Olympus Rally Semenuk Leads After Day One

Day one of the Olympus Rally has passed. Brandon Semenuk ends the day with a two-minute and 0.8-second lead over Tom Williams.

SS1, Nahwatzel 1

Stage one would see Brandon Semenuk take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 24.1 seconds. Patrick Gruszka would finish third on the stage, 44.2 seconds back from Williams. Alejandro Perusina would finish fourth on the stage, 2.1 seconds back from Gruszka. Jeff Seehorn would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 13.6 seconds back from Perusina. 

SS1 Top 10 Times

1. B. Semenuk, 15:31.1 
2. T. Williams, 15:33.2 (+24.1)
3. P. Gruszka, 16:39.4 (+1:08.3)
4. A. Perusina, 16:41.5 (+1:10.4)
5. J. Seehorn, 16:55.1 (+1:24.0)
6. J. Bailey, 17:25.0, (+1:53.9)
7. G. Plsek, 17:28.9 (+1:57.8)
8. J. Olivares, 17:43.5 (+2:12.4)
9. A. Miller, 17:47.2 (+2:16.1)
10. E. Bardha, 17:48.4 (+2:17.3)

SS2, Cougar Meadow 1

Stage two would see Brandon Semenuk win the stage once again, beating Tom Williams by 10.6 seconds. Jeff Seehorn would finish third on the stage, 7.5 seconds back from Williams. Patrick Gruszka would finish fourth on the stage, 1.8 seconds back from Seehorn. Alejandro Perusina would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 5.8 seconds back from Gruszka. 

SS2 Top 10 Times

1. B. Semenuk, 4:21.5 
2. T. Williams, 4:32.1 (+10.6)
3. J. Seehorn, 4:39.6 (+18.1)
4. P. Gruszka, 4:41.4 (+19.9)
5. A. Perusina, 4:47.2 (+25.7)
6. J. Olivares, 4:57.6 (+36.1)
7. M. Dickinson, 5:01.0 (+39.5)
8. J. Bailey, 5:01.9 (+40.4)
9. L. Block, 5:05.6 (+44.1)
10. E. Bardha,  5:05.9 (+44.4)

SS3, Nahwatzel 2

Stage three would see Brandon Semenuk once again take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 22.7 seconds. Patrick Gruszka would finish third on the stage, 30.3 seconds behind Williams. Jeff Seehorn would finish fourth on the stage, 26.5 seconds behind Gruszka. Alejandro Perusina would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 19.8 seconds behind Seehorn. 

SS3 Top 10 Times

1. B. Semenuk, 15:27.8
2. T. Williams, 15:50.5 (+22.7)
3. P. Gruszka, 16:20.8 (+53.0)
4. J. Seehorn, 16:47.3 (+1:19.5)
5. A. Perusina, 17:07.1 (+1:39.3)
6. J. Bailey, 17:10.9 (+1:43.1)
7. J. Olivares, 17:16.6 (+1:48.8)
8. A. Miller, 17:36.3 (+2:08.5)
9. E. Bardha, 17:40.6 (+2:12.8)
10. V. Trudel, 17:52.0 (+2:24.2)

SS4, Cougar Meadow 2

Stage four would see Brandon Semenuk once again take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 9.1 seconds. Jeff Seehorn would finish third on the stage, eight seconds back from Williams. Patrick Gruszka would finish fourth on the stage, 5.8 seconds back from Seehorn. Javier Olivares would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 10.6 seconds back from Gruszka. 

SS4 Top 10 Times

1. B. Semenuk, 4:21.3
2. T. Williams, 4:30.4 (+9.1)
3. J. Seehorn, 4:38.4 (+17.1)
4. P. Gruszka, 4:44.2 (+22.9)
5. J. Olivares, 4:54.8 (+33.5)
6. A. Perusina, 4:54.9 (+33.6)
7. J. Bailey, 4:57.5 (+36.2)
8. L. Block, 4:59.4 (+38.1)
9. M. Hooper, 5:00.5 (+39.2)
10. L. Block, 5:01.8 (+40.5)

SS5, Stillwater 1

Stage five would see Brandon Semenuk take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 28.4 seconds. Patrick Gruszka and Jeff Seehorn would tie for third on the stage, with both finishing 44.8 seconds back from Williams. Jason Bailey would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 48.1 seconds back from Gruszka and Seehorn. 

