WINNER TAKE ALL: BLOCK AND QUINTERO BATTLE FOR HISTORIC AMERICAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
- Lia Block could become the first woman in history to win the American Rally National
Championship overall
- 20-year-old daughter of rally and action sports legend Ken Block leads ARA rookie Seth Quintero by 17 points entering season finale
- After four consecutive years of dominance, title will pass from Brandon Semenuk and Subaru Motorsports USA to Block and Hyundai or Quintero and Toyota
- Known as “The oldest, meanest, toughest rally on the circuit,” Marquette, Michigan hosts the Lake Superior Performance Rally October 9-10
MARQUETTE, Mich., Oct. 7, 2026 — History will be made at the Lake Superior Performance Rally (LSPR) October 9-10 as the 2026 American Rally Association (ARA) National Championship comes down to one final event and two young stars battling for the title of overall American Rally National Champion.
Lia Block—the 20-year-old daughter of rally and action sports legend Ken Block—is poised to become the first woman in history to win the American Rally National Championship overall. Following in her late great father’s footsteps, the Rockstar Energy-sponsored Block House Racing driver has the chance to finish what he started, winning a title that eluded him throughout his 18-year rallying career.
Standing in her way is 24-year-old Californian Seth Quintero of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT), who in his first season of stage rallying has won overall twice and scored two additional podium finishes.
Quintero trails Block by 17 points entering the season finale. Due to ARA regulations, there are multiple points scenarios to consider, but the simplest is this: Winner Take All. If Quintero can score his third overall rally win of the season and collect maximum bonus points from the ARA Power Stage, he’ll be champion. And if Block can add her second overall rally win of the season, regardless of the Power Stage points, she’ll be champion—and it’ll be the first time that pronoun has ever preceded the title.
Higher Math and the Finer Points of American Rally Block, in the Rockstar Energy-backed Hyundai i20 N Rally2, appears to have a healthy advantage over Quintero in the Toyota GR Corolla Rally RC2, but the gap isn’t quite as comfortable as it might seem.
The ARA National Championship counts each competitor’s six best event scores from the eight-round season, while every Power Stage point accumulated through all eight events are included. Quintero, having missed the season-opening Sno*Drift Rally and DNF’d at March’s Rally in the 100 Acre Wood, currently has two rounds with no points to discard, while Block has only one, a disqualification from Sno*Drift, leaving a 12-point finish as her next-lowest score.
The result is that an LSPR victory would net Block only 10 additional event points—the 22-point win replacing the earlier 12-point result—plus whatever she earns on the Power Stage. That said, if Block finishes ahead of Quintero, she wins the championship. If Quintero finishes ahead with Block still on the podium, the title will come down to the Power Stage. Regardless, Quintero must finish on the overall podium to retain any path to the title.
Multiple Championships Still Up for Grabs
Beyond the overall title, championships for the LN4 class and the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup North America are still very much in play. American Madelyn Tabor leads Ukrainian rookie Nick Pysklyvets and Irishwoman Aoife Raftery in the LN4-class battle, with all three still able to claim the title.
Meanwhile, American Danny Shalev leads the Stellantis Cup, which pits Canadian Rally Championship (CRC) and ARA National Championship teams against one another in identical Peugeot 208 Rally4 cars. With double Stellantis Cup points on offer at the ARA season finale as well as the CRC’s finale—Rallye de Charlevoix in Quebec at the end of the month—LSPR has attracted the largest Stellantis Cup field of the season, featuring Shalev’s main Canadian rival Vincent Lalande as well as 14-year-old Polish driver Bruno Gryc and Lia Block’s 15-year-old brother Mika Block.
With 83 entries, the LSPR field is full of potential spoilers waiting to steal points away from championship hopefuls. Following a Thursday evening Parc Expose and Fan Fest at Fox Marquette Subaru, the 16-stage, 123.80-stage-mile National itinerary commences Friday at 1 p.m. The event will conclude with a podium celebration and street party in Downtown Marquette Saturday evening at approximately 6:15 p.m.
For complete LSPR information, including the Spectator Guide, please visit: https://www.americanrallyassociation.org/lspr. To follow the action live, please visit: https://www.americanrallyassociation.org/live.
About ARA: The American Rally Association (ARA) is the largest rally organization in the United States and promotes the country’s only cohesive, nationwide competition for the sport of stage rally: The ARA National Championship. American Rally is sanctioned by USAC and promoted by Rally Forward LLC, which was founded in 2024 by rally legend Lance Smith and is dedicated to advancing the sport of stage rally in America. Smith is the founder and CEO of Vermont SportsCar. American Rally provides a direct link to pure automotive adventure: a top-speed race against the clock on real roads specifically chosen to challenge production-based cars and world-class drivers on diverse surfaces that include snow, sand, gravel, dirt and tarmac. To learn more about the ARA and its partners, go to www.AmericanRallyAssociation.org.