Toyota Gazoo Racing Ignites the 2026 ARA Championship

 

The sleeping giant has awakened, Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) has officially entered the 2026 American Rally Association (ARA) National Championship, ending years of speculation and setting the stage for a titanic manufacturer war with Subaru..

Leading the charge is American phenom Seth Quintero. Transitioning from his dominant tenure in Dakar and T3 lightweight prototypes, Quintero brings a "maximum attack" philosophy to the cockpit. Beside him sits veteran Finnish co-driver Topi Luhtinen, whose clinical European experience and "ice-in-the-veins" delivery are designed to temper Quintero’s raw desert-bred speed with the discipline required for technical forest stages.

The weapon of choice is a specially homologated Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Optimized for the high-speed gravel sweeps of the Pacific Northwest and the punishing bedrock of the Ozarks, the car features a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine paired with a sophisticated five-speed sequential gearbox. While its footprint is smaller than the competition, its nimble chassis and TGR’s world-class dampers make it a surgical instrument on tight, technical stages.

The path to the podium, however, is blocked by the gold standard of American rallying: Travis Pastrana and the Vermont SportsCar Subaru powerhouse. Quintero faces a steep learning curve; while he possesses world-class car control, he must now battle Pastrana’s decades of "reading" the changing grip levels of North American forests. The Subaru WRX remains a refined beast, and Pastrana’s psychological edge in the ARA is immense. For TGR, the 2026 season isn't just a debut; it is a high-stakes baptism by fire against an icon who knows every crest and jump on the calendar. The battle for North American supremacy will open on round 2 of the ARA Championship, 100AW in March. 

Report: Neil McDaid 

Ken Block Attempts an 8th Win at The Rally in The 100 Acre Wood

Ken Block Doesn’t often Go To Missouri, But When he Does, Locals Ask Him for Directions!

 February 18th, 2014, Park City, UT:  After their horrific wreck at final round of the 2013 Rally America Championship, Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino are back in the rally car  this morning for two days of testing in preparation for The 100 Acre Wood Rally, one of the two rounds that the team will compete in this year. The car has been fully rebuilt and the Hoonigan Racing team are also debuting their new  2014 livery, the team also 

announced Blocks full race schedule for the year, making him one of the busiest drivers in Rally..

 “I’m stoked with how the new liveries for my Ford Fiestas have turned out, as well as the race schedule we’ve been able to put together for 2014,” said Block. “Once again I’ve been fortunate enough to put together a highly diverse schedule that has me going around the world. I’m competing in the full Global RallyCross Championship, doing a handful of Rally America events, competing in a WRC round in Spain, doing the Monza Rally Sprint for the first time ever with Valentino Rossi as a teammate, returning to the Monster Energy Gymkhana GRID finale in Madrid, heading back to Japan to do more Gymkhana demos and, most interestingly, racing in three of the World RallyCross Championship rounds for the first time ever. I’m pretty sure nobody has a better job than me this year!”

 

 

In addition to having an action-packed year planned, Block has once again reinvented his race look for the 2014 season with a graphics package that will be incorporated across a full line of signature product including apparel from Hoonigan, sunglasses from SPY and RC cars from HPI.

“Every year I’m challenged with outdoing my livery from the season before,” said Block. “Luckily, I think we were able to do it once again. This year’s livery mixes animal pattern and 8-bit, which I love. We’ve come up with a sort of digital zebra graphic that I think is awesome and also brings me back into that familiar black and white color scheme I had starting back in 2010. I think the fans are going to enjoy this look.”

 

To catch Block and his all-new livery in action, be sure to follow along this coming weekend as he takes part in Rally America’s Rally in the 100 Acre Wood, where Block will be looking to reignite his winning streak for that event.

Block’s 2014 schedule:

 

Global RallyCross Championship:

• -    GRC Barbados: 5/18/14
• -    GRC X Games Austin: 6/17/14
• -    GRC Washington D.C.: 6/22/14
• -    GRC New York: 7/20/14
• -    GRC Charlotte: 7/26/14
• -    GRC Detroit: 8/3/14
• -    GRC Daytona: 8/23/14
• -    GRC Los Angeles: 9/20/14
• -    GRC Seattle: 9/27/14
• -    GRC Las Vegas: 11/5/14

 

Stage Rally:

• -    Rally America Rally in the 100 Acre Wood: 2/21-22
• -    Rally America Suesquehannock Trail Performance Rally: 5/30-31
• -    WRC Spain: 10/24-26
• -    Monza Rally Show: 11/22-24

 

World RallyCross Championship:

• -    WRxC Norway: 6/14-15
• -    WRxC France: 9/6-7
• -    WRxC Turkey: 10/11-12

