Quintero Wins ARA Title by 2 Points After Block's Last-Corner Double Puncture
Seth Quintero was 17 points down going into the finale and still took the 2026 ARA crown. Lia Block's double puncture on the Power Stage decided it, though results are provisional.
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Two points. That's the margin Seth Quintero used to take the 2026 American Rally Association National Championship, and the swing came in the final corners of the final stage of the season.
The finale was Lake Superior Performance Rally in Marquette, Michigan, on October 9 and 10. Quintero arrived 17 points behind Lia Block, in his first season of American stage rally. He left with the title.
How the Power Stage math played out
After a 12-point discard (a rule that drops a competitor's worst scores), Block led by two points heading into the Power Stage. That's the bonus-point stage that closes the rally. Quintero needed to outscore her by at least three.
Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino, in a Hyundai i20 N Rally2, had been running third on most stages. Then came a double puncture in the last corners of the Power Stage. That dropped her to 14th on the stage and out of the bonus points. Quintero was second on the stage, which earned him four bonus points to her zero. Two-point lead, four-point swing, two-point title.
Quintero and co-driver James Morgan finished second overall in a Toyota GR Corolla Rally RC2. Per the report, his season with Toyota's first American rally program brought three podiums and two overall wins.
Martell takes the rally win
The overall win went to Conner Martell and co-driver Ross Whittock in the Subaru Motorsports USA WRX ARA25. They were filling in for the injured Travis Pastrana. Martell won all 10 Friday stages and every Saturday stage except SS11, Mt. Marquette, which Quintero took. He held a gap of more than a minute after Friday.
It was his first win since a mechanical failure while leading Overmountain Rally Tennessee last month. The event drew 83 cars to Michigan's Upper Peninsula for 16 stages and 123.80 miles.
The rest of the podium-adjacent stories
- Aoife Raftery and co-driver Hannah McKillop finished fifth overall, clinched the LN4 title after overcoming a 15-point deficit, and also took the Pirelli Privateer Cup.
- Danny Shalev won O2WD and took the lead in the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup North America.
- Nick Pysklyvets was named Ken Block ARA Rookie of the Year.
Block, for context, won August's Ojibwe Forests Rally, the first outright win by a woman in an American national championship rally. That's a season worth remembering, even with a tire-shaped hole in the ending.
Elsewhere, the Central Regional Championship continues to a November finale at Show-Me Rally.
What it means for you
The result shows a Toyota GR Corolla Rally RC2 taking the national title in its first American season, against a Hyundai i20 N Rally2 and a Subaru WRX ARA25. If you follow the series or plan to enter, note that the Power Stage bonus points and the discard rule decided this championship. Those are worth reading up on before you plan a season.
Results are provisional pending a protest, so check the ARA's final standings before treating the outcome as official.
Rally is long, and sometimes the whole season comes down to the last few corners.
Sources: utvunderground.com, americanrallyassociation.org. Photo by Cemrecan Yurtman on Unsplash.
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