WRC Star Latvala Wins Epic Olympus as Toyota Claims First ARA Victory
- masonrunkel
- Apr 22
- 10 min read
{Shelton, Wash., April 20, 2026} ~ Jari-Matti Latvala and Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) claimed their first American Rally Association (ARA) National Championship victory at the Kubota Olympus Rally, presented by DirtFish, held April 17–19 in the mountain forests and logging roads of the Olympic Peninsula, outside of Seattle.
The 2026 running of Olympus marked a special milestone, celebrating 40 years since the event hosted the finale of the legendary Group B Era of the World Rally Championship (WRC). To commemorate the anniversary, the rally expanded to a three-day, nearly 200-mile itinerary, the longest in ARA history, and attracted competitors from 12 different countries, including the U.S., Canada, Finland, Lithuania, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
A record 11 RC2-class entries and 17 FIA-homologated cars headlined a 98-car field that also included current and recent national champions from the United States, Canada, and Mexico, further underscoring the ARA National Championship’s continued growth on the global stage.
While all National results remain provisional due to an open protest involving car No. 199, high attrition, headline entries, tightly contested battles, and a number of surprise results combined to make the 2026 Kubota Olympus Rally one of the most epic events in recent ARA history.
Toyota Prevails in Second Entry, Block Earns First Overall Podium
Following a Friday-afternoon Parc Exposé and ceremonial start at Toyota of Olympia, four-time reigning ARA National Champions Brandon Semenuk and co-driver Keaton Williams took an immediate lead on the opening “Taylor Towne” special stage in their Steven Redd Racing Ford Fiesta Rally2. Despite entering at the last minute for a one-off appearance, the pair still managed to put 3.4 seconds between themselves and WRC star Latvala and co-driver Tuukka Shemeikka on the opening stage.
Nevertheless, Semenuk and Williams were among the first to fall victim to the infamous, car-breaking “Wildcat” stage on SS2. After leading at the first split, the majority of the 18.48-mile stage was spent nursing a worsening rear differential issue, costing the pair 40 seconds and seven positions before they ultimately retired later in the rally.
Latvala and Shemeikka capitalized immediately, taking the stage win and the overall lead, while TGR-WRT teammates Seth Quintero and Topi Luhtinen moved into second with an impressive run through the demanding stage. The performance highlighted both World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC) driver Quintero’s rapid adaptation to stage rally and the continued development of the Toyota GR Corolla Rally RC2.
While the Toyotas emerged unscathed from two passes of Wildcat, much of the RC2 field did not. Lia Block and Alex Gelsomino’s Blockhouse Racing Hyundai i20 Rally2 suffered an early puncture, losing nearly three minutes for a tire change, and Javier Olivares and KJ Miller’s Element Rallysport Ford Fiesta Rally2 also encountered issues on the opening night, forcing their retirement from Day One competition.
Britons Tom Williams and Ross Whittock maintained strong pace in the Standard Motorsports Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, but multiple delays on stage left them outside the fight they had shown potential for early on.
By the end of Friday, Latvala had opened a lead of more than two minutes over Williams, with Quintero a further 12.7 seconds back in third.
On Saturday, Quintero briefly lost his podium position on SS6 to the Limited Four-Wheel-Drive (L4WD) Subaru Motorsports USA (SMSUSA) Subaru WRX ARA25L of ARA National Championship leaders Travis Pastrana and Rhianon Gelsomino. While the Subaru continued to show strong pace against the Rally2 field, its charge ended abruptly on the following stage with a soft roll that dropped the pair out of contention and promoted Quintero back to third.
Sunday began with the top three largely settled in position until SS16, when Williams and Whittock rolled out of contention. The incident elevated Quintero to second overall and moved Block onto the podium after a strong recovery—13th all the way to third—from her early setback.
Latvala capped off the weekend with a Power Stage victory to secure his first ARA win by seven minutes over teammate Quintero.
“These are fantastic roads,” Latvala said. “I’m really glad to experience something new that I haven’t done before. To win here is something special, especially knowing the history of Olympus Rally and its connection with Finnish drivers. Forty years ago Markku Alén won this event, and to now be part of that history with Toyota makes it a very proud moment for me.”
While overshadowed by his team principal’s victory, Quintero’s improvement from his debut at 100 Acre Wood was undeniable. From surviving some of the championship’s most feared stages to finishing just 2.6 seconds off Latvala on the ARA Power Stage, the newcomer is already showing signs of being a future title contender.
“First podium in ARA, and I haven’t popped a champagne bottle in a while, so that was pretty cool,” Quintero said. “It’s awesome to get a result back at home and have some fun with the team—the guys crushed it all week. It’s definitely different with the pace notes and the shorter stages compared to what I’m used to [in W2RC], but I think we’re learning quickly. I couldn’t be more excited for what’s coming next.”
