Lia Block’s attempt to protest her exclusion from Sno*Drift Rally, the season-opening American Rally Association National Championship round, has failed.
The 19-year-old was leading the event by over three minutes entering the 16th and final stage, but her Ford Fiesta Rally3 lost drive just two corners from the end.
While she and co-driver Alex Gelsomino made it to the final time control in what appeared to be third position with lateness penalties applied, they did so with the assistance of spectators which led to their exclusion from the event.
Block and her team submitted a protest regarding the exclusion, which was upheld, but the stewards stood by their decision.
The stewards said “the team’s actions put a large number of spectators at risk, including encouraging them to push a competition vehicle uphill around a potentially blind corner after the Flying Finish”.
The crew accepted they had “violated rules” in this regard but argued “the penalty of exclusion was unncesarily harsh”.
The stewards said the exclusion was for “failure to complete the route under their own power” as well as spectators pushing their car “approximately 0.3 miles on a hot stage”.
Block’s rival reinstated
Castro had been excluded from the results too, but has been reinstated to third
While Block remains excluded from Sno*Drift, her rival Javier Castrol – who had also initially been excluded – was reinstated in the results, albeit with a three-minute time penalty.
Block’s issues on the powerstage had initially handed victory to the Audi A1 MRT driver, but with his car suffering technical issues, his service crew pushed the car through the in-control for final service – breaching the rule forbidding outside assistance under parc fermé conditions.
Castro and co-driver Ezequiel Garcia protested their exclusion on the grounds of alleged ambiguity in the event’s roadbook, reliance on the clerk of the course at the scene who the Argentinian crew said “appeared to validate or approve their actions at the time”, failure of immediate intervention and correction and sporting prejudice.
The stewards decided to replace the Argentinian crew’s exclusion with a three-minute time penalty as the ‘end of control; signboard was incorrectly positioned and their assistance assistance “consisted solely of pushing the vehicle, conferred no competitive advantage beyond restoring movement, and was not undertaken in bad faith”.
Exclusion was deemed to be “disproportionate”, but a penalty was still required “in order to uphold the integrity of control area regulations while ensuring a proportionate outcome”.
This change means Castro is now officially classified third in the 2026 Sno*Drift Rally, costing Hyundai i20 N Rally2 driver Alastair Scully his podium finish.
Piatkowski’s championship lead extended
Sno*Drift winner Mark Piatkowski’s championship lead has extended from one to three points, although he had his own protest into Travis Pastrana rejected.
Piatkowski was the first car to start the powerstage after Block and had to slow significantly when approaching the stricken Fiesta Rally3 as it was blocking the road.
Piatkowski and co-driver Aris Mantopoulos submitted an inquiry for a notional time considering the time lost which was originally dismissed through force majeure, but the panel of stewards disagreed and afforded them a time allowance.
In a separate hearing, Piatkowski and Mantopoulos claimed the unibody, wheel tubs, and control arms of Travis Pastrana’s factory Subaru Motorsports USA WRX ARA 25L were illegal.
But ARA technical director Doug Nagy had approved modifications to the car before its first competitive event, which remained applicable at Sno*Drift.
While the Sno*Drift stewards considered a notching in the frame rail of the WRX ARA25L to be in contravention of ARA technical regulations, ARA’s technical director “has the authority to make a final decision regarding eligibility of a vehicle or vehicle component or system,” which Nagy did via a previous email exchange with Vermont SportsCar, per the stewards’ report. Therefore, Pastrana received no penalty.
