Subaru's Travis Pastrana edged out 1995 World Rally champion and team-mate Colin McRae to win gold at the first X Games Rally on Saturday in his BF Goodrich-shod Impreza WRX STI rally car.
The twelve invited rally drivers first competed on Wednesday on eight gravel stages north of Los Angeles, where Pastrana and McRae ran away from the rest of the field and finished under a second apart after nearly forty miles of stages.
The special stages on Wednesday helped set-up an epic showdown at the Home Depot Centre where the Pastrana versus McRae duel would unfold on the dirt and tarmac course that twisted and jumped its way in and around the stadium and which was broadcast live in America on
ABC.
Pastrana's quest for the gold at the inaugural X Games Rally came less than 24 hours after he made history with a death defying double back-flip in the X Game's 'Freestyle Moto-X Best Trick' competition the night before. But it was McRae that did the flipping at the X Games Rally. The Scot looked to have the Gold medal in his grasp as he narrowly led Pastrana on split times near the finish of the stadium stage finale. Flying into the stadium towards the finish line, McRae's hopes for victory were dashed though when he rolled his car after landing sideways off a jump. Much to the delight of the thousands of fans in attendance McRae's Subaru Impreza WRX STI landed on its wheels and he and co-driver Nicky Grist sped off to the finish line. Amazingly, McRae only lost to Pastrana by 0.52 seconds!
"It is an honour and a dream come true just to compete against
Colin McRae," explained a jubilant Pastrana. "This was a great day for rallying in North America and I hope the fans enjoyed it, because we certainly did!"
"Travis rode well. Everybody asked if we were hanging back to keep it close, but that wasn't the case," explained McRae. "We were pushing as hard as possible. But he drove a great event. It takes a talented guy to do what he's doing this week."
![Travis Pastrana celebrates his win on the X Games Rally [Pic credit: Lars Gange / rally.subaru.com]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/251986.jpg)
