Subaru’s USA team scored a dramatic 1-2 victory on the New England Forest Rally in Maine state. Â
Pastrana (right) and stand-in co-driver Dorman.First of all Travis Pastrana’s British co-driver, Robbie Durant, had to withdraw after the first day because of a back injury, and Pastrana then enlisted team member, Grzegorz Dorman, as his co-driver for Day 2, a move allowed under American Rally Association rules. Â
On the penultimate stage of the rally, Pastrana’s teammate, David Higgins, impacted a track side boulder, damaging the rear suspension and causing the right rear upright and wheel assembly to fail. Â
Unknown to them, Pastrana and Dorman also impacted their rear suspension, possibly on the same rock, their car damaged, but to a much lesser extent. With one stage to run, only a one single second separated the two cars. Â
Ryan Millen and Aussie co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino.Higgins’ car could not be fully repaired in the allotted 30-minute service, and he left service with only front wheel drive. They lost considerable time and Pastrana won by over a minute.
The inaugural ARA series will now be decided at the sixth and final round at the Ojibwe Forests Rally in Minnesota at the end of August. Â
Meanwhile, Ryan Millen, son of former American Rally Champion Rod Millen, and Australian co-driver, Rhianon Gelsomino, won the two wheel drive category in a Toyota Rav 4 for the fifth time this year, and clinched the 2WD series title.
Â
- Martin Holmes Â