 

Gymkhana demos:

• -    Japan: 7/5-6
• -    Gymkhana GRID, Madrid: 11/1-2

Source: Hoonigan Racing

Antoine L'Estage Takes Victory at The 2014 Rallye Perce Neige

 

Maniwaki, QUEBEC, February 10, 2014 – Antoine L'Estage (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) and John Hall (Calgary) of the Yokohama rally team won the 2014 Rallye Perce Neige Maniwaki, the opening round of the Canadian Rally Championship. The pair led the rally from the very first stage, steadily increasing their lead through the event. “It was a very good rally for us,” said L'Estage. “We led from the very first stage and took a bunch of time on all the town stages in the morning, and pushed on the first loop of long stages. We were fastest from the start, fair and square.”

L'Estage and Hall had not competed together prior to Rallye Perce Neige, but were able to hold the pace needed to win without having had any time together in the car before the rally. This is L'Estage's sixth victory at Rallye Perce Neige, and Hall's first win at a national event. “John Hall did really well, and the Yokohama tires were perfect. It's a perfect start to the year, and defence of my championship.”

 

Chief rivals Pat Richard (Squamish, BC) and Nathalie Richard (Halifax), of Subaru Rally Team Canada finished second in the rally. The pair had minor problems early in the day which hampered their efforts. The team won four of the 17 stages, but were unable to match the overall pace of L'Estage and Hall. “We had a good start to the rally, and second place is a good start to the year,” said Richard. “We had some small boost problems, and while we didn't lose a lot of time, we just lost a little bit here and there.

“We had to take a gamble in the afternoon to catch Antoine. We're pretty evenly matched, so I went out on different tires. That kind of choice is the only way to be able to take big time back, and unfortunately, it was the wrong choice. We had enough of a lead over third that we held our position.”

The Richard siblings have reunited in the car after eight years of competing as rivals. The pairing is exciting to many rally fans who love to see the brother and sister compete together.

“It was great to be back in the car with my sister, and to have her back for the whole season.”

A battle ran through most of the rally for the final podium spot. Eventually, and despite transmission problems just past the midpoint of the rally, Alexandre Beland (Val d'Or, QC) and Lyne Murphy (St Constant, QC) clawed up the order to finish third overall. The pair have spent the last season preparing to take on the entire championship series, and the third place was an ideal finish to earn points towards a title bid.

“When we started, we didn't know what kind of pace the other competitors were running. We were 13^th on the road to start, so we had to manage our pace to move up in the running order,” said Beland. “We pushed hard and were reseeded in fifth place after the first six stages. From there, we just had to maintain that pace.

“Tire choice was very hard on that last loop. What we chose worked for us, and we got third place. It's a perfect way for us to start the season.”

Two Wheel Drive action was thrilling, with every team struggling with the icy conditions, and soft snowbanks on the forest stages. Simon Dube (Jonquiere, QC) and Pat Lavigne (Mirabel, QC) were leading for most of the event, when on the penultimate forest stage the pair got stuck on a snowbank. A similar mistake last year forced the team to retire, but competitor Chris Greenhouse stopped to pull Dube and Lavigne back onto the road.

“We had a really good start, and with maybe 80 percent of the rally finished, we went off the road a little bit. It wasn't a lot but we got stuck.,” said Dube, who had a similar problem last year, ending his rally. “Our competitor Chris Greenhouse pulled us out of the snowbank.”

Despite losing eight minutes, Dube had a sufficient advantage over his rivals to retain the lead all the way to the finish.

“It's a winter rally, and anything can happen,” said Dube. “I wanted to finish in the top ten, to earn my seed four, which we did. I'm very happy to win two wheel drive. I haven't won a national since 2011 or 2010, so this is great.”

Second in class went to Martin Walter (North Gower, ON) and Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff (Nepean, ON), one of the few cars with minimal problems during the event. The Ontarian team showed good judgement in setting their pace all rally.

Greenhouse (Cincinnati, USA) and co-driver Billy Irvin (Puyallup, USA) thought they were out of the rally after three stages, getting stuck in a snowbank for over 20 minutes. After reviewing the situation, organizers allowed Greenhouse to continue. The pair finished third in two wheel drive, Perce Neige serving as their first Canadian event together. 

“It's especially cold when you're covered in champagne,” said Greenhouse, after the podium celebrations. “The experience in Canada is great, and the stage roads here are incredible. We'll be back for Rallye Baie des Chaleurs.”

In Production all-wheel drive, the team of Alexandre and Nicholas Ouellette showed the value of local knowledge. Hailing from nearby Messines, QC., the two won their class and finished ninth overall in their Subaru Impreza STI.

