Lia Block Wins Ojibwe and Takes a 21 Point ARA Lead into Overmountain

The American Rally Association season has reached its closing run. Lia Block and Alex Gelsomino scored their first overall National victory at Ojibwe Forests, then left Minnesota with a 21 point lead over Seth Quintero and two rounds still to complete.

Ojibwe ran from 27 to 29 August around Bemidji and Detroit Lakes, with 143 competition miles across dirt and sand. The official ARA report records a 2 minute 01.8 second winning margin over Javier Olivares and Leah Brisset, while Quintero recovered from first day suspension damage to win the Power Stage and collect its five points.

Minnesota makes the forest feel close

Ojibwe has its own visual language. The roads run between tall trees, the surface changes from hard-packed dirt to softer sand and the spectators feel close to the rhythm of the cars even when the route stretches far beyond the service park. The result is a rally that can feel intimate from the roadside and enormous from inside the cockpit.

The championship value of a win here comes from the number of decisions packed into a weekend. A crew has to choose how much speed to carry over a crest, how much margin to leave beside the trees and how hard to push when the surface is beginning to break. The fastest approach is often the one that leaves the car ready for the next stage.

Block and Gelsomino kept the larger picture in view

Block arrived as one of the central figures in the national points fight and converted that pressure into a complete rally. The official ARA update says the victory extends the pair’s lead with only two events left. That changes the tone of the championship. Rivals still have opportunities, though Block and Gelsomino now have more room to choose when to attack and when to protect the result.

The RC2 fight has added another layer to the season. Javier Olivares and Leah Brisse were close enough to keep the pressure on, while the result also reshaped the points situation for competitors who lost time or retired earlier in the year. ARA’s strength is the way those stories continue below the headline result.

The regional field gives the event its breadth

Ojibwe is more than a contest between the best national Rally2 cars. The regional field brings older Subarus, two-wheel-drive builds, classic machinery and drivers who measure a successful weekend through a personal battle with the road. That spread gives the event a human scale and keeps the service park busy long after the overall winner has crossed the final control.

The official ARA feed also carried stories from Aiofe Raftery, Seth Quintero, Matt Nykanen and several class leaders. Their presence is important because the national series is built as a full ecosystem. The leader’s result matters, though so does the story of the driver repairing a car, learning a new surface or returning to a stage after an earlier problem.

Overmountain is the next pressure point

The 2026 ARA schedule places Overmountain Rally Tennessee on 18 and 19 September, followed by Lake Superior Performance Rally on 9 and 10 October. Tennessee brings a different kind of forest and a new set of grip changes. LSPR will close the national season with the points table under its greatest pressure.

Block leaves Minnesota with the best kind of advantage: one created by performance, preserved by judgement and backed by a co-driver who can keep the whole weekend in view. The season is still open, though the centre of gravity has moved again. In American rallying, that can be enough to change the next forest before the first note is called.