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| Despite being in a tough battle for the 2012 Rally America Championship, Antoine L'Estage is not going to give David Higgins an inch as he head in the battle this weekend at the New England Forest Rally: Photo Neil McDaid / Rallly World News |
Montreal
(Québec), July 11th, 2012. – Hot off the team’s third
consecutive victory, Quebec driver Antoine L’Estage (of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu)
and his co-driver Nathalie Richard (of Halifax, Nova Scotia) today head to the
Sunday River ski resort for the fifth round of the Rally America series.
In the adjacent states of Maine and New Hampshire, the New England Forest Rally
will once again be hotly contested by some of the top rally teams on the
continent.
Reigning and
current Canadian and North American Rally Champions, Antoine L’Estage and
Richard have won the last three events they entered in the past month and a
half; two in Canada and one in the US.
The Rockstar Energy Drink duo
presently sits in second place in the hunt for the Rally America title, which
they last claimed in 2010. "The New England Forest Rally is one of my
favourite events of the year. We’ve won here the past two years in a row
and I’m looking forward to doing it again" confides an eager L’Estage. "The
Concord Pond stage has been moved to earlier in the day on Friday – it’s an
extremely popular stage, loaded with spectators, and I can’t wait to give them
a good show" he adds.
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| L'Estage has no plans to chase Ken Block's record time on Concord Pond stage, but if the conditions are right Antoine is surly capable. Photo Neil McDaid / Rally World News |
L’Estage and
Richard have won all three of the Canadian Rally Championship events in 2012
but after a slower first half of their US calendar with a second place and two
DNFs, the team claimed top honours at the series’ most recent outing in
Pennsylvania, "we had a couple of mechanical DNFs in the spring but our
Mitsubishi Evo X is a fantastic car and we really put it through the wringer at
a very rough event in Quebec two weekends ago. It held up great and it’s
a testament to the products we use and how well the car is built" claims
co-driver Nathalie Richard." "There are some new stages here but Antoine and
David (Higgins) are so experienced at making good notes, it’s going to be a
very interesting weekend!"
Antoine
L’Estage holds four North American championship titles (2007, 2008, 2010,
2011), four Canadian titles (2006, 2007, 2010, 2011), one American title
(2010), and thirty-five overall victories in Canada and the US. Nathalie
Richard holds seven overall national championship titles (2011, 2010, 2007,
2004 in Canada and 2010, 2005, 2004 in the US), as well as forty-one overall
rally wins on both sides of the border. She also holds a record seven North
American Co-Driving Championship titles (2004 – 2011, excluding 2006).
