Travis Pastrana will return to the American Rally Association Presented by DirtFish National championship at next weekend’s 100 Acre Wood Rally, kicking off a title defense that was delayed through injury.
The six-time US rally champion was sidelined for the season-opening Sno*Drift Rally after breaking his pelvis in a BASE jumping accident while taking a break from filming the latest Gymkhana film in January.
While there was talk of him potentially making last month’s rally, Subaru Motorsports USA ultimately fielded just one car for Brandon Semenuk and new co-driver Keaton Williams – a partnership that will remain in place at 100AW.
Pastrana will once again be joined by Rhianon Gelsomino, his co-driver of the last two seasons, as they look to add more hardware to their trophy collection.
While Pastrana was recovering, the pair continued to work on their preparations for the upcoming season. And with the ARA counting the best six results from nine events, the absence from the first round of the season could potentially have minimal effect come season’s end. In fact, he won the 2017 ARA title without contesting Sno*Drift, an event Subaru routinely skipped until recent years.
Also returning next weekend will be Barry McKenna in his World Rally Car-spec Ford Fiesta, and Ken Block in an as-yet-unnanounced machine, in what promises to be an ultra competitive Open class.
Pastrana’s ARA campaign will be one of a number of programs he is running in 2022, with runs in Nitro Rallycross’ Group E and Supercar (where he is also defending champion) classes also expected.
