second rally since he and Subaru Motorsports USA parted ways before the 2020 season. He will be without longtime co-driver Craig Drew for the first time since 2012, Drew is Co-Driving for Chris Ingram this weekend in the WRC. Higgins will be driving a 2017 Citroen R5 for ERA Motorsports and will be competing in the RC2 class. His Co-Driver will be James Fulton.
Subaru Rally Team USA
Travis Pastrana and Brandon Semenuk had two very different turnouts at the Rally In The 100 Acre Wood. Pastrana suffered a puncture on SS5 placing him a minute behind the leader at the time Ken Block. Semenuk, however, would go on to win the event after a Deer jumped in front of Ken Blocks’ car erasing Blocks 20 second lead on Semenuk.
The Battle For The Top Spot
It should be a close battle between Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, Barry Mckenna, and Brandon Semenuk as always, especially with the ARA Championship leader not racing this weekend. Ken Block should be looking to rebound after a tragic ending to the Rally In The 100 Acre Wood where he had his 8th event win secured until a deer ran in front of his car making him lose his 20-second lead on Brandon Semenuk.
Testing concluded ✅
— Alex Gelsomino (@AlexGelsomino) April 21, 2022
Team guests in car ✅
Codriver out of car ✅
Codriver spectates ✅
Average filming skills ✅
Free shower ✅@kblock43 @olympusrally @DirtFishRally
@TheHoonigans pic.twitter.com/OQ0tvaIb5J
A Block Family Outing
Ken Blocks’ 15-year-old daughter Lia will be racing in her 3rd ever rally this weekend, with Co-Driver Matthew James. She will be driving a 2014 Ford Fiesta in the O2WD class. She placed 5th in her class in the Rally In The 100 Acre Wood. Ken Blocks’ wife Lucy will look to have a better result after having a mechanical failure during the Rally In The 100 Acre Wood. This will be her second event ever in a 4WD car.
My name is Joe Moore, I am a writer for Belly Up Hockey, Belly Up Racing, and Belly Up Sports. You can find me on Twitter.
