Travis Pastrana leads old rival Ken Block by just 0.2 seconds after the first three stages of the 2022 100 Acre Wood Rally.
100AW is effectively the beginning of the American Rally Association presented by DirtFish National championship fight as neither reigning champion Pastrana, Block nor 2020 title winner Barry McKenna were present on the Sno*Drift Rally and Subaru Motorsports USA’s Brandon Semenuk retired.
Pastrana, on his first rally start since breaking his pelvis in a BASE jumping accident, set the pace on the opening stage but Block – competing in a 2019-spec Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC for the first time – hit back on SS2 to wrestle the lead off Pastrana’s Subaru WRX STI.
Undeterred, Pastrana immediately responded on the final stage of the first loop, the short Run for Moses, to outpace Block by 3.8s and move back into the event lead.
Just 10.3s covers the leading four drivers but it’s already looking like it could be a Pastrana vs Block showdown as Semenuk and McKenna have consistently been third and fourth fastest across Friday’s first three tests.
McKenna, who hasn’t competed since last July’s New England Forest Rally, got the better of Semenuk on Pigeon Root East but finds himself 3.2s adrift of his rival in his Ford Fiesta WRC, 10.3s down on Pastrana’s lead.
The sheer pace of the leading Open class cars has given them a huge cushion to the rest of the field. Fifth-placed Tom Williams is already almost two minutes adrift in his Ford Fiesta Rally2, but his focus is firmly on RC2 class honors.
However it’s proving to be a tough fight as Sno*Drift winner and ARA National championship leader Mark Piatkowski is just 3.6s behind in sixth overall on his first event in a Ford Fiesta R5. He’s driving Kyle Tilley’s Era Motorsport machine as Tilley is currently competing in the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race.
Johnny O’Sullivan also remains in touch in seventh, 10.3s behind Piatkowski, while Dave Carapetryan, Enda McCormack and Dylan Murcott complete the top 10.
SS3 times
1 Travis Pastrana/Rhianon Gelsomino (Subaru) 2m55.3s
2 Ken Block/Alex Gelsomino (Hyundai) +3.8s
3 Brandon Semenuk/Keaton Williams (Subaru) +4.0s
4 Barry McKenna/Leon Jordan (Ford) +5.6s
5 Mark Piatkowski/John Hall (Ford) +23.3s
6 Tom Williams/Ross Whittock (Ford) +23.7s
7 Johnny O’Sullivan/Kenneth Quirke (Ford) +26.2s
8 Patrick Moro/Ole Holter (Chevrolet) +29.0s
9 Enda McCormack/Liam McCormack (Hyundai) +30.3s
10 Dylan Murcott/Andrew Sims (Subaru) +30.6s
Leading positions after SS3
1 Pastrana/Gelsomino (Subaru) 16m03.6s
2 Block/Gelsomino (Hyundai) +0.2s
3 Semenuk/Williams (Subaru) +7.1s
4 McKenna/Jordan (Ford) +10.3s
5 Williams/Whittock (Ford) +1m56.s
6 Piatkowski/Hall (Ford) +1m59.6s
7 O’Sullivan/Quirke (Ford) +2m09.9s
8 Dave Carapetyan/Danny Norkus (Subaru) +2m30.9s
9 McCormack/McCormack (Hyundai) +2m31.0s
10 Murcott/Sims (Subaru) +2m41.7s
