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Rally USA Tennessee's planning committee believes that Chattanooga, Tennessee may be the perfect place to host a World Rally Championship event. The US has not hosted WRC since 1988, but they plan to make a return. With Chattanooga's combination of fantastic roads, supportive partners, and of course, no shortage of enthusiasts, a WRC race near our city is a real possibility.
On Friday April 7th, Rally USA Tennessee hosted a block party on Station Street in downtown Chattanooga. There, spectators got a chance to get up close and personal with the race cars and even have a chat with the drivers and co-drivers. Considering the weather, the event had a huge turnout. Enthusiasts awed at these fire breathing rally machines in the cold, pouring rain.
These two Fiesta R5s are sort of the quintessential rally car- one of the first that comes to mind in terms of modern rally cars. The R5 with black accents is driven by Dave Wallingford, and Jeanne Junnila, a team with many notable achievements.
Suddenly, heads turned as something much more unexpected pulled into the block party. A Lexus IS350 and IS250.
The IS250 is driven by Nathan and Elliot Odle, and the IS350 is driven by Mike Hooper and Micheal Hordijk. These two Lexus sedans were built up to rally standards by River City Rally- right here in Chattanooga, and competed and finished at WRC Mexico.
Next, a Hyundai i20 pulled onto the street! i20s aren't even sold in the US, so seeing one in Chattanooga was a treat. Driven by Patrick Gruszka, an L2WD East Regional Champion, and John Hall, a 7 time North American Rally Cup co-driver champion, this car had everyone excited.
Lastly, a pair of Renault Clios pulled into the event. Another car that didn't make its way onto American soil, spectators were ecstatic to see these cars in person. The orange and blue Clio is driven by Patrice and Nathan Spitalier, and the white Clio is driven by Rodrigo Maggio and Mauricio Pimentel.
Unfortunately, the testing will not be open to the public. Hopefully, the trail races go well, so we can see WRC return to Tennessee. The turnout of the block party certainly proves that the audience is here- we will wait with bated breath.
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