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| 2012 Pacific Forest Rally Overall Podium:
Photo Credit: Andrew Snucins
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Merritt, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Oct
14, 2012 – Antoine L'Estage (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.) and
Nathalie Richard (Haifax) of the Rockstar Energy Drink team won the 2012
Pacific Forest Rally, the fifth round of the Canadian Rally Championship. The
victory establishes the pair as the 2012 Canadian Rally Champions, the fifth
such title for L'Estage and Richard. “It was a good rally for us,” said
L'Estage. “After we won the championship, I just wanted to have fun and drive
fast. Everything was perfect, not a scratch on the car.”
Coming into the event, L'Estage had to balance the
need to beat rival Leo Urlichich (Toronto) and co-driver Carl Williamson
(Swansea, Wales), but not risk a mistake that would cost a successful finish.
However, Urlichich and Williamson crashed out early on the first stage, handing
the title to L'Estage and Richard. “Our main goal was to lock up the
championship here,” said Richard. “With Leo crashing out on the first stage,
that goal was attained, and so that took the pressure off.”
The Quebec-based team ended the first day in the lead,
despite a broken wheel on the final stage that cost valuable time. The pair
benefitted from running first on the road for most of the day, while those
behind had to deal with dust hanging in the air following the leaders. “We had
a very good start to the rally,” said L'Estage. “Times are good, and we'll keep
the same pace for the rest of the night.”
Behind the leaders a battle was developing with Hardy
Schmidtke (Cochrane, Alberta) and John Hall (Edmonton) doing their best to hold
off Max Riddle (Vancouver) and Aaron Neumann (Vancouver). The two crews
continued to trade times and positions right until the final stage of the
rally. Two newer drivers, with experienced co-drivers, found their way into
striking distance of the podium. Alexandre Beland (Drummondville, Que.) and
Lyne Murphy (Montreal) found themselves running fifth place after the first
day, in Beland's third-ever national rally. 2012 Freeride Mountain Bike World
Tour Champion Brandon Semenuk (Squamish, B.C.), co-driven by Jennifer Daly
(Kelowna, B.C.) was just outside the top five after the first day, with a lot
of confidence going into the second day of stages.
Starting on Saturday morning crews faced damp road
conditions that meant no dust to interfere with visibility. Richard and Ockwell
made it halfway through the day before an engine fire forced the team to retire
from the event. “We had really high expectations for this event,” said Richard.
“The last few weeks, we've put a lot of effort into the car, and the whole team
has been working really hard. I feel really devastated for the guys. They put
so much effort and energy into getting us here. We've been in this sport a long
time, and I've had years like this before, and you have to put it behind you.”
With Richard’s retirement, the battle between
Schmidtke and Riddle was now for second place while Beland and Semenuk rounded
out the top five. The final three stages, all run downhill on Helmer Road, gave
teams a last chance to make up ground on their competition. L'Estage was
comfortably in first place, and cruised to victory. “I really liked today's
stages,” said L'Estage. “Conditions were good, and the Yokohama tires worked
perfectly.
Between Riddle and Schmidtke, competition was very
tight. Over the first two passes of Helmer, the two teams traded times and
positions. Heading for the final stage, Schmidtke's car was experiencing turbo
problems but held off Riddle to claim second place, a career-best finish. “We
left for the last stage and the turbo went,” said Schmidtke, of his late-rally
drama. “Before the stage, we topped up the oil. The turbo seized, but we just
limped along. We're here, and we're so excited to have a podium. It's been the
best battle of my career.”
Riddle had struggled earlier in the season in the
aftermath of a heavy crash, but proved that he's back to his fast ways with
third place. “We beat Hardy on the last stage, but not by enough,” said Riddle.
“It's our first national podium. It's amazing, and it erases all the bad things
that happened earlier this year.” The trend of best-ever results continued,
with Beland earning fourth place, and Semenuk taking fifth.
Only one car finished the rally as part of the
two-wheel drive class. Krystian Ostrowski and Christopher Galeki finished 14th,
the last car in the rally, after every other two-wheel drive car failed to
finish the event. “The event ran extremely well. We had some challenges
yesterday with the dust,” said Peter Hill, Clerk of the Course. “The volunteers
are so knowledgeable and experienced, so they really were able to do an
excellent job in making the event come together.”
The Canadian Rally Championship is
comprised of 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.
