It’s here. Finally. Thirty-nine years and 12 months in the making, it’s 1986 all over again.
A year ago, Olympus Rally stalwart Steve McQuaid talked about watching Markku Alén and Juha Kankkunen squabble over a world championship 39 years earlier. This story was, of course, about much more than who would leave Washington on top of the world. It was about the end of an era. The passing of a landmark generation.
It was about the end of Group B.
Steve and his team had a plan this time last year. Four decades on, the sport’s most astonishing and storied era couldn’t go unmarked. McQuaid was a man with a plan and this week, that plan will be played out in the shape of America’s most anticipated rally since… well, since the WRC departed these shores in 1988.
Famously, Alén won the 1986 Olympus and celebrated being a world champion for 11 days. Soon after the American finale, FISA, then world motorsport’s governing body, annulled the results of a controversial Sanremo Rally (where Kankkunen’s Peugeot was booted out for running what the Italian scrutineers saw as illegal ground effect-inducing skirts) and Markku was forced to hand his crown to Kankkunen.
Kankkunen, now deputy team principal of Toyota, talked to DirtFish about his memories of Washington, 40 years ago.
Kankkunen (left) has fond memories of Olympus, while Latvala (right) is about to make them
“It was a political situation,” he said. “But Jean [Todt, then Peugeot team principal] had told me not to worry. He told me they (FISA) were wrong and they would make the other decision. He said: ‘Our car is legal. Everything will be fine.’ They (Lancia) tried, it was their only chance.
“It was a tough event. Before going to Olympus, I had been to America a little – but only in Florida as a tourist and, of course, I was in Colorado Springs for Pikes Peak. But I liked this place in Olympus, the roads were like RAC, like Wales. There was a lot of rain and fog, I was a young boy there. We started and went straight to the night, back then we were doing a lot of driving in the dark on events like Finland and RAC – we were used to it.”
And 40 years down the road (albeit a touch earlier in the season – the 1986 event was very much a soggy November affair), Friday’s first day takes the cars back into the dark. The perfect place to pick up.
And what a rally we have in store this week. At 198 competitive miles, the route is still a touch short of the 335 miles back in the day, but it’s a good chunk more than you’ll find out your average ARA National Championship round today. Predictably, the opportunity to race 18 stages across three days proved an irresistible draw, entries were sold out in no time.
As if the history of the occasion wasn’t enough, it’s perhaps fitting that an inbound Finn has given the event an extra edge. Eighteen-time World Rally winner Jari-Matti Latvala will make his American debut aboard a sister factory Toyota GR Corolla Rally RC2 to that of team-mate Seth Quintero.
And when Latvala landed, four-time American champion and four-time Olympus winner Brandon Semenuk couldn’t resist it. The Canadian’s making a debut of his own, aboard a Proworx-run Ford Fiesta Rally2.
Having come within an ace of winning her maiden ARA round outright at the season-opening Sno*Drift, Lia Block will head straight back to the sharp end of the competition this weekend aboard her Hyundai i20 N Rally2. Former Oregon Trail winner Ricardo Cordero brings his Citroën C3 Rally2, with Tom Williams (Škoda), Pat Gruszka and Alastair Scully (both Hyundais) all packing out an exceptional RC2 category.
And then there’s Subaru’s rockstar, fan favorite and one of American rallying’s true legends, Travis Pastrana. #199 is rocking the usual Subaru WRX ARA25L.
DirtFish Women in Motorsport driver Aoife Raftery returns to an ARA round for the first time, looking to emulate her spectacular 2025 podium result. The Irish star’s Element Rallysport-run Ford Fiesta Rally3, looking stunning in an all-new livery, will provide the perfect platform to build on what’s already been a stellar start to the season.
This being the Pacific Northwest, DirtFish is once again proud to see a strong contingent of employees taking the start, with Michelle Miller – as ever – co-driving Richo Healey, but this time the pair are racing the Subaru BRZ Lia Block used to win her first ARA title in 2023.
Michael Honn fields his usual Subaru Impreza, while Brian Miller runs a BMW E36 with Nate Tennis winding back the years aboard his beloved 1973 Saab 99.
And, of course, the entry is packed out with DirtFish alumni.
The action gets underway from a ceremonial start in Olympia on Friday afternoon, with the crews heading for the first four stages on Friday evening. Saturday and Sunday will deliver a weekend packed with action on the roads around Shelton, with the finish scheduled for Sunday afternoon at Sanderson Airfield.
