Six-time American champion Travis Pastrana will give Subaru’s all-new WRX its debut when he returns to the ARA National Championship presented by Kubota at next month’s Olympus Rally.
The Vermont SportsCar-developed Subaru – a step down from the WRX ARA25 factory car defending champion Brandon Semenuk is using this season – will run in the Limited 4WD category.
Pastrana says his shift to the second-tier class is an effort to bring more drivers to rallying and to America’s premier series.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be back in rallying,” said Pastrana, who will be co-driven by Rhianon Gelsomino. “Subaru Motorsports USA agreed to build a more affordable car for me in the hopes of inspiring more drivers to compete in the series.
“My goal this year is to have a lot of fun and build on this as a proof of concept. That will hopefully inspire more drivers from the USA and around the world to come race with us in the ARA championship.”
Pastrana’s schedule won’t be limited to just ARA National events, with a visit to July’s Rally Colorado ARA Super Regional event also planned.
“We have some of the greatest roads in the world,” he added, “and I’m looking forward to building something that will help build great competition for years to come.”
Further details of the VSC-built Subaru will be available closer to the start of the Washington-based Olympus Rally presented by DirtFish (April 12/13).
Round three of this year’s ARA National Championship, the L4WD category is shaping up to be one of the most popular and competitive, with DirtFish Women in Motosport Driver Aoife Raftery making her debut aboard a DirtFish-run WRX STI with Ford Fiesta Rally3 pair Nick Allen and Jason Bailey as competition.