SS5 Top 10 Times

1. B. Semenuk, 13:12.9
2. T. Williams, 13:41.3 (+28.4)
3. P. Gruszka, 14:26.1 (+1:13.2)
4. J, Seehorn, 14:26.1 (+1:13.2)
5. J. Bailey, 15:14.2 (+2:01.3)
6. J. Olivares, 15:17.4 (+2:04.5)
7. L. Block, 15:40.3 (+2:27.4)
8. E, Bardha, 15:42.0 (+2:29.1)
9. M. Honn, 15:44.3 (+2:31.4)
10. A. Miller, 15:48.1 (+2:35.2)

SS6, Stillwater 2

Stage six would see Brandon Semenuk once again take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 25.9 seconds. Jeff Seehorn would finish third on the stage, one minute and 55.1 seconds back from Williams. Patrick Gruszka would finish fourth on the stage, finishing 7.5 seconds back from Seehorn. Jason Bailey would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 19.1 seconds back from Gruszka. 

SS6 Top 10 Times

1. B. Semenuk, 13:34.4
2. T. Williams, 14:00.3 (+25.9)
3. J. Seehorn, 15:55.4 (+2:21.0)
4. P. Gruszka, 16:02.9 (+2:28.5)
5. J. Bailey, 16:22.0 (+2:47.6)
6. D. Clark, 16:49.3 (+3:14.9)
7. J. Olivares, 17:08.1 (+3:33.7)
8. M. Hooper, 17:17.6 (+3:43.2)
9. D. Sperry, 17:20.3 (+3:46.0)
10. N. Allen, 17:21.0 (+3:46.6)

Semenuk Dominates 

Brandon Semenuk would take all six stage wins on day one. This gives Semenuk a two-minute and 0.8-second lead over Tom Williams heading into day two. It’s likely that Semenuk will have a more conservative drive on day two in an attempt to not crash out. This may mean Williams may get a stage win or two and gain back some time on Semenuk. But it’s highly unlikely Williams will be able to take Semenuk’s whole two-minute lead down. That is unless Semenuk gets a puncture or some other time costing event happens. 

Sitting Comfortably

Tom Williams sits comfortably in second place. With Williams sitting 4 minutes and 25 seconds ahead of Patrick Gruszka. As previously mentioned Williams sits just over two minutes behind Brandon Semenuk. This means Williams is kinda in the rally “no man’s land”, a place where he likely won’t go up, and likely won’t go down. There’s not much of an issue with this, especially if it’s happening to you in a top-two position. Williams will likely drive to survive on day two, as Olympus is unforgiving, and just one minor mistake could be costly. 

Stage One Cancelled

SS1 of the Olympus Rally would be cancelled due to a car catching fire. That car would be car 282 driven by Mark Tabor. The cause of the fire is said to be because of a mechanical issue. Mark will not restart the rally, as well, he doesn’t have a car.

Stage Two Cancelled

SS2 of the Olympus Rally would also be cancelled much like SS1. This time it was due to a time issue. As the stage was delayed due to a crash involving car number 307 driven by Spencer Crabb. This delay would ultimately take too long and too many drivers were backed up for the stage to run in enough time to be ready for SS4. 

You Lost Something

Sam Albert is probably one of the bigger stories this weekend, as he should be. As his Subaru with a V8 Ferrari engine is making its debut this weekend. Unfortunately for Albert, his weekend at the Olympus Rally would get off to a rough start. As Sam would retire on SS1 due to a mechanical issue. The mechanical issue would be caused by Albert losing his right rear wheel at the start of SS1. 

Another Fire

Stage three would see another vehicle fire. As car number 53 driven by Karen Jankowski would set on fire this time. Both Jankowski and her co-driver Jack Gillow-Wiles would make it out of the car ok. Jankowski’s rally has come to an early end, however. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time. 

Plsek Out

George Plsek would permanently retire from the Olympus Rally on SS2’s time control. Plsek would pull over after SS2 due to the engine overheating, Plsek would temporarily retire at the first service this morning, but that retirement would become permanent by the end of the second service. 

Photography Credits

© Trevor Lyden, Subaru.com/motorsports, 2023

Vlad Tyeryekhov: Instagram

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.