L’Estage ends Pastrana’s Rally America title run

20th July 2010

By Richard Rodgers

Travis Pastrana’s reign as Rally America National champion is officially over after Antoine L’Estage ended the Subaru driver’s sequence of four-straight title triumphs by winning last weekend’s New England Forest Rally, the sixth and final round of this year’s series.

Pastrana was always up against it in his efforts to win the championship for a fifth time after being forced to miss two rounds due to a clashing freestyle motocross event in Australia. However, he was set to bow out as champion with victory on the gravel event, only to retire on the penultimate stage with engine failure.

“The win was nearly in sight when our engine began to hit trouble, but that’s rallying,” said Pastrana. “I’m so happy for Antoine and [his co-driver] Nathalie [Richard], they are probably the most friendly team in the series, and I really enjoy competing against them.  They had a great year and deserve to be the champs.”

Multiple Canadian champion L’Estage only needed a fifth-place finish to secure the title in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. Although a turbo problem dropped him from second to fifth, he fought back up to second and inherited the victory when Pastrana hit trouble.

L’Estage’s main title rival, Bill Bacon, lost five minutes with a puncture. Ken Block had led the event in his Monster World Rally Team-run Ford Fiesta only to crash out on the fourth stage.

“It has been a hard road getting here,” said L’Estage. “We only planned to run four events in America this year, but when we found ourselves in contention for a title after the Olympus Rally we mustered up more funds. I am very thankful for my team and the incredible work they put in, especially our team manager John Buffum.”

Former driver Buffum had previously overseen Pastrana’s transition to rallying from motocross in 2005. Pastrana and L’Estage will both be in action in the Rally Car Racing section of ESPN’s Summer X Games 16 on July 31.