Travis Pastrana Wins Rally America National Championship
Subaru Rally USA driver Travis Pastrana has won the 2006 Rally America National Championship, the youngest driver ever to do so. Pastrana, who turned 23 years old in October, took a Gold medal in rally at the X Games earlier this year and now takes his first driver's championship in just his second year of rally competition.
Pastrana held a strong lead in the championship hunt coming into the penultimate round in the Lake Superior Performance Rally held Oct. 20-21, and needed only a 6th place or better to grab the championship. However, when 2nd place in the championship standings crashed out of the rally on the second stage, Pastrana clinched the championship with a 50-point lead in the standings - and there is still one more race to go, the Wild West Rally in Olympia, Wash., Dec. 1-3. Pastrana, with his co-driver Christian Edstrom, had been the front-runner for much of the Lake Superior Performance Rally, but victory in the race went to Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino.
"This is amazing, it's been a great year for us, everything had just worked so well, the car, the team and my co-driver Christian Edstrom have all just clicked together perfectly," Pastrana said. "We can't celebrate yet, as we are in the middle of a rally fighting for another win, but the pressure is really off now and we can have some fun."
A motorcycling racing star turned rally car racer, Pastrana had been the dominant force this year in the Rally America series, earning three rally victories, four 2nd place finishes and a Gold medal at the inaugural X Games Rally event where he narrowly beat out WRC legend Colin McRae.
Subaru Rally Team USA campaigns two Open Class 2006 Impreza WRX STI rally cars in the Rally America National Championship. Pastrana and co-driver Edstrom drive the #199 car; Block and co-driver Gelsomino in the #43 car. Both team cars are prepared by Subaru technical partner Vermont SportsCar and are based on stock Subaru Impreza WRX STI vehicles.
