Olympus: Semenuk Claims Narrow Victory After Late-Race Crash; Pastrana Makes Promising Debut in L4WD
- masonrunkel
- Apr 15
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 23
UPDATED: April 23, 2025—In accordance with ARA regulations, ARA and USAC officials convened a hearing following the 2025 Olympus Rally to investigate and adjudicate a protest filed by Martell Racing. Prior to the hearing, the protest was withdrawn by Martell Racing and provisional results were finalized without any further adjustment.
(Shelton, Wash. – April 14, 2025) ~ Round three of the 2025 American Rally Association (ARA) National Championship Presented by Kubota—the storied Olympus Rally—featured a large and diverse field, unseasonably warm and sunny conditions and the return of one of the series’ biggest names. Close competition was made even more interesting by new-car teething problems for series star Travis Pastrana, a nearly decisive late-race crash for defending champion Brandon Semenuk and a post-race protest by the hard-charging underdog Conner Martell.
Despite suffering a significant impact on the third-to-last stage, the Subaru Motorsports USA (SMUSA) pairing of Semenuk and co-driver Keaton Williams took the provisional overall win, narrowly besting Martell and co-driver Alex Gelsomino in their No. 21 Kubota-backed Subaru WRX. The pitched battle between the Blue Team and the Orange Team was made even more dramatic when Martell Racing filed a post-race protest alleging Semenuk and Williams intentionally blocked the Kubota team, delaying their on-stage progress and costing valuable time as they attempted to pass the stationary SMUSA entry, which had stopped on course after impacting a tree.
Meanwhile, series star Travis Pastrana, who missed the first two events of the season, returned to ARA competition at Olympus, debuting a new and largely untested Subaru built by Vermont SportsCar for the Limited Four-wheel-drive Class (L4WD). Although engine troubles toward the end of day one kept Pastrana and co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino off the podium, they returned for day two, showing pace and potential.
Less Than Seven Seconds Decide Provisional Results
With roots dating back to 1968, Olympus is one of the longest-running and most iconic events on the ARA calendar. Its 2025 chapter began Saturday morning, as competitors and a large crowd of fans gathered in downtown Shelton, Washington, for Parc Exposé before tackling the tight, twisty mountain logging roads of the Evergreen State.
The first car on the road was the No. 1 Subaru WRX of SMUSA’s Semenuk and Williams. Sweeping Saturday’s stages and the early portion of Sunday, the pair carried a three-minute lead heading into SS10 when a significant crash cost them dearly.
The consistently strong No. 21 Subaru WRX of Martell and Alex Gelsomino caught up to the SMUSA car on-stage, erasing their deficit and threatening for the overall win
With two stages remaining and the rally still up for grabs, Semenuk and the Subaru crew got to work. They, powered through SS11 with a damaged car, replaced the windshield at the next regroup, and then returned to service to prepare for the final stage.
With only the Power Stage remaining and mere seconds separating the two teams, the No. 1 car pushed hard to overtake Martell and Gelsomino’s Kubota-sponsored entry, clinching the provisional rally win by just 6.9 seconds.
“Definitely a drama-filled day, especially at the end,” Semenuk said at Parc Ferme. “Stupid off on my behalf. I just got caught out by some mud. But we managed the car, we got it back, we got through the last two stages, and managed to still edge out Connor in the last two stages, even though the car wasn't completely healthy; it was just enough to hold on.”
Competing in only the 14th rally of his career and making his debut appearance at Olympus, rising star Martell learned a lot and left with his head held high.
“It was a pretty good weekend,” Martell said after the final stage. “I’ve got a lot to learn. I made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot about notes. It was a really tricky first day, and a tricky second day, too. The second day was just really fast. Still technical, but we did very well.”
Martell was awarded 14.4 seconds by race officials due to the delay in getting by Semenuk’s crashed car, but the team filed a protest, alleging intentional blocking and requesting additional seconds be subtracted from their stage time. Results remain provisional until the protest is adjudicated.
