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Olympus Rally

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ken Block, winner of the 2012 Olympus Rally

The Olympus Rally is an event in the motorsport of rallying. While it has usually been run as a national rally, in 1986–1988, it was a round in the FIA World Rally Championship, the most recent time a WRC rally has been run in the United States and the last in North America until Rally Mexico in 2004.

TSD Rally

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The first Olympus Rally was held as a Time Speed Distance rally in 1968. It continued as a TSD rally until 1973 when SCCA started the SCCA Pro Rally Championship with the Olympus Rally as its second event.

World Rally Championship

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After being observed by the FIA for WRC status in 1985, from 1986–1988, the Olympus was a round of the World Rally Championship. From 1985–1987, the rally was sponsored by Toyota.

The 1985 Olympus “World Championship Prototype” event was won by Hannu Mikkola and Arne Hertz in a Group B Audi Quattro S1.

Markku Alen emerged on top of the results as the 1986 Olympus first gained full World Championship status, taking a Lancia Delta S4 and co-driver Ilkka Kivimäki to victory.

In 1987, the Olympus was attended by a number of top international teams, including Nissan, Toyota, and Suzuki. Juha Kankkunen won overall, as his and other Lancia Delta HF 4WD’s dominated the podium.

Massimo “Miki” Biasion won the fourth and final Olympus World Championship Rally in 1988 – his fourth of the season for Lancia, on his way to being the first Italian FIA World Rally Champion.

Winners

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Year Driver Codriver Car
1985 Finland Hannu Mikkola Sweden Arne Hertz Audi Sport Quattro S1
1986 Finland Markku Alén Finland Ilkka Kivimäki Lancia Delta S4
1987 Finland Juha Kankkunen Finland Juha Piironen Lancia Delta HF 4WD
1988 Italy Miki Biasion Italy Tiziano Siviero Lancia Delta Integrale

National Rally

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The Olympus Rally was first held as a stage rally in 1973. It was headquartered in Shelton, WA and was part of the SCCA Pro Rally Championship. It continued to be part of that championship through 1975. In 1976, it became part of the NARA (North American Rally Association) championship (which later changed its name to NARRA (North American Rally Racing Association)). It was part of that championship through 1979. In 1980, it switched back to the SCCA ProRally Championship and remained in that championship through 1987.

While the name was used for a regional rally supporting the 2001 Wild West SCCA Pro Rally, the Olympus Rally was not held from 1989 through 2005.

The Olympus Rally returned as national rally in 2006 and was part of the United States Rally Championship. In 2007, it switched to the Rally America National Championship and was part of that championship through 2012. After a dispute with Rally America, the rally was cancelled in 2013. It was originally scheduled to return as a NASA Rally Sport National qualifier round in 2014, however the issues with Rally America were resolved and the rally ran as a Rally America regional that year. In 2015, it returned to the Rally America National Championship. In 2017 it became sanctioned by the American Rally Association and has been a round in the ARA National Championship since then.

Winners

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Year Driver Codriver Car Rally HQ
1973 United States Gene Henderson United States Ken Pogue AMC Jeep Shelton, WA
1974 United States Gene Henderson United States Ken Pogue AMC Jeep Shelton, WA
1975 United States John Buffum United States Vicki Dykema Ford Escort Tumwater, WA
1976 United States John Buffum United States Vicki Dykema Porsche Carrera Olympia, WA
1977 United States Ron Richardson United States Ray Hocker Plymouth Arrow Tacoma, WA
1978 United States John Buffum United States Doug Shepherd Triumph TR7 Olympia, WA
1979 United States Hendrik Blok United States Damon Trimble Plymouth Arrow Olympia, WA
1980 New Zealand Rod Millen United States Dave Weiman Mazda RX-7 Tumwater, WA
1981 New Zealand Rod Millen United States Bob Kraushaar Mazda RX-7 Olympia, WA
1982 United States John Buffum United States Doug Shepherd Audi Quattro Tumwater, WA
1983 New Zealand Rod Millen United States R. Dale Kraushaar Mazda RX-7 Tumwater, WA
1984 New Zealand Rod Millen United States R. Dale Kraushaar Mazda RX-7 Tumwater, WA
2006 United States Wyeth Gubelmann United States Cindy Krolikowski Subaru Impreza WRX STI Shelton, WA
2007 United States Ramana Lagemann United States Mark Williams Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Shelton, WA
2008 United States Ken Block Italy Alessandro Gelsomino Subaru Impreza WRX STI Pomeroy, WA
2009 United States Travis Pastrana United States Christian Edstrom Subaru Impreza WRX STI Aberdeen, WA
2010 United States Travis Pastrana United States Christian Edstrom Subaru Impreza WRX STI Ocean Shores, WA
2011 United Kingdom David Higgins United Kingdom Craig Drew Subaru Impreza WRX STI Ocean Shores, WA
2012 United States Ken Block Italy Alessandro Gelsomino Ford Fiesta Olympia, WA
2014 Canada Hardy Schmidtke Canada Chris Kremer Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Shelton, WA
2015 United Kingdom David Higgins United Kingdom Craig Drew Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
2016 United Kingdom David Higgins United Kingdom Craig Drew Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
2017 United Kingdom David Higgins United Kingdom Craig Drew Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
2018 Sweden Patrik Sandell Sweden Per Almkvist Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
2019 Sweden Oliver Solberg France Denis Giraudet Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
2020 Republic of Ireland Barry McKenna Republic of Ireland Leon Jordan Škoda Fabia Shelton, WA
2021 United States Travis Pastrana Australia Rhianon Gelsomino Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
2022 Canada Brandon Semenuk United Kingdom Keaton Williams Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
2023 Canada Brandon Semenuk United Kingdom Keaton Williams Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
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