Posted Sunday, August 25, 2024 at 10:29pm
As a man who’s not afraid of heights, Travis Pastrana has missed standing on the podium’s top step. Until now. The Subaru Motorsports USA star landed his first win in three years at the Ojibwe Forests Rally on Saturday evening.
Typically full of humility, he was quick to pay tribute to his team-mate Brandon Semenuk’s speed and his inability to match the Canadian-flagged WRX. But when the defending champion retired on Friday, Pastrana saw the opportunity to storm the winners’ circle once more.
Heading into Saturday’s nine stages – totalling 74 competitive miles – the #199 Subaru was two minutes clear of Conner Martell’s older-specification WRX STI. That the returning Semenuk would steal the stage times was a given, but Pastrana didn’t need to worry about such things. He and co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino just had to keep their car in the middle of the road and tick them off. Through Saturday morning they did that brilliantly, simultaneously building their advantage over Martell beyond the three-minute mark.
