After a long teething process for the car and a disappointing DNF at Olympus this year, it was time to get another result. So, we did!

Not that the result was easy to obtain, mind you. Brake issues, potentially left over from the previous rally, plagued the fancy Volvo throughout the weekend and the service team did a fantastic job helping Pat to manage those and get them sorted. Day one was exciting with the dodgy brakes and a little overshoot coming off the gravel onto the little service road made it exciting for the fans at PIR, hopefully. Unfortunately, our neighbor in service had a bit of a roll that shut down the day (everyone was okay and they continued on to finish!) but maybe that worked out in our favor as we could regroup for day 2 a bit early.

Day 2 had the team continue to work on a few little mechanical issues as Pat and I worked on rhythm and pace. He's really starting to pick up the pace and might start out-driving my skill pretty soon. Hopefully my aging brain can keep up and some podium spots will be a reward at the next rally if he'll have me! Anyhow, our goal was to make it to the fun stuff on day 3 and there's one gnarly stage on the Goldendale day that might have prevented that. Pat kept it on the road and kept improving and the Goldendale day was without major incident and we even had some extra-drifty fun on Maryhill for the fans (and ourselves).

The Dufur stages brought their usual mix of challenges but the Volvo and the team were up for it. Big jump? No problem, the big Volvo hit 75 feet, about 18th farthest, without complaints. Huge watersplash? While the other teams seeming all lost bumpercovers and other plastic bits, the Volvo cruised through without incident other than a little bit of plastic maybe bending a little. The car is a champ and, as mentioned before, Pat is picking up speed. I was keeping an eye on times and staying wary of a past OTR where a podium spot was within reach and my driver crashed on the last stage... however Pat is getting the hang of his driver role and successfully got us to the end. According to the times we finished third but one of our competitors had been held back in a stage and successfully requested a time correction, bumping us to fourth. Nearly there but I'd rather get that podium fair and square, honestly. Maybe next time!