17. The 23rd running of the Subaru Rim of the World Rally is now history, and world extreme motocross champion Travis Pastrana, from Davidsonville, Maryland and WRC co-driver Jakke Honkanen, have won his professional gravel auto rally by scoring a one minute, 18-second win in his Vermont Sports Car Subaru WRX STi. Subaru teammate Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino finished second, and Mitsubishi driver George Plsek and co-driver Jeff Burmeister were third.

Pastrana said that it was co-driver Honkanen who was the key to his victory, which relieves the frustration of five second-place rally finishes over the last two years.

“Jakke’s experience pushed me to go faster when it was appropriate, yet help pace me when we had a good lead so I maintained my speed without hurting the car. It feels great to win – finishing second all those times just doesn’t do it,” said Pastrana.

Pastrana said that his lead over Block grew as day turned into evening as he drives better at night that Ken does, and Block’s flat tire during the morning stages also set him back.

For Burlington, Vermont’s Lance Smith, Pastrana and Block’s team owner, it was also a first as Vermont Sports Car had never finished first and second in cars they had built themselves, so it was a special night for the team as well.

“When we prepared Mitsubishi’s factory rally cars, we had one-two finishes, but never in our own cars,” said Smith, who started Vermont Sports Car in 1991.

18. In the classes, Dennis Chizma/Andrew Cushman won the Super Stock class in a Porsche 964 Carrera 4 while finishing sixth overall, while Bruce Davis/Jimmy Brandt won the Open 2wd class in their
Dodge Neon SRT-4. Cem Akdeniz/Mustafa Samli won the Group N class in a Subaru Impreza STi.

19. In Saturday’s CRS event, Leon Styles/Mark McAllister took the overall win in their Mitsubishi Evo, while Dennis Chizma/Andrew Cushman won CRS GT in their Porsche and Larry Gross/Doug Young were victorious in CRS-2. Jim Keeney/Brian Moody won CRS-5 in their Honda Civic, and Sarkis Mazmanian/M. Mazmanian took Performance Stock in their Acura Integra.

20. Complete results are available on www.rimoftheworldrally.com.

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