File photo: a Hyundai i20 N Rally2 on a gravel rally stage at the 2021 Barum Czech Rally Zlín. Photo by Miloslav Rejha via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
The American Rally Association heads to East Tennessee this weekend for the return of the Overmountain Rally, running September 18-19 out of Newport. Counted as both a National round and an East Regional round, the event centers on a single service area at Newport Speedway and brings back the Newport Super Special Stage, with organizers promising a tighter, more compact weekend built around the regional competitor experience. Crews will tackle more than 100 competition miles over roughly 160 transit miles on the twisty, hard-packed gravel and clay roads the region is known for, with action kicking off Friday evening and wrapping up Sunday.
Newport arrives at a pivotal moment in the National title fights. Lia Block leads the overall driver standings with 101 points after scoring her first outright victory of the season at Ojibwe Forests Rally, stretching her advantage over Red Bull’s Seth Quintero, who sits second with 80 points. Alastair Scully holds third with 56, followed by Javier Olivares and Travis Pastrana rounding out the top five. The co-driver table mirrors the driver order almost exactly, with Alex Gelsomino leading on 101 points, Topi Luhtinen second with 80, and Ross Whittock third on 44.
Because Overmountain also counts toward the East Regional championship, it carries extra weight for the region’s home crowd. Tom Mayer currently tops that standings sheet with 49 points, with Chris Nonack second on 26 and Nick Balzer third on 22, giving several regional-only entries a real shot at making up ground on unfamiliar home turf before the season winds toward its finale at Lake Superior Performance Rally. With the National points gaps still very much alive and a regional title within reach, Newport is shaping up to be one of the more consequential stops left on the 2026 calendar.
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