The 26-year-old from Littleton, NH flawlessly campaigned a 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI with his father Terry as co-driver to a remarkable third place finish in the overall Rally America National Championship – a feat never accomplished before by a Production driver.

Hanson began making history and headlines at the opening round of the 2011 season when he became the first Super Production driver to ever claim an outright win in the National Series, defeating the factory-backed Subaru team, the privateer Rockstar Rally team, and a slew of fast Open Class cars at the Sno*Drift Rally. The under-sponsored crew of Hanson and Hanson immediately captured the hearts of fans and gained significant attention from the media with their story of underdog triumph. Hanson went on to control the points lead of the overall Championship well into the fourth round of the six-round Series, another first for a Super Production team, and clinched the SP Class Title by the fifth round.

Hanson capped off a perfect year standing third on the overall podium at the New England Forest Rally (NEFR), the sixth and final round of the Championship. Maine’s rough and rugged logging roads nearly put the privateer out of the event when he faced mechanical issues on the second day of the rally. Hanson battled Tom Lawless, a quick Open Class driver, throughout the race. He explained, “we had a lead of about one minute at the start of the second day, but with the troubles we had he [Lawless] steadily gained time. We pushed the car as hard as possible to the edge of overheating and in the end were able to beat him to the podium by only 7 seconds!”

Although their Subaru suffered overheating issues and a cracked oil pan at the final race, the Hansons managed to finish the rally at the top. “It was great to see the team pull together and get the car back on the road. I am so lucky to have such a skilled crew…without them my success wouldn’t have been possible,” he said.

Hanson displayed dynamic driving abilities he has developed over the span of his young career by consistently finishing in the top five overall on each event of the 2011 Series. J.B. Niday, director of the RallyCar Rally America Championship, recognized the progress Hanson has made in his five years of driving at the National level. Niday congratulated Travis and Terry for their outstanding season by saying, “Travis has shown us his speed in the past, but this year he was consistently fast and drove six clean rallies. He certainly took his game to another level this season.”

Hanson’s high level of success is not easily achieved by privateers in this sport. Hanson said, “we have run season-long with a tiny budget, which we made work with help and support from our sponsors, friends and family.” T. Hanson Motorsport is backed by Team O’Neil Rally School, Olson’s Auto Body, Exedy, Broken Motorsports and Dick Hannah Subaru.

Photo Credits:
Image 1- Mat Janiak – worldrallysport.com
Image 2- Pete Kuncis – onalimbracing.com
Image 3- Pete Kuncis – onalimbracing.com

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Travis from Littleton, NH and his father/co-driver Terry from Williamsburg, MI stunned themselves and the the Rally America community with a win in the season opener at January’s Sno*Drift Rally in Michigan. It was a U.S. rally first putting the team on the top of the points standings for half the season, another U.S. rally first for a Super Production category team.

The Hansons continued to rack up top five overall finishes throughout the season to maintain third place in the championship even after Suburu Rally Team USA’s David Higgins started winning events in his faster Open category machine to take over the championship after the Oregon Trail Rally in May. The Hanson dominance in the Super Production category kept the team in the

top three in overall points going into the final event of the season, the New England Forest Rally (NEFR) in Newry, Maine July 15 & 16. They’ll enter NEFR with the SP title in hand but still a brass ring to reach for.

“The SP class championship has been our main goal since the inception of the class,” said Travis Hanson, “It means the world to me to be able to win in a class that is so competitive and a true driver’s class. Having my dad as my co-driver makes this championship so special. Being able to do this with my dad makes this much more than just a championship, just a trophy, it’s a relationship that no one else has.”

Now, the Hansons can focus on defending their third place overall standing knowing that the SP Class is wrapped up. They can enjoy being the highest placing SP team since the class was introduced in 2009.

“At NEFR we have to keep doing what we have done for the whole season, be consistent, be fast and finish. If something happens to one of the top teams and we have a great race there is a chance that we could even score better than 3rd. Who knows? This is rally. Anything can happen,” says Travis Hanson.

Even with the SP championship decided there’ll still be drama in the category in New England. Second and third place in the SP Class promises to be a battle to watch in New England. Only one point separates Ramana Lagemann, Somerville, MA, in second from Lauchlin O’Sullivan, San Francisco, CA, his teammate in third place. Lagemann, in fact, is coming on strong in the second half of the season. He’s won the last two SP class events to move into second in the category.

