The Sno*Drift Rally is the first of the season, and also the only race on the Rally America Championship Series that takes place in full winter conditions. The town of Atlanta in the north-east corner of Michigan can be a brutal place to be in the month of January, but nonetheless, this race is always a crowd favorite. Studded snow tires are restricted for rally cars; this means that the extreme winter conditions leave no room for driver error. Be sure to bring your snowshoes and snowmobiles, but whatever you do, don't miss this rally!
Approximate Schedule / Subject to change
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
8:00am – 5:00pm Testing
Thursday, January 26, 2012
7:30am – 5:45pm Reconnaissance
Friday, January 27, 2012
8:30am – 10:30am Practice Stage
1:00pm
– 3:00pm Parc Expose, Kneeland Street, Lewiston, Michigan
2:30pm - 10:00pm Day 1 Stages
Saturday, January
28, 2012
9:00am – 10:00am Parc Expose / Autograph Session, Atlanta Chamber of Commerce (Downtown Atlanta)
10:00am - 6:30pm Day 2 Stages, Finish at Hillman Community Center, Hillman, Michigan
Please visit event website for detailed schedule. http://www.sno-drift.org/
In less than a week, a fierce competition will kick off in Missouri's Ozark Mountains. The Rally in the 100 Acre Wood gets underway at 1:30PM, Friday February 24th after the Parc Expose in Steelville, Missouri. Subaru Rally Team USA and Vermont SportsCar have just finalized event preparations and confirmed the #75 Subaru WRX STI is ready for action. After an extremely slippery Sno*Drift event last month, the hungry rally machine is craving fast gravel roads! David Higgins and Craig Drew are determined to break the 5-year winning streak held by former SRT USA driver Ken Block and are confident the 2012 Subaru WRX STI is the car to do it. Check back next week for race updates and photos.
Subaru Rally Team USA's David Higgins and Craig Drew dominated at the 2012 Sno*Drift Rally in Atlanta, Michigan. Driving a 2012 Subaru WRX STI, the duo took the lead early on and never looked back winning the event by nearly two minutes. "The completely unpredictable surface conditions and our lack of experience in winter rallying made for a huge challenge," said Higgins after the race, "but I feel, after this, we've proved ourselves in the snow." This decisive win has given SRT USA the initial points lead in the 2012 Rally America National Championship.
Subaru Rally Team USA's David Higgins and Craig Drew have won Sno*Drift, the first round of the 2012 Rally America National Championship. Though their 2012 Subaru WRX STI performed flawlessly and they walked away with a massive lead of 1 minute 48 seconds, the victory was not won without a fight. Although Friday's conditions were somewhat disappointing for a winter rally, Sno*Drift earned its moniker with a substantial dumping of powder early Saturday morning. "The completely unpredictable surface conditions and our lack of experience in winter rallying made for a huge challenge," said Higgins after the race, "but I feel, after this, we've proved ourselves in the snow."
Subaru Rally Team USA's David Higgins and Craig Drew are off to a phenomenal start in their 2012 Subaru WRX STI at the Sno*Drift Rally. Unseasonably warm daytime temperatures exacerbated the difficulty imposed by the already icy roads. Sand and slush on top of ice forced teams to take a cautious approach or risk damage in the unforgiving road edges, which are lacking their usual snowy cushion. After the first leg of five stages, SRT USA #75 had an early 1 minute and 47 second lead over rivals Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard.
Subaru Rally Team USA's David Higgins and Craig Drew are eager to defend their Rally America National Championship title in SRT USA #75. With two days of winter testing completed, the 2012 Subaru WRX STI is ready to take on the winter roads of Michigan at the Sno*Drift Rally. This will perhaps be the most challenging event of the season, as significant rainfall in the past week has formed up to an inch of hard, clear ice on many of the stage roads.
David Higgins to defend Rally America Crown with Subaru Rally Team USA in 2012 Championship
By: Subaru - January 18, 2012
Subaru of America, Inc. Subaru Rally Team USA (SRT USA) announced today that David Higgins, the 2011 Rally America National Champion will continue as factory driver for the team in 2012 in a bid to defend his title. Higgins and SRT USA begin the 2012 Rally America National Championship at the season opener Sno*Drift Rally in northern Michigan, Jan. 27 and 28 against a stacked field of over 70 entries. Co-driver Craig Drew will once again join Higgins; the duo will pilot a Vermont SportsCar-prepared 2012 Subaru WRX STI in all six rounds of the 2012 Rally America National Championship.