Second in class was claimed by Warren Haywood (Chelsea, QC) and John Merry (Ottawa), ahead of third place Bruno Laverdiere (Laval, QC) with Hubert Gaureau (Quebec). 

The Rallye Perce Neige is the only true winter rally in the Canadian Rally Championship. Heavy snowfalls all winter leading up to the event have created some of the best conditions in the last ten years, according to Clerk of the Course, Sylvain Erickson. The first loop of stages took place in town, and are fast, icy stages. The stages making up the second stage saw varied conditions, and a taste of what was to come. Both the third and fourth legs were made up of three forest stages totalling 87km of stage distance. Characterized by challenging technical roads, the forest stages were lined by tall snowbanks and ran deep into the night. To add to the challenge, teams are not allowed to use studded tires. The rally was contested over 209km of special stage.

The Canadian Rally Championship is comprised of six events held nationwide in a season that extends from February to November. The series is presented by Subaru Canada, supported by Yokohama Tire Canada and features a contingency program from Subaru Canada. The Canadian Association of Rallysport (CARS) is the official sanctioning body for rallying in Canada.

Rally car racing is often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” The all-season
motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over closed-road courses that typically cover more than 150 kilometers of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads. Fans can get up close to the cars in the service areas and catch all the action from specially designated spectator points located at the best spots on the route.

Full coverage of the championship will air on RDS and TSN. Check local listings.

For more information: www.carsrally.ca or www.rallyeperceneige.com

Rallye Perce Neige Final Results
1. Antoine L'Estage – John Hall – two hours, 28 minutes, 45.4 seconds
2. Pat Richard – Nathalie Richard – 2:30:58.7
3. Alexandre Beland – Lyne Murphy – 2:40:32.4
4. Bruno Carre – Karel Carre – 2:44:39.1
5. Sylvain Vincent – Simon Vincent – 2:48:59.1
6. Andre Leblanc – Rene Leblanc – 2:52:34.8
7. Philippe Dube – Samuel Joyal – 2:53:15.1
8. Nicola Narini – Massimo Narini – 2:56:35.6
9. Alexandre R Ouellette – Nicholas R Ouellette – 2:56:47.2
10. Maxime Labrie – Robert Labrie – 3:00:48.3

FOR MORE INFORMATION - Canadian Association of Rally Sport offices : (855) 640-6444

Photo Credit: Mat Janiak

 

Subaru Rally Team USA Takes Overall Victory at Sno*Drift

Snow, nor wind nor freezing temperatures would stop the Subaru Rally Team mechanics from keeping their driver on the road. Photo Subaru Rally Team 

Hillman Michigan, David Higgins and Craig Drew of the Subaru Rally Team USA, take the victory at Sno*Drift, the opening round of the 2014 Rally America Championship. They were joined in second place by last year’s winner Antoine L’Estage in the Rockstar Energy Mitsubishi Evo, Antoine’s co-driver for Sno*Drift was Marshal Clarke,  rounding out the podium in third in their SP class Subaru was Laughlin O’ Sullivan and Scott Putman.

This year teams would be faced with blowing snow and some extreme cold temps that dipped to minus 20 c with the wind chill at the Park Expose on Friday, day one of this grueling two day rally.  Although the rally has utilized the same stages for many years, organizers will switch directions from year to year to keep teams on their toes.  This year we would see some better snow banks over prior years, which can be an advantage to slow the cars by hooking a wheel into them but also be disastrous if you hook too deep.

Antoine L’Estage would draw the short straw sending him out first on the road, a difficult position to say the least with the blinding snow and unknown icy conditions.

Higgins and Drew took full advantage of Antoine’s line over the first two stages giving them a pair of stage victories on SS1 and SS2 building a gap on 20 seconds on L’Estage.

Peter Fetela / Grzegorz Dorman were one of the first teams
to fall victim to the icy conditions. They would go off on
the first stage of the rally. Photo Greg Dorman/FB

Heading into SS3 “Eberly-Soden” Higgins and Drew would lose time due to overheating and a drop in power in their Subaru.  

 

Between stages 3 and 4  they would try to diagnose the issue  without success. With only one stage before service, Higgins would charge into SS4 “McCormick Lake”, apparently they did not properly insert the hood clips resulting in the hood blowing open and cracking the windshield halfway through the 7.2 mile stage.

 

With the hood now sitting on the windshield blocking his vision, Higgins could do nothing but peer out through the tiny gap at the bottom of the hood or out the side window, “I would just pitch the car a little sideways to see out my side” explained Higgins.

