NEWRY, Maine — David Higgins faced down a stacked field of top competitors to win the New England Forest Rally over the weekend ahead of challenger Ken Block while, in an incredible comeback, Travis Pastrana edged onto the third spot on the podium after a Day 1 electrical failure that many thought spelled the end of his race.
“We came back for the Super Rally with a never-say-die attitude,” Pastrana in a news release. “We always try to win. Everybody here shows up to win, and we believe we can. But I tell you what: David is on fire. His speed, his times, his lack of mistakes… It’s pretty amazing. It’s tough to catch that 75.”
The 25th anniversary running of the New England Forest Rally was the sixth of eight rounds in the 2015 Rally America National Championship. The event featured 100-plus stage miles over two days of competition, including a return to the smooth and twisty stages first used in 2014.
Higgins said he and co-driver Craig Drew took a disciplined approach to the race and secured the win by avoiding distraction from star competitors and championship repercussions. The strategy worked. With a consistent drive, they brought their Subaru STI home to a drama-free win to mathematically secure the 2015 championship title for Subaru Rally Team USA.
“This rally was the big one and we weren’t focused on everyone else who was here or championships or anything else,” Higgins said. “It was a pure speed rally. We’re happy to come out on top, and we’ll look forward to the next two.”
Block and Gelsomino had started the weekend as favorites to break the Subaru stranglehold on the championship, but the Gymkhana star was off the pace early on Day 1 and reported that his car felt down on power. Then, on Day 2, while pushing hard to make up time, he slid off the road. The soft crash cost him two minutes and a shot at the win. He had to settle for second.
“It was a crazy day today and kind of a crazy weekend,” Block said. “We came out, had a lot of fun, and it was really great to see all the fans. We really would have loved to battle for the win.”
But the comeback story was Pastrana. He and co-driver Chrissie Beavis made their way back to the podium after starting the day as a distant 15th due to an electrical failure Friday that left them parked by the side of the road. They returned to competition on Day 2 as Super Rally competitors, taking huge penalties under the rally restart rule, and immediately began clawing back time.
On Saturday, Pastrana never finished a stage lower than fourth to make up for the 28-minute Super Rally penalty and finish the race in third place overall.
This was the first rally of the season for Pastrana, who has been absent from the series this year while on the road with the Nitro Circus Live tour. He is expected to return to the series August 27-28 for the Ojibwe Forests Rally.
Lauchlin O’Sullivan and co-driver Scott Putnam finished fourth overall to take the Super Production class, while Australian Brendan Reeves and co-driver Anthony McLoughlin charged hard in the new spec Ford Fiesta R2 to win the 2WD category and claim sixth-place overall.
James Robinson and co-driver Brian Penza took the B-Spec victory in their Honda Fit.
Attrition was high, with an unusual number of competitors accumulating Super Rally restart penalties after a dusty Friday. The trouble continued Saturday when conditions became slick due to overnight rain on the stage roads that straddled the Maine-New Hampshire border, near the town of Errol. More than a third of the national competitors didn’t finish.