Dave Mirra Stages Comeback to Finish 2nd Overall at Season Opener Sno*Drift Rally
Subaru Rally
Team USA driver Dave Mirra achieved a rally career best 2nd Overall finish at the season opening Sno*Drift Rally via
a comeback late in the rally. Mirra, at the wheel of his 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car, patiently moved up
the leaderboard after a tire puncture early in the rally dropped him down to 5th Overall.
Subaru Rally Team USA's Dave Mirra and Marshall Clarke have started off the 2011 Rally America National Championship season with an outstanding second-place podium finish.
After a puncture last night dropped them to fifth place, Dave and Marshall ran an exceptionally clean rally and worked their way up the ranks. It was a close race to the finish for SRT USA #40 as they entered the final two stages in third place, a mere 1.8 seconds behind their closest challenger. By employing a cautious approach to the final stages, Dave and Marshall fended off the elements and bested their rival to emerge one step up the podium.
As the temperatures lingered below freezing in Lewiston, Michigan, portly snowflakes fell lazily from the sky. Several minutes before three o'clock, rally cars began their screaming launch from the start of Stage 1. Within the first three stages, the first car on the road had overshot a turn and become entrenched in loose snow. Subaru Rally Team USA's David Higgins and Craig Drew, who were a mere 19 seconds behind in car #75, now had a two minute advantage over their closest competitor. This sizable lead grew as the racing continued into the night.
Subaru Rally Team USA (SRT USA) returns to the 2011 Rally America National Championship at the season opener Sno*Drift Rally in northern Michigan. The team conducted a successful pre-event test earlier in Michigan ahead of the event with team drivers David Higgins and Dave Mirra.
The 2011 Sno*Drift Rally marks the first event in which David Higgins and Dave Mirra will be competing together for Subaru Rally Team USA. Beautiful wintery conditions set the scene for the first race of this year's Rally America National Championship. Light snow is in the forecast and surface conditions are already very different from last year's treacherously icy roads. Speeds should be significantly higher this year as the hard-packed snow offers lots of grip, especially with gravel showing through in some spots.
Subaru Driver Travis Pastrana Skates to Victory at the Sno*Drift Rally
By: Subaru - January 30, 2010
Subaru Rally Team USA driver Travis Pastrana and his co-driver Christian Edstrom overcame treacherous icy conditions to take a dominating win at this weekend's Sno*Drift Rally, round one of the 2010 Rally America National Championship. Pastrana, the defending four-time Rally America National Champion, won by over one minute and thirty seconds driving an Open Class rally specification 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. In an amazing show of determination and grit, Pastrana completed the event nursing an extremely sore collarbone, which he broke in a motocross accident less than a week ago. His Subaru Rally Team USA teammate, BMX legend-turned-rally pro Dave Mirra, finished 6th overall with co-driver Derek Ringer...
Subaru Rally Team USA announced today that reigning four-time Rally America National Champion Travis Pastrana and BMX Freestyle legend Dave Mirra will both return as factory team drivers. Subaru Rally Team USA will contest the entire 2010 Rally America National Championship, ESPN's X Games 16 Rally Car Racing event as well as participate in Rally America's new and highly anticipated European-style rally cross exhibition events. Pastrana and Mirra will each pilot a 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car prepared by Subaru technical partner Vermont SportsCar.
Subaru Rally Team USA Driver Travis Pastrana Wins Season Opener SnoDrift Rally
By: Subaru - January 31, 2009
Subaru Rally Team USA driver Travis Pastrana has earned a decisive victory at Michigan's Sno*Drift Rally, round one of the 2009 Rally America National Championship, at the wheel of his 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Pastrana, the three-time defending Rally America National Champion, controlled the rally from start to finish, winning eleven of the twenty competitive stages on his way to a margin of victory of nearly two minutes. Pastrana's Subaru teammate Ken Block was forced to retire after a spin damaged the engine on his Subaru early on day one. Meanwhile, new Subaru Rally Team USA signee BMX legend Dave Mirra drove a clean rally to finish 6th Overall, his best ever Rally America result to date...
Dave Mirra Earns First Rally Win, Will Join Subaru Rally Team USA as 3rd Driver in 2009
By: Subaru - January 27, 2009
After having competed in only a handful of rally events, BMX legend Dave Mirra has won his first rally race, the 2009 Team O'Neil Rally, at the wheel of his 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car. Mirra dominated the New Hampshire-based snow rally by setting fastest time on all but one of the event's eight stages and finishing with a lead of fifty seconds. The wins comes just over one year after Mirra began his burgeoning rally career that has since seen him be named the 2008 Rally America Rookie of the Year as well as earn a Bronze medal at last summer's X Games 14 Rally Car Racing event.