Block’s podium was equally significant, marking her first overall ARA National podium and moving her into third in the championship standings.
“To get my first podium feels really good, especially considering we were 13th after the puncture early on,” Block said. “To come back to third shows how important it is to just stay consistent and keep it on the road in a long rally like this.
“We kept telling each other to stay smooth and not over-push, and it really paid off. We scored a lot of good points this weekend, which is important looking ahead to the rest of the season.
“It’s all about building confidence now. This car is still a big step up for me, so it’s just about getting more comfortable and continuing to improve.”
Piatkowski Regains LN4 Lead with Olympus Victory
Pastrana and Gelsomino entered Olympus as clear favorites to win the combined L4WD and Naturally Aspirated Four-Wheel-Drive (NA4WD) class, known as LN4. They held that position until their eventual rollover on SS7, closely followed by the DirtFish Women in Motorsport-backed Ford Fiesta Rally3 of Irish driver Aoife Raftery and her co-driver Hannah McKillop.
The Fiesta crew was, however, unable to capitalize on the Subaru’s retirement, becoming beached at a delta on the same stage. Impressively, both teams returned to competition the following day. Pastrana, despite the rollover, would recover sufficiently to claim a class podium, while Raftery finished a solid fifth in class.
The double retirement on Day Two of the rally promoted the NA4WD Steven Redd Racing H6-powered 2011 Subaru Impreza of Mark Piatkowski and Sara Nonack into the lead, bringing their battle with multi-time ARA West Regional overall champions Andy Miller and Shaun Tracy in their EZ30-powered 2005 Subaru WRX STI to the forefront.
The gap between the two crews hovered between eight and 10 seconds, with Piatkowski narrowly holding the advantage as the rally entered its final stages. The fight continued until the penultimate stage, when Miller retired just one stage short of what would have been his first ARA National podium.
Miller’s retirement promoted Cameron Gholson and Andrea Lauria’s L4WD 2012 Subaru WRX into second, while Pastrana and Gelsomino recovered to an impressive third in class after their crew repaired the rolled Subaru overnight.
“It was three grueling long days, but we came first in class and seventh overall,” Piatkowski said. “Honestly, that's the maximum that we could have ever hoped for in this car, so I'm honestly so happy. The Steven Redd Racing guys really, really deserve this, so I brought it back home for them.”
Piatkowski’s victory regained the LN4 championship lead and moved him into second in the overall championship standings.
The LN4 podium also accounted for two of the three recipients of the Subaru For the Love of Rally Award, which provides cash prizes to the top three non-factory Subaru teams among National entries.
Piatkowski earned the $500 second-place prize, while Gholson received $250 for third. The $1,000 top prize went to Lithuanian rallyists Martynas Samsonas and Ugnius Vainevicius, who debuted their Open Four-Wheel-Drive (O4WD) 2007 Subaru STI to a fifth-place overall finish.
Tung Takes O2WD After High-Attrition Battle
One of the most chaotic battles of the rally came in the Open Two-Wheel-Drive (O2WD) class, which featured everything from turbocharged Subaru BRZs to full-size sedans and nimble Rally4 machinery, all competing for the same trophy.
Series regular Matthew Nykanen and co-driver William Ross in their BMW 328i, along with Michael Hooper and co-driver Michael Farrow in the River City Rally Lexus IS350, set the early pace. By the end of Friday, Nykanen held a 16.7-second lead over Hooper after prevailing in a tight fight at the front of the field.
The battle came to an abrupt end on Saturday’s opening stage when a fire at the rear of Nykanen’s BMW forced the crew to stop, extinguish the flames, and retire. Although the car was repaired overnight and returned to the stages the following day, mechanical problems on Sunday forced a permanent retirement.
Hooper inherited the lead, with William Tung and Michael Szewczyk moving into second in their Argonaut Motor Club Peugeot 208 Rally4, while Alexander Liversidge and Tiago Lourenço moved into third in their MazdaSpeed3.
Tung moved into the lead on SS9 when Hooper rolled the Lexus onto its side on the final stage of Saturday. Despite receiving a nominal time for one stage, Hooper’s earlier advantage allowed him to drop only to third in class before recovering to second when he returned to competition on Sunday. He held that spotthrough the finish. Tung, meanwhile, held on to secure his first O2WD class victory.
“I was pretty lucky,” Tung said. “A lot of the big names had some issues, and I just focused on keeping it clean and on the road, and it worked.
“The car was awesome—it gave me a lot of confidence right away—and the team gave me everything I needed to be competitive. I also got a lot of good advice going into the weekend, which really helped.
“It was definitely a full team effort, and I wouldn’t have been here without them.”
In Limited Two-Wheel-Drive (L2WD), long-time rallyists and area locals Mark Tabor and Kathryn Hansen took their 2018 Ford Fiesta ST to the class win after an early battle with Tabor’s son Henry and co-driver Jack Gillow-Wiles in their 2015 Fiesta ST.
