WRC champ Tänak wins American rally debut in Tennessee

2019 FIA World Rally Champion Ott Tänak enjoyed a triumphant American Rally debut at Overmountain Rally Tennessee September 18-19. The 38-year-old Estonian star and co-driver Martin Järveoja bested a packed field of international rally champions to give TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) its fourth victory of the 2026 American Rally Association (ARA) National Championship.

Meanwhile, 2026 ARA National Championship leader Lia Block, who scored her first overall ARA rally win last month at the Ojibwe Forests Rally — becoming the first woman in history to win a U.S. national rally overall — finished fourth at Overmountain. While Block’s lead over Toyota’s Seth Quintero was trimmed to 17 points, the 19-year-old daughter of rally legend Ken Block is poised to become the first ever female champion of American Rally if she can score at least 11 points at next month’s season-ending Lake Superior Performance Rally (LSPR) in Marquette, Michigan.

Tänak Takes Victory as Championship Battle Rages Behind

Competing against a field that included four-time ARA National Champion Brandon Semenuk, 2026 championship leader Block, multi-time Mexican and reigning Canadian champion Ricardo Cordero, and his own TGR-WRT teammate Quintero, Tänak prevailed not only against series regulars, but a collection of international and one-off competitors who made the trip to Tennessee to measure themselves against the World Champion.

Canadian Semenuk and British co-driver Keaton Williams managed to win two of the 13 scheduled high-speed Special Stages, but by the time the event — which was shortened to 12 Special Stages due to severe weather in the area — finished, Tänak was able to take the win by a margin of 1m4.3s over Semenuk.

Standing in for injured ARA regular and extreme sports superstar Travis Pastrana, 2025 Overmountain winner Conner Martell returned to ARA competition for the first time this year behind the wheel of the Open Four-Wheel-Drive (O4WD) Subaru Motorsports USA (SMSUSA) WRX ARA25. After climbing to second place by the end of Day One, however, Martell was taken out of contention by a damaged brake line.

Tänak’s TGR-WRT teammate Quintero, looking to make up ground on Block in the ARA championship chase, held on to take third overall and three ARA Power Stage bonus points. Following an early spin, Block recovered but suffered a puncture and had to settle for fourth and one Power Stage bonus point.

ARA’s championship formula includes each driver’s best six scores from the eight-round season and all of their accumulated Power Stage points from the year. Currently second, Toyota driver Quintero could still take the championship by winning all 27 points (22 for the win and five Power Stage bonus points) on offer at the season-ending LSPR. But that scenario would also require Block to score 10 or fewer points on the weekend. If she earns 11 points or more, the title will be hers — and it would mark the first time in American Rally history for a woman to earn the title of overall ARA National Champion.

Shalev and Tabor Claim Class Titles as LN4 Comes Down to the Wire

Danny Shalev clinched the ARA Open Two-Wheel-Drive (O2WD) class title at Overmountain, parlaying two consecutive wins to sew up one of the most hotly contested class battles in ARA competition. But the young Californian’s season is far from finished. Entering Tennessee tied for the lead in the Stellantis Rally Cup North America — a new single-make championship reserved for Peugeot 208 Rally4 competitors across selected ARA and Canadian Rally Championship (CRC) events — Shalev has two double-points-paying rallies yet to run. His total haul from the ARA finale at LSPR in Michigan and the CRC finale at Rallye de Charlevoix in Canada will decide the Stellantis Cup.

In addition, Henry Tabor wrapped up his first-ever ARA National Championship title one round early at Overmountain, taking the class victory and 2026 championship for the Limited Two-Wheel-Drive (L2WD) class.

For her part, Henry’s sister Madelyn celebrated her 24th birthday at Overmountain with a victory in the LN4 class — which combines Limited Four-Wheel-Drive (L4WD) and Naturally Aspirated Four-Wheel-Drive (NA4WD) machinery. With the win, she takes over the championship lead heading into the last round of the season.

Click here to see the full results from the event.