OCEAN SHORES, WA — Day one of the Olympus Rally unfolded along the Pacific coastline of Washington State as the best teams in North America began their bid for mid-season honors. Hosted in the picturesque town of Ocean Shores, Olympus is the third round of six in the Rally America Championship and provides a combination of challenging conditions with technical stage roads and unpredictable weather. Subaru Rally Team USA driver Travis Pastrana has set the pace of the rally, taking the overall lead early in the day and extending it to over a minute after eight of thirteen special stages. Current championship points-leader Antoine L’Estage is in second position as the privateer Mitsubishi driver maintains consistency, allowing him to develop a comfortable cushion of time between himself and third place. L’Estage closed his day with a blazing run of SS8, Taholah West 2, matching Pastrana by placing a stage time within tenths of a second! Subaru driver and BMX pro Dave Mirra has had a stellar performance so far, sitting in third overall. Mirra recently recovered from a bout with Bacterial Menengitis but is back in top form, displaying some of his best driving this season this weekend. Privateer Bill Bacon, who is currently second in the Championship standings, is hot on Mirra’s trail and will be pushing to close a 36-second gap between the two on the final day. The opening day of the rally saw plenty of attrition, claiming a total of eleven DNF’s including that of Monster World Rally Team’s Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino. The Ford driver was forced to retire after four stages with transmission problems. Canadian rally champion Patrick ‘Rocket’ Richard made his return to the U.S. after an absence of over a year, but has encountered difficulties leaving him in 21st overall at the end of day one. The former Rally America champ fell back in the field after having an off that left his Suabru Canada factory-backed Impreza with two flat tires. Richard will likely claw back towards the top on day two, but remains out of contention. Another big name to make his return to U.S. rally is former SRT USA driver Ramana Lagemann. Co-driven by Chrissie Beavis, Lagemann showed no signs of being rusty after finishing the day fifth overall in an SP-spec car that he had never driven before. Pacific Northwest drivers Mark Fox and Carl Jardevall also proved their pace, both finishing day one sixth and tenth overall in Open class respectively. Super Production leaders Travis and Terry Hanson had a crash on SS3 and were unable to continue but are expected to repair the car in time for the Oregon Trail Rally in May. Expect a fight for second in class between Tim Rooney and Pat Moro, who are seven seconds apart going into day two. Defending SP champ Jimmy Keeney isn’t far behind Rooney and Moro and will be pushing to make up time on the remaining stages. Keeney is currently ninth overall. In two-wheel-drive, Chris Duplessis and Catherine Woods lead the way in their 1990 Volkswagen Golf, setting a dominant time in the class despite encountering some mechanical issues throughout the day. Defending 2WD champ Dillon Van Way is currently second in class and 19th after suffering a suspension break. Van Way has also installed a new turbo and is still adjusting to increased power. The action resumes after Sunday’s Parc Expose in Ocean Shores, with First Car Out at 8:00am.
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