L'Estage Looks to Cap Off Another Championship Year with a Victory

Montréal (Québec), November 21, 2012.- Quebec driver Antoine L’Estage (of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu) and his co-driver Nathalie Richard (of Halifax, Nova Scotia) will contest Bancroft, Ontario’s Rally of the Tall Pines this Saturday, as the final round of the North American Rally Cup and the Canadian Rally Championship. Having already met their goals of clinching the titles in both series, the duo head into this event without any pressure and have their eyes set on yet another victory for the Rockstar Energy Drink Rally Team. 

"Our win out west in October secured the 2012 titles for us so once again, the Tall Pines rally doesn’t have any direct impact on our championship this year.  Having said that, it’s a rally that I love and we’ve done really well here many!  It’s a difficult event with tricky roads and all 200 km of competition take place in the same day.  Throw in the changing weather conditions and it’s a real challenge! " explains Antoine L'Estage. " Right now, they’re not forecasting for snow but we won’t take any chances so we’re bringing our full range of Yokohama tires to make sure we’re best equipped for whatever Mother Nature sends our way" adds co-driver Nathalie Richard.

Already four-times victorious at this rally, Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard will attempt to capture a fifth win, which would also make it the Rockstar Energy