Choking Dust Didn’t Slow Down Sandell’s #18 Subaru WRX STI

Patrik Sandell’s main for focus for Subaru is driving the Subaru WRX STI Supercar in Rallycross, but he’s two-for-two in stage rally this season. The choking dust couldn’t stop the #18 Subaru WRX STI at Idaho Rally, but it did keep David Higgins in second place. Sandell is no stranger to stage rally as he is a former Junior World Rally Champion, and has had a long and successful history in international rally competition.

His experience showed this weekend at the 2018 Idaho Rally International as he bested his teammate David Higgins and took the victory. Sandell got out to a quick start and that left Higgins and Drew to go after him and literally eat his dust. It was so dry there was a brush fire that forced the cancellation of two of the afternoon stages on day one. When the dust settled on day one, Sandell and Almkvist held a small 8-second lead over Higgins and Drew with each team taking two stage wins.

Sandell and Almkvist were first on the road in their #18 WRX STI on day two extending their lead to over 30 seconds with the help of more dust. David Higgins spoke to Subaru Motorsports about his strategy for the rest of the event: “The first loop was exactly what we thought it was going to be. It was just very twisty and loose and the dust was really bad. We had to check up in a lot of places and we just lost too much to Patrik there.”

With a second-place finish, it was enough for Higgins to mathematically secured the 2018 American Rally Association Championship title. Both Subaru WRX STIs will be at the Tour de Forest in Olympia, Washington, October 6-7, 2018 where Sandell will try to make it three-for-three in the final rally of the season. Stay tuned.

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Photo credit: Subaru Motorsports