Rangely, CO — Subaru Motorsports USA’s Travis Pastrana and Rhianon Gelsomino showed front-running pace in the LN4 class at Rally Colorado, July 18–19, but a fuel-delivery issue on Saturday and late punctures on Sunday kept the No. 199 Subaru WRX ARA25L from converting that speed into the result the team was targeting.

Rally Colorado joined the American Rally Association (ARA) National Championship calendar for the first time in 2026 as the fifth round of the eight-event season, bringing competitors to the high-desert roads outside Rangely, Colorado. Pastrana and Gelsomino entered with valuable prior experience on the stages, having earned a class victory there in 2025 when the rally ran as a Super Regional event.

The Subaru crew started strong, building a class lead of more than a minute and a half after the opening three stages despite a fuel-delivery issue that began on SS2. The problem persisted through Saturday’s opening loop and ultimately prevented the team from reaching the first stage of the second loop, forcing the team to retire from the day’s competition as the Subaru Motorsports USA crew set to work preparing the car to rejoin on Sunday.

Heavy rain late Saturday, with cars still on stage, led to the cancellation of SS8 and SS11 on Sunday after the road became impassable. When Pastrana and Gelsomino returned to action, the No. 199 showed class-leading pace, turning in times that contended with the front of the overall field. The comeback was interrupted late in the rally, however, by punctures on SS12 and SS13, the rally-ending Power Stage, costing the team a chance at additional Power Stage points.

“This was probably the toughest rally I’ve been a part of in a very long time,” Pastrana said. “It was extremely disappointing. We had some fuel issues yesterday, but the crew worked all night, switched everything out, and the car was running really well today. We were trying to get back out, finish the rally, and fight for Power Stage points, but we picked up a flat on the next-to-last stage and then another one halfway through the Power Stage. We had about four miles to go and tried to limp it in, but that was the end of our chance at points. It’s frustrating, but that’s rally, and we’ll move on to the next one.”

“It definitely wasn’t the rally we wanted,” Gelsomino said. “We didn’t crash, but we had a lot of issues, and to have two punctures in the final two stages was really unfortunate. On the first one, we had to stop on stage and change it, and on the Power Stage we drove around four and a half miles with a flat. We were here today to try to get Power Stage points, and unfortunately we didn’t come away with any. There were rocks everywhere, and that’s part of rally sometimes.”

Subaru Motorsports USA now turns its focus to the Ojibwe Forests Rally, August 27–29, in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, where Pastrana and Gelsomino will look to rebound on one of their favorite events of the ARA season.

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