The Subaru Motorsports USA driver, Travis Pastrana, recently earned the 2021 American Rally Association (ARA) overall driver’s championship at the Oregon Trail Rally, along with co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino earning the co-driver’s championship award.
The 2021 victory is the fourteenth overall U.S. rally title for Subaru since 2006. Subaru teammates Brandon Semenuk and John Hall, in the second Subaru Motorsports USA WRX STI rally car, won the Oregon Trail overall championship too—their first of 2021—and managed to place third in the driver’s and co-driver’s championships behind the Hoonigan Racing Division WRX STI of Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino.
“Great rally, great season!” said Pastrana after the event. “This was such a blast to come out here and be able to race flat out knowing we had done what we needed to win the title. Rhianon did a great job all year and we worked hard to elevate our game after we missed out on the championship in 2020, so it’s an incredible feeling to have that payoff.”
“It’s such a good feeling to be top of the podium in the overall championship!” said Gelsomino. “I’ve been able to win titles in two-wheel drive before but this is my first top class championship here in America--and it was definitely extra fun to beat my husband in the process.”
Pastrana and Gelsomino were leading the 2021 title race from the start, zipping out of the gate with sequential wins at Sno*Drift Rally, 100 Acre Wood Rally, and the Olympus Rally to develop a dominant championship victory earlier this year. After a second-place title at Southern Ohio Forest Rally in June and a roll at New England Forest Rally in July, Pastrana and Gelsomino successfully won a fourth victory at August’s Ojibwe Forests Rally to essentially win the yearly lead.
Semenuk and Hall, working together in their first complete season with Subaru Motorsports USA since the shortened 2020 campaign, managed to place second at Sno*Drift, shortly followed up with a fourth-place title at the 100 Acre Wood, with mechanical issues and a race-halting crash while fighting for the lead at Olympus.
The crew of the #180 Subaru reclaimed victory with a third-place finish at Southern Ohio and second at New England. Oregon’s final round showed their best performance of 2021, with a fast and almost perfect drive on Saturday to overtake Pastrana and Ken Block/Alex Gelsomino for the lead early in the day followed by a well-managed Sunday to lock up the win.
Subaru Motorsports USA will be competing for the last three rounds of the Nitro Rallycross season, starting at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix, Arizona November 13th-14th and continuing with a visit to Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California the following weekend before the season wraps up at The FIRM in Florida, December 3-4.
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