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| New Richmond, QC. : June 30, 2012 : The overall winners of the Rally Baie des Chaleurs Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard, centre, are joined on the podium by second place team Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell, left, and third place Leo Urlichich and Carl Williamson. Photo by Mike Proulx / Canadian Rally Championship |
NEW RICHMOND, QUEBEC, July 01,
2012 - Antoine L'Estage (St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, QC) and
Nathalie Richard (Halifax) continued their success in the Canadian Rally
Championship, Presented by Subaru and supported by Yokohama, by winning the
Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs, third round of the series. The team took the lead
from the very first stage and continued to bolster their advantage on Friday's
stages while other teams struggled.
L'Estage and Richard have been enjoying a long string
of success at Canadian events, and are the reigning Canadian champions. If the
pair are able to win the remaining three events, they will have accomplished a
perfect season.
“I wasn't thinking about that, but I knew the question
might come if we won this weekend,” said L'Estage. “I would like to have a
perfect season, I've never done it. It's not going to be easy. There are some
tough rallies and tough competition.
Combined with high humidity, many teams were forced to
persevere despite heavily fogged windshields. For Pat Richard (Squamish, B.C.)
and Alan Ockwell (Toronto) of Subaru Rally Team Canada, the effect was so bad
that the pair were forced to slow to a crawl, losing precious time. With that
problem solved Friday night, the team fought brake, power and overheating
problems on Saturday.
“We did a bunch of upgrades to the car, and all of those upgrades
performed flawlessly,” said Richard. “We had a bunch of little problems with
parts that have been on the car for years. It's just sort of one of those bad
luck rallies. I got a bit disappointed last night and this morning, but both
Alan and I hung in there and kept driving and we made it back every time.”
Richard and Ockwell desperately needed to score
championship points at the event, in order to keep any hope of contesting the
2012 Canadian Rally Championship.
“Considering what happened, I am really pleased with
second place. I don't like coming second, I want to compete for the wins, but
sometimes you have to take it as it comes.”
Leo Urlichich (Toronto) and co-driver Carl Williamson
(Swansea, GB) started reasonably well, but problems on Saturday – a damaged
engine and suspension – slowed any chance that the team might catch up to the
leaders. Instead, the pair found themselves in a fight for third place with
Craig Henderson (New Richmond, QC) and Lyne Murphy (New Richmond, QC).
Unfortunately for Henderson, Urlichich was able to hang on to enough of a lead
to narrowly maintain his podium position to the finish of the event.
“All problems aside, we have worked extremely hard for
more than two years on improving my pace,” said Urlichich. “The team has gone
to extreme lengths to help me with this. This rally marks an amazing moment
where I believe we were faster than Pat Richard on pace. I am very happy
because of this pace, and to be honest, that is more important to me than our
particular result here.”
Ed McNelly (Dalton, NH) and Ole Holter (Long Beach,
CA) drove to the two wheel drive class win. In a highly sophisticated Ford
Fiesta R2, the team avoided problems and distanced themselves from their main
rivals.
“Baie is everything everybody said it was,” said
McNelly, who competed at the rally for the first time in his career. “The
transition between fast to really technical back to fast make it an awesome
rally.”
Eric Grochowski and Leanne Junnila of Calgary
struggled all rally, first with electrical problems and then with suspension
issues that heavily impacted their pace on nearly every stage of the event. The
team finished second in two wheel drive.
“Oddly, I think yesterday, when things were miserable,
I just wanted the rally to be over, but today, I am bummed the rally is over,”
said Grochowski. “Even though the car's not working right, we were starting to
put time on everyone in two wheel drive except for Ed (McNelly), and we were
starting to have fun again.”
Production GT class, victory went to Alexander and
Nicholas Ouellette (Subaru Impreza WRX) while in Production Sport Gaspesians
Patrick Cyr / Jerry Plourde prevail with their VW Golf.
L'Estage and Richard have further extended their lead
in the Canadian Rally Championship, and L'Estage holds the record for number of
career wins at the next round of the series, the Rallye Defi.
The Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs is the third round of the
Canadian Rally Championship, marking the halfway point in the season. Held in
the spectacular Gaspe region of Quebec, the Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs enjoys
some of the best fan attendance of any Canadian championship rally.
“We had a very good team of volunteers to make this
rally happen,” said rally coordinator Daniel Leblanc. “This event has a special
place in Canadian rally, and we have been able to help continue that
tradition.”
The Canadian Rally Championship comprises
six events held nationwide in a season that extends from February to November.
The series is presented by Subaru Canada, supported by Yokohama Tire Canada and
features contingency programs from Subaru Canada and Mitsubishi Canada. The
Canadian Association of Rallysport (CARS) is the official sanctioning body for
rallying in Canada.
Rally car racing is often described simply as “real
cars, real roads, real fast.” The all-season motorsport sees drivers and their
co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering
speeds over closed-road courses that typically cover more than 150 kilometers of
gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads. Fans can get up close to the cars in the
service areas and catch all the action from specially designated spectator
points located at the best spots on the route.
Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs Final Results
- Antoine L'Estage – Nathalie Richard – one hour, 28 minutes, 31.5 seconds
- Pat Richard – Alan Ockwell – 1:31:45.2
- Leo Urlichich – Carl Williamson – 1:37:26.2
- Craig Henderson – Lyne Murphy – 1:37:38.9
- Steeve Hobbs – Jean-Mathieu Tremblay – 1:40:01.9
- Andre Leblanc – Rene Leblanc – 1:40:58.2
- Simon Losier – Brian Maxwell – 1:41:23.8
- Maxime Labrie – Robert Labrie – 1:42:53.4
- Alexandre Beland – Yvan Joyal – 1:43:03.3
- Michel Bois – Marie-Philip Simard – 1:43:50.2
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