CONFIRMED! – David Sterckx & Karen Jankowski are moving up to Open Class for the Ojibwe Forests Rallly! If you listened to this week’s podcast we recorded on Tuesday evening, I assumed wrongly that Sterckx’s entry showing as open class must have been in error. In reality while David & Karen missed the STPR & NEFR rounds of the Rally America National Championship, they were upgrading the car from Super Production to the Open Class specification. Unfortunately no details have yet emerged of the upgrades to Sterckx Always Evolving 2011 WRX STi, but David did confirm via Facebook that they have “Lots of cool changes to debut..” Even if the car doesn’t have the all out speed of the factory backed SRT USA Subarus, the Always Evolving Sterckx Rallysport team have proven to be consistent finishers. Besides, they already have one national championship under their belt and I’m sure are hungry for more.
Although the open class championship has already been decided for this season, the last two rounds will be a perfect test for the new upgrades. I wish now more than ever that Antoine L’Estage was back in Rally America. A Higgins/Pastrana/L’Estage/Sterckx and the ever more competitive FY Racing’s Adam Yeoman battle for the championship would be simply epic!