By the end of SS4 as the cars pulled into the first service of the rally, Higgins has erased the advantage he had on L’Estage on the opening stages, due to his problems on SS3 and 4 he was now down 39 seconds to the Canadian.

Any driver who has competed at Sno*drift in the past knows all too well what to expect as they head out for a second pass of any stage, glare ice! and this year would be no exception!.

Still running first on the road, Antoine L’Estage left the service in Lewiston with what would be consider a comfortable lead on Higgins given the conditions.  But on the second pass of “Shoreline” SS5, Antoine would suffer a puncture, rather than changing the wheel within the stage and losing minutes to Higgins, L’Estage pushed on through. Despite his best efforts to keep pace Antoine dropped 31 seconds to Higgins.

Higgins and Drew would continue to pile the pressure on L’Estage over the final stages of day one, heading into the overnight halt they were now up 26 seconds over L’Estage and Clarke.

We had expected to see FY Racings Adam Yeoman in the hunt for an overall podium finish here in his native Michigan, but his rally would get off to a tough start when he got stuck on a snow bank on the very first stage. Adam and co driver Jordan Schulze were eventually able to dig themselves out and get back on the road, but any hopes of a podium finish at Sno*Drift would require divine intervention.

At the end of day one it was rally veteran Laughlin O’Sullivan slotting his SP Subaru into the third overall position. By doing so Laughlin would also lead the hotly contested SP class ahead of Dillon Van Way and 2013 Rookie of the Year Nick Roberts in third, both in Subaru’s.

In 2wd we would see some changes in the Scion and Ford camps for 2014, Andrew Comrie-Picard [ACP] made the switch from Scion Racing to a Team O’Neil /Ford Racing R2 Fiesta.  With Andrews’s departure from Scion it opened the door for Matthew Johnson to make a return to the driver’s seat after a four year hiatus from the sport.  

ACP would get off to a strong start in the R2 Fiesta setting the fast time in 2WD over Johnson in his old Scion on the first 3 stages, but ACP would run aground on a snow bank on SS4 “McCormick Lake”.  Going into the overnight halt ACP had dropped almost 35 minutes to Johnston in the Scion, basically erasing any chance of repeating his 2WD Sno*Drift victory of 2013.  A pair of R2 Fiesta’s driven by Troy Miller and Panos Karpidas would round out the top three in 2WD.

L’Estage would open day two by clipping Higgins by .05 seconds on the opening stage, Higgins would answer the call by taking victories on the next two stages before service.

Coming into the first service on day two; Higgins has increased his lead on L’Estage to 43 seconds. Laughlin O’Sullivan was still holding off Dillon Van Way for third.  Matthew Johnson was holding a commanding overall position at the front of the two wheel drive pack.

Looking back to last year, L’Estage was sitting in much the same position behind Higgins and Drew at the midpoint service on day two, L’Estage and then co-driver Nathalie Richard would start a vicious attack on the closing stages of the rally to snatch victory from Higgins.

 

With the memories of that crushing defeat in 2013 as fresh as the resent snow fall, Higgins was not going to let history repeat itself this time around.  David Higgins and Craig Drew would not give up a single second to L’Estage over the closing stages of this year’s rally; Higgins would take victory on 10 of the 11 stages on day two to seal his victory on the 2014 Sno*Drift Rally.

Antoine L’Estage and Marshal Clarke would coast home in second with Laughlin O’Sullivan taking the final place on the overall podium.  

"Last year Antoine hurt us really bad when he beat us on the last stage at Sno*Drift," said Higgins, "These difficult conditions can change so quickly and you never know what you are going to get.  That just makes me pleased to set the year off and get the points in the bag. Now I am looking forward to getting on the gravel at the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood."

The win at Sno*Drift will be significant in Higgins bid for yet another Championship title in 2014, taking all things into consideration, another title for Higgins is highly likely in 2014.  

 With Ken Block only contesting three rounds of the Rally America Championship in 2014, he will not factor into Championship contention, regardless if he were to win all of the three rounds that he enters.

Rally America fans will also see the return of Travis Pastrana in 2014, but it’s unlikely he will be on pace with either Higgins or L’Estage for that matter in his first few outings.

It’s also unlikely that Subaru will let Pastrana and Higgins go head to head.  

 

 

Although Antoine L’Estage has proven his worth; it has been apparent for some time that his Mitsubishi is no match for the ongoing development budget of the Subaru STI and the Ford Fiesta of Block. Nonetheless, with all that been said, we really do expect to see some great action at each rally this year, regardless of a true challenge on Higgins for the Championship.

