Well, here we are at the beginning of the new season and we already have the Sno*Drift Rally behind us. Even though I tried very hard to blog during the rally from Lewiston and Atlanta, it wasn’t that easy to do. Simply because of lack of sleep we've been suffering starting right on the trip up to Michigan.

But let’s begin with my new driver for this year. At the beginning of January, when I almost said to myself “maybe it’s time for a break”, I received a call from my long time friend Evan Cline… We did come to an agreement quite quickly and we are set for the full 2011 Rally America National Championship. I have to say that being back in the car for the first time since NEFR 2010, was great!

Weather in the North East this year has been quite difficult to deal with, especially if you plan on traveling. New York state as you all know has been hit with several snow storms and just outside my house (an hour North of NYC) I have some snow banks up to 4ft high. It couldn't be different the day I flew to Cline Racing Sports HQ in Detroit, MI (just outside, I should say). After spending over 8 hours at the airport in NY and getting the bags on the next plane, we finally got to the rally area by 3am on the day of recce. You know already that this is not going to go well :)

Comparing to other years at Sno*Drift (this was my 6th time there, 5th time competing) the roads had more grip than any other year, but snow banks were definitely a lot smaller. On the stages ran twice (both ways) on the way back braking points became very slick. We were doing very well. Spent Friday on getting everything set up in the car between us on the right page (we unfortunately missed the practice stage) and drove faster and faster by the stage, getting the 6th overall time on SS11.

On SS13 though, at one of the breaking points on the downhill section, Evan tried to grab a snow bank to slow down the car, but snow bank got him and we spun out. Our Subaru did not want to drive anymore. It kept coughing and puffing and it finally stopped less than a mile from the end of 15 miles stage. Because of the force of the impact, snow got into the airbox and clogged the filter. It took us over 13 minutes to clean it out and get the car in usable condition again. We got it to the service and came out of there on the mission, to get some of the time that we lost back. Actually the mission was to catch Garry Gil, who was sitting 5th in SP. We were 1 min and 40 seconds down, we came 18 seconds short… SS17 though was one of the best Evan drove setting again 6th time OA and 3nd in SP on the stage.

Lots of experience and good set up for the beginning of the season. Lost podium in SP hurts, but I know that we are capable to hang with the big boys.

We would like to thank our sponsors for getting us there this year: Exedy, Disc Brakes Australia, Ksport, Innovate Motorsports, Recaro, K&N, Hawk, JE Pistons, Magnus Motorsports and Mobsteel.

‎Thank you and see you all at 100 Acre Wood Rally, hopefully with a daily blog this time!