Both Ramana and Lauchlin are experienced rally racers and very familiar with each other’s driving style and racing pedigree. They’ve faced each other as factory drivers (Ramana drove for the Subaru Rally Team USA and O’Sullivan drove for the Mitsubishi Rally Team) during the SCCA ProRally days nearly ten years ago. Now they’ll stare each other down heading into a difficult and predatory New England Forest Rally.

“Lauchlin and I are great friends,” Lagemann explained, “and after NEFR last year, we talked about how awesome it would be to compete together in the same class this season. Unfortunately that plan hasn’t really worked out. Either I’ve had car troubles or he has. But now we have a few weeks to prepare for NEFR, and we’re both looking forward to getting on those stages.”

Be sure to catch all the NEFR action on www.rally-america.com via live updates and RAM TV video reporting featuring rally action and driver interviews. You can check stage results on your mobile at m.rallyam.com or www.twitter.com/RallyCar_Series.

Travis and Terry Hanson’s Season Accomplishments:

Championship Super Production
Sno*Drift Rally – 1st Overall – 1st Place
100 Acre Wood Rally – 4th Place – 1st Place
Olympus Rally – 5th Place – 1st Place
Oregon Trail Rally – 4th Place – 2nd Place
STPR Rally – 4th Place – 2nd Place

About RallyCar
Based in Golden Valley, Minn., RallyCar sanctions the premier performance rally series in the United States, the Rally America National Championship Series. In 2011, RallyCar is conducting six National Championship events at venues across the country, from Olympia, Washington to Newry, Maine. RallyCar competitors reach speeds of well over 100 mph in modified street cars on natural-terrain courses consisting of gravel, dirt or snow. Additionally, RallyCar sanctions the 2011 U.S. Rallycross Championship featuring rally cars racing door-to-door on tricky tarmac/dirt race tracks. More information about rally and rallycross can be found at www.rally-america.com, and videos can viewed at www.youtube.com/rallyamericaseries.

RallyCar’s 2011 Rally America National Championship is proudly supported by Subaru of America, Inc., VP Racing Fuels, Best Buy, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, Danza del Sol Winery, Ford Racing, Team O’Neil Rally School, RECARO USA, Hawk Performance Brakes, Exedy Racing Clutches, Racewatches.com and Rally-Tire.com.

Photo: Aaron Kathman/WorldRallySport

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Piotr Wiktorczyk and Grzegorz Dorman completed their
gravel debut in 2009 Rally America Championship series by finishing 100 Acre Wood
Rally. Their team PPD Motorsport was forced by weather to play risky tire game which
didn’t end so fortunate for some of the teams. Wiktorczyk was able to secure third
place in Super Production class, while taking eight place in overall classification.
Wiktorczyk started the rally well off the pace and was very disappointed with his stage
times at the first service break. Piotr quickly started to get back on his groove and stage times he
achieved on the last three stages of the day were much closer to the class leaders.

PPD Motorsport began the second day of the rally ready to pursuit the class leaders, but were only
able to match their stage times while taking few class wins. That was till the stage fourteen where the
road conditions changed dramatically and went from dry gravel into seven inches of snow. While others
were struggling Wiktorczyk made up almost 55 seconds to class leaders and were only 26 seconds off
the second spot and 45 seconds to get the lead in the class. Team came out ready to fight for the win
on the last and very difficult stage, but rally organizers canceled the last stage due to one of the
opening car having problems getting thru the snow on the stage.

Piotr Wiktorczyk: “What a great rally! The roads were so enjoyable to drive. This rally really
showed what a great battle we will have this year. Four SP cars had stage wins and Dave Mirra really
showed that he will be a force to deal with this year. I was very surprised at the speed he showed early

Another podium finish for PPD Motorsport
on. I also knew that Matt Johnson will be hard to beat at this event, but didn’t except him to push this
hard. I’m really pumped and hope we can pull off west coast.”
Grzegorz Dorman: “While disappointed that the last stage got canceled, we are even more
motivated to fight for the championship now. Dave Mirra came out quickly to surprise a lot of people
and became a very strong competitor in Super Production. Conditions once again got little crazy in
Missouri , but this is rally and you have to be prepared for this. After two events our position overall and
in the class is promising, but still not where we want it to be. We realized that our competition is fast and
we will work even harder to be more competitive.”
Piotr Wiktorczyk and Grzegorz Dorman next event will be Olympus Rally based in Olympia, WA on
April 15 to 17th. PPD Motorsport will continue to fight for Super Production title there as well as more
points towards XGames spot.

PPD Motorsport would like to thank their new sponsors for this event, White Frog Entertainment
and Motul Lubricants for joining the team before their west coast events.

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