In the SP Class, along with his overall podium finish, Lauchlin O’Sullivan took away the victory in SP at Sno*Drift, but he will be feeling the pressure throughout the year from young  guns Dillon Van Way and Nick Roberts who finished respectively in second and third behind Lauchlin.

"It's great to make a comeback after such a difficult 2013 season," said O'Sullivan, "To come out and get this was a work in discipline, especially when there are four up-and-coming SP drivers to compete against. I had to drive in these icy conditions not too fast or too slow. I just had to keep doing my thing and not worry about what the others are doing. I just avoided that one 'gotcha' that could end it."

The return of #46, after a 4 year hiatus, Matt Johnson makes a return to Rally America with a victory at Sno*Drift 2014. Photo Matt Johnson /FB  

In 2WD, Scion Racing Rally xD's new driver, Matthew Johnson, paired with co-driver Jeremy Wimpey took his first victory after spending four seasons away from the sport. Johnson was expecting a challenge from Ford Racing's Andrew Comrie-Picard, but the anticipated battle never materialized following Comrie-Picard losing 35 minutes from getting stuck in a snow bank.

"I'm really happy with this result," commented Johnson, "I've been mentally preparing myself to get back in the driver seat for a couple of years and I'm really fortunate to have this opportunity by Scion Racing. They prepared a great car with a special engine for Sno*Drift, and it really paid off for the team. I couldn't be more excited for the rest of this year!"

James Robinson and Jordan Guitar grab third in
2wd in their B-SPEC Honda. Photo Alex Haugen

Comrie-Picard's misfortune helped move brothers Troy Miller and co-driver Jeremy Miller into second place for their first ever national podium. Troy Miller is in the hunt for the 2014 Rookie of the Year. Honda Performance Development's James Robinson and Jordan Guitar took third for their second 2WD category podium and also took the B-SPEC Class victory in the process. Robinson is the reigning 2013 B-SPEC Champion and he took an important first step in defending his title.

We expect to see ACP come charging back at 100AW next month,  Andrew and Team O’Neil are also expected to debut the new Ford Fiesta R3, which is a turbo charged version.

As mentioned the 100AW rally is next up on the Rally America calendar, although we do not have confirmation yet, we fully expect to see Ken Block and Alex Gelsomeno  on the start line. Travis Pastrana is already on the entry list. Hopefully we will not see the snowy conditions we had in 2013, so drivers can go all out on the fast flowing stages.

 

For more information check in with www.rally-america.com

 

Sources: Rally America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rally America: Battle at The 100AW

Salem, Missouri. After the first four stages of the Rally In The 100AW 2013, Ken Block, who was faced with the daunting task of running first on the road, had somehow managed to open a 19 second lead on Subaru team driver David Higgins after the first leg of the rally. Unfortunately for Ken and his co-driver Alex Gelsomino their impressive drive on the very icy stages would be slowed by an off on SS6. Ken came over a blind crest less than a mile into the stage and hit a patch of glare ice, his Hoonigan Racing Fiesta collided with a large metal gate, proceeded to then take out an 18inch gate before mowing down several small trees before coming to rest in a rest in a farm yard some 6 feet below the road level. Block would have to miss the final stage of day one.  But, his crew has worked throughout the night to repair the car.  All going well Block will return for Day 2 under the super rally rule.

 

 

A very disappointed Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard, who had been running second on the road, would see the Rockstar energy sponsored Mitsubishi Evo X be sidelined with overheating issues after only 4 stages. Antoine had posted the fastest time on SS2, throwing down his marker on what could have been a great battle over the two days of competition.

 

Not the way David Higgins and Craig Drew would have liked to inherit the lead, but that’s rally and they will take it. Higgins eased into the rally conceding stage victories to Block, L’Estage and Burke before taking the stage victory on SS4. Heading into day two David is now faced with the task of running first on the road. They have over a four minute buffer to Joseph Burke who has now moved to second.

Despite being off the pace of the front runners, Privateer Joseph Burke in his “Snowwhite” Mitsubishi now finds himself in second overall with just over a minute buffer to Laughlin O’Sullivan in third. Burke would be well advised to not go chasing after Higgins over the unknowing conditions on day two but more focus on maintaining, if not adding to his cushion on Laughlin. Burke set the fasted time on SS3 the short but always spectacular Spectator Special in Potosi.

Scion Racing's driver Andrew Comrie-Picard (ACP) and co-driver  Jeremy Wimpey have eased their Scion XD to a razor thin margin over Dillon Van Way in the Fiesta to lead the 2WD battle heading into day two. ACP has only a 14-second lead on Van Way setting up for a tight battle over the final ten stages of the rally.