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Subaru Driver David Higgins Wins Oregon Trail Rally, Vaults into Rally America ...

Subaru Rally Team USA’s David Higgins, at the wheel of his BFGoodrich Tires-shod 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, won convincingly at the Oregon Trail Rally, round four of the 2011 Rally America Championship. Higgins and his co-driver Craig Drew won the event with a gap of nearly three and a half minutes ahead of his closest rival after a dominating performance on the event’s technical and rain drenched roads.  The victory in Oregon is Higgins’ second win in a row in the Rally America National Championship and the points haul has vaulted him into the lead of the driver standings with just two events remaining. Higgins’ Subaru teammate Dave Mirra went off the road and rolled his Subaru on Leg Two while sitting in 3rd overall; both he and co-driver Marshall Clarke were unharmed in the incident. 

The 2011 Oregon Trail Rally began with a set of mixed surface stages held at the Portland International Raceway in front of thousands of fans before moving to the scenic farmlands in and around The Dalles and Dufur area for days two and three. The event began with dry and dusty roads but heavy rains and thunderstorms moved into the area during day two which made conditions extremely challenging for competitors.

Higgins led from the start of the first leg at Portland International Raceway by winning all four stages and achieving a small lead of over ten seconds heading into Leg Two’s traditional gravel stages.  On Leg Two’s first loop of stages, Higgins experienced a problem with his rear brakes, dropping him just one second off of the lead. After having the brake issue addressed during the first service break, Higgins went on maximum attack and won the remaining three stages of the day convincingly.  Higgins’ closest rival, defending Rally America Champion Antoine L’Estage, was hampered by multiple tire punctures which contributed to the time gap to Higgins to eventually create a virtually insurmountable lead of nearly three and a half minutes.

Higgins then spent the third and final day of the rally conserving his lead and staying out of trouble as he went on to win his second consecutive Rally America event with a victory by over three minutes and twenty six seconds. 

“This is a fantastic win and although we had a nice lead early on, the rain made conditions treacherous and it was a big challenge the whole way,” explained Higgins. “My Subaru STI, my co-driver and many of the stages in the championship are new to me this year and we knew it would take a few events to get the rhythm going, but we are there now and the team and I have a really high level of confidence headed into the final two events.

Blown Turbo? - Subaru WRX Forum: WRX Forums

My turbo doesnt kick in at any point, it sounds to be struggling & instead of a whistling it makes a scratching noise (metal on metal sound). Someone said i may have seized the main bearing? Blue smoke billows out of the tail pipe. I parked the car and havent drove it since. But i had to drive it home once the noise started. It got worse and worse and eventually stopped. But the turbo seemed to be gone entirely. The check engine light and "traction control light" stay on along with a flashing of the cruise control light. Everything is under factory warantee so im not worried. Just want some answers.

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