While Henry and Gillow-Wiles led early, a roll on SS5 handed the lead to the elder Tabor, who maintained the position through to the finish. Ryan McGrath and Glen Ray finished second in their 2007 Lexus IS250, while Stepan and Bohdan Kravets completed the class podium in third in their 2014 Ford Fiesta ST. Despite the setback, Henry Tabor, his car repaired sufficiently to return to competition, still managed to claim the Power Stage win on Sunday.
Gierman and Team Change Motor Mid-Rally to Earn First Victory
Alongside the chaotic and historic Olympus National Rally, the Olympus Super Regional Rally gave grassroots teams from near and far a shot at the same demanding itinerary, with 57 entrants taking on 199 miles of stages, all but the ARA National Power Stage.
What was expected to be a tight, multi-class battle instead turned into a dominant performance from a first-time overall winner.
From the opening stage, Josh Gierman and Gavin Bowen put their EZ30-swapped NA4WD 2000 Subaru Impreza into the lead and never looked back. By the end of Friday, they had opened a 95-second advantage, which grew to nearly four minutes by the end of Saturday.
Saturday night, however, nearly ended their rally.
“We didn’t really sleep last night,” Gierman admitted at Parc Fermé as he celebrated with his all-volunteer Screech Owl Garage teammates. “We blew the engine on the last stage Saturday, limped it back, found another one, and swapped it overnight.
“It’s not the first time either. Last year we pulled the engine out of a daily driver to keep going, and this time, even sitting first in regional, we said we weren’t going to do that again… until everyone reminded us we were leading.”
Back on stage with a new (used) H6 installed, Gierman and Bowen returned to secure the overall victory with a five-minute margin, setting a pace that would have placed them eighth overall among National competitors had they been entered.
“This rally was brutal, every corner we’re just launching off something, but you just put the pedal back down and keep going. To come out of that with our first regional win and a top-10 overall, in a 25-year-old beater, is pretty unreal.”
For their efforts, Gierman and Bowen were awarded the Ken Block 43VER Award presented by 43i, which recognizes the team that best embodies Ken Block’s “ain’t care” attitude, press-on-regardless mindset, and commitment throughout the rally. For their Olympus performance, 43i will cover safety equipment for the pair up to $1,430.
Trenton Koury and Matt Mitchell finished second overall and in class in their NA4WD 2001 Subaru Impreza, climbing from eighth on SS1 to second on SS2 and holding the position through the remainder of the rally. Jeffery Olmstead and Ryan Ludington completed the NA4WD podium in their 2000 Subaru Impreza.
Andrew Reavis and Anthony Campbell rounded out the overall podium in their O4WD Subaru Crosstrek after a consistent and measured drive across the three days.
Just outside the overall regional podium, Julien Sebot and Steven Harrell impressed on debut in their 2021 Ford Fiesta Rally4, leading the O2WD field. A close battle with Ryan Haines and Rebecca Ruston’s 1998 BMW 323i saw the two cars just 0.4 seconds apart at the end of Saturday’ stages. Unfortunately for the BMW squad, a retirement on Sunday handed the Fiesta crew a comfortable 12-minute lead by the end of the rally.
Alexander Jardevall and Chase Melcher took second in class in their 1993 Volvo 940, while Brian Miller and Cindi Carlson completed the O2WD podium in their 1994 BMW 325i.
Fifth overall went to L4WD class winners Drew Coley and Chad Holloway, who moved into the lead by the end of Friday. Phil Clarke and John Vinti initially led and won multiple stages, but an early retirement on Friday dropped them out of contention. After fighting back through the remainder of the rally, the pair recovered to third overall in their 2003 Subaru WRX. Scott and Elizabeth Crouch finished second in the regional L4WD class in their 2002 Subaru WRX.
In the L2WD class, Lucas Chalcraft and Cody Crawford’s 2010 Volkswagen Golf were not only the fastest Regional L2WD entry, but the fastest L2WD car across all Olympus entries, completing the rally 3.2 seconds quicker than National L2WD class winner Mark Tabor. While the two results cannot be directly compared due to the Regional field not contesting the Power Stage, the performance remains a strong indicator of pace from the emerging local crew.
Jeff Castro and Ann Hansen finished second in class in their 1982 Toyota Corolla, while Sage Van Tilburg and Julia Majors rounded out the podium in their 2014 Subaru BRZ.
The next event on the ARA calendar sees the West Regional Championship head to the Oregon Trail Rally in Goldendale, Washington and Dufur, Oregon, May 16–17, which will run as an ARA Super Regional event.
Complete Kubota Olympus Rally presented by DirtFish results: https://www.americanrallyassociation.org/event-results
2026 Kubota Olympus Rally Image Gallery:
~Mason Runkel for the ARA