Meanwhile, coming in third place overall and winning the RC2 class were Ryan Booth and Nick Dobbs in their Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, marking Booth’s second RC2 class victory since Ojibwe in 2020.
Booth and Dobbs were joined on the RC2 podium by Pat Gruszka and Danny Persein, who piloted their 2019 Hyundai i20 R5 to a second-place finish. Unfortunately, the i20 of Alastair Scully and Stefan Trajkov, along with the Audi A1 Maxi of Roberto Yglesias and Ulices Agesta, both retired, leaving the third spot on the RC2 class podium empty.
Pastrana Makes L4WD Debut
The L4WD class was undoubtedly the most talked about at Olympus this year, largely due to the arrival of Pastrana and Rhianon Gelsomino’s new No. 199 Subaru WRX ARA25L. The Vermont SportsCar-built and Subaru Motorsports USA-backed car shone in its debut event, despite a temporary retirement on Day 1.
In a class that has been largely dominated by European-built Rally3 cars over the past year and a half, the U.S.-built WRX caused a major shakeup with Pastrana and Gelsomino winning all but one of the day-one stages before mechanical issues leading into SS6 forced them to miss the final stage. Despite this setback, they returned on Sunday and won every remaining stage, including the Power Stage, earning three extra class points.
Although the new car’s maiden outing resulted in a fourth-place finish in class, they held third overall at one point, battling with race-proven RC2 machinery. They leave the event having made a strong statement about what’s to come.
“God, it's fun to rally,” Pastrana said, driving out of the final stage, “and this is a fun car. It definitely passed with flying colors. We had a little issue yesterday, but not having any test time in it, we ran it pretty hard. Mission accomplished.”
Topping the LN4 podium were Nick Allen and Martin Brady in the Eagle Rock Racing Ford Fiesta Rally3, earning their second class win of the season after a strong showing at the Sno*Drift Rally in February.
The No. 84 held on to the lead despite nursing a puncture for nine miles on SS8, finishing ahead of Javier Olivares and KJ Miller—who returned to the Rally3 platform after parts delays sidelined their Rally2 vehicle for this event—and DirtFish Women in Motorsport driver Aoife Raftery, of Craughwell, County Galway, Ireland, and co-driver Krista Skucas, who steadily found more pace throughout the weekend in their 2015 Subaru WRX STI.
And WRC Beyond Rally Women’s Driver Development Program graduate Madelyn Tabor and co-driver Sophia McKee earned the 43i Ken Block FLAT OUT 43VER Award for their standout performance in the Fiesta Rally3, nearly doubling their previous best speed factor with a massive jump in pace over the weekend.
Johnston Wins in Return to 2WD, Peugeots Take First and Second
After winning the O2WD class with Calle Carlberg behind the wheel at The Rally at 100 Acre Wood, Team FJ returned for Olympus with two Peugeot 208 Rally4 cars.
This would be a true test of the French cars’ mettle in O2WD, as seemingly all the stars of the class were ready for battle at Olympus.
Seamus Burke’s 1976 MkII Escort, Michael Hooper and Richo Healy’s Lexus IS350s, rising star Matthew Nykanen’s BMW 328i, and four more teams all challenged the Peugeots. But Sean Johnston and Alex Kihurani, known for their WRC2 experience, bested the competition on every stage except SS5, which was taken by their teammates Mike Arsenault and Matthieu Belhacene.
Johnston and Kihurani stood atop the podium with Arsenault and Belhacene beside them, completing a dominant 1-2 sweep of O2WD for Team FJ. Seamus Burke and Gary McElhinney rounded out the podium in third.
In L2WD, Chris Cyr and Glen Ray continued their dominant form, taking maximum points for the third consecutive event with both the class win and Power Stage victory.
Behind them, it was a family affair as father and son Mark and Henry Tabor battled for second. The younger Tabor came out ahead, joined by co-driver Jack Gillow-Wiles on the second step of the podium, while Kathryn Hansen stood alongside Mark in third.
Miller Fights Off Stacked Regional Field for Third Consecutive Olympus Win
Andy Miller and Shaun Tracey reaffirmed their dominance in the PNW Regional Rally scene with a commanding performance that saw their six-cylinder-swapped NA4WD Subaru WRX STI top the 56-car field by nearly five and a half minutes. Their pace was so strong that, when compared to the National standings before the Power Stage, they would have slotted in just behind Travis Pastrana.
Miller and Tracey delivered what can only be described as a perfect rally, winning all eleven stages outright, dominating both days, and finishing atop both the regional overall and NA4WD podiums.
“The roads this weekend could not have been better,” Tracey said after the final stage. “We had consistent pace and couldn’t be happier with the results. For the most part, we set out to control the pace of the event and try to stay out front.”
“The weather was great, the roads were technical and challenging. None of this would be possible without the hard work and dedication from the organizers and volunteers. We truly thank them all.”
In second overall, Jason Bailey and Shayne Peterson’s Ford Fiesta Rally3 claimed a decisive L4WD Regional class win by nearly twelve minutes, finishing ahead of Robert Shibao and Dillon McKenna’s 2002 WRX, and Charles Watson and Ben Triplett’s 2010 WRX STI.
Third place originally went to the ever-familiar O2WD BMW M3 of Dave Clark and Jamie Willetts. Nevertheless, a late arrival to the final time control after the last stage resulted in a four-minute, ten-second penalty, dropping them off the podium. That opened the door for Daniel Sperry and Zachary Thomas in their 2002 NA4WD Subaru Impreza to move up, securing third overall and second in class behind Miller and Tracey.
Despite finishing just off the overall regional podium, Clark and Willetts claimed victory in the 18-car O2WD class by more than eight minutes.
“It was a wild ride!” Clark said. “First time with a sequential transmission, and we absolutely loved it. Pretty ideal conditions for Olympus, really. The weather was great. The competition was great. The car held together, which is not something many other great competitors can say. We are both really happy with the weekend and looking forward to the next one!”
Standing alongside them on the all-BMW O2WD Regional podium were Doug Heredos and Robert Kassel, who pulled off a last-stage pass to grab second in their M3, and Ryan Haines and Rebecca Ruston, who rounded out the Teutonic sweep with their 323i.
The O4WD class saw a rotating cast of leaders throughout Day One. Steven Redd and Dylan Hooker set the early pace in their eye-catching N12b WRX STI replica, but their rally ended early with a retirement on SS4. That handed the lead to Aaron Lane and Serena Nelson in their Subaru SVX—only for them to suffer the same fate just one stage later. The chaos opened the door for Sean Dorrough and Andrea Lauria, who inherited the top spot and carried the class lead into Day Two.
Lane and Nelson made a strong comeback on Day Two, retaking second place after rejoining the rally. They held onto that position all the way to the finish, securing a spot on the podium alongside Dorrough and Lauria. The Copeland siblings, Kenny and Kaylee, rounded out the podium in third, capping off a thrilling O4WD battle.
Chris Miller and Crystina Coats took the L2WD class win in their Scion FR-S, fending off a strong challenge from Anthony Modugno and Tyler Hoffeditz’s Honda Prelude during the back-to-back Wildcat stages.
The win was a redemption story for Miller and Coats, who retired just two stages from the finish in their FR-S debut at Olympus last year. This time, they proved both their pace and the car’s durability on some of the roughest roads in the ARA championship.
Sharing the podium with them in second was the Lexus IS250 of Colton Edwards and Jack Ramie, while the Honda Fit of Radek Wlodarczyk and Cindi Carlson took third.
For complete results, visit https://www.americanrallyassociation.org/event-results
-Mason Runkel for the ARA
