Other rally
Olympus: Subaru Rally Team USA summary
Subaru Rally Team USA Dominates Olympus Rally with 1-2 Finish (April 20, 2008) Subaru Rally Team USA dominated this weekend's Olympus Rally, in eastern Washington with drivers Ken Block and Travis Pastrana scoring an impressive 1-2 finish. Rally ...
Published: Apr 23, 2008, 6:01 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Subaru Rally Team USA Dominates Olympus Rally with 1-2 Finish
(April 20, 2008) Subaru Rally Team USA dominated this weekend's Olympus Rally, in eastern Washington with drivers Ken Block and Travis Pastrana scoring an impressive 1-2 finish. Rally winner Ken Block, at the wheel of his BFGoodrich Tires-shod 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI led from the start of the rally and was the class of the field, winning or tying 12 of the 16 total stages. Block's teammate, two-time defending Rally America National Champion Travis Pastrana finished just twenty four seconds behind in second overall. This is the second 1-2 finish in a row for Subaru Rally Team USA, and Block now has a commanding lead in the championship, with Pastrana moving up to fourth with 6 rounds remaining in the Rally America National Championship series.
The Olympus Rally, round three of the 2008 Rally America National Championship has traditionally been held near Seattle, Washington, on technical forest logging roads. But the event's roads recently sustained storm damage and the rally organizers scrambled to find an alternative venue. The solution was a move to the high speed, wide-open gravel roads of Pomeroy, Washington, over 270 miles east of Seattle.
Block has proven himself a dominant force on high-speed roads like those in Pomeroy and he and co-driver Alex Gelsomino continued that trend from the start of the Olympus Rally by grabbing the lead on the opening stage and never looking back. "The speeds here were amazing," said Block. "We hit 135mph on one stage and later had some drama on another when we drove on the rim at over 120mph after losing a tire due to a puncture!" This is Block's third successive rally victory after winning The 100 Acre Wood Rally (Round 2), and Rally New York, an all tarmac, non-championship event. "This is a great way to start the season, and it gives me a lot of confidence going forward." explained Block at the podium.
Running first on the road, Pastrana and his co-driver Derek Ringer were slowed as they were forced to contend with sweeping the loose gravel roads clean for the drivers behind them after starting the rally first car on the road. "The roads all had a lot of loose gravel on the surface so being first on the road was difficult," said Pastrana. "We were just trying our best to keep within reach of Ken [Block], but he was just flying. On day two, with better road position, we started to win stages and claw back some time but there just were not enough miles left to catch him. But the points here help our championship hopes, we are back in it."
Subaru Rally Team USA will remain on the west coast for the next round,the Oregon Trail Rally, May 16-18th, 2008, in Hillsboro, Oregon.
-credit: www.subaru.com/rally
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Eastern Cape: Round two summary
Next article Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally news 2008-04-24
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Ken Block
Cadillac F1 announces high-profile signing of former Miami GP president ahead of 2026 F1 debut
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Cadillac F1 announces high-profile signing of former Miami GP president ahead of 2026 F1 debut
Lia Block "struggled" with being seen only as Ken Block’s daughter but proud: "He shaped who I am"
F1 Academy
F1 Academy
Zandvoort
Lia Block "struggled" with being seen only as Ken Block’s daughter but proud: "He shaped who I am"
Items from Ken Block’s career listed for charity auction
Other rally
Other rally
Items from Ken Block’s career listed for charity auction
Latest news
"Colapinto never hit the apex" – Audi's take on contentious Nico Hulkenberg penalty in Brazilian GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
22 min
"Colapinto never hit the apex" – Audi's take on contentious Nico Hulkenberg penalty in Brazilian GP
What the Brazilian GP revealed about F1's ability to cope with rain
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
What the Brazilian GP revealed about F1's ability to cope with rain
Francesco Bagnaia undergoes successful surgery on double foot fracture
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
2 h
Francesco Bagnaia undergoes successful surgery on double foot fracture
Samantha Busch full speech as she accepts Kyle Busch's Most Popular Driver award
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 9 h
Samantha Busch full speech as she accepts Kyle Busch's Most Popular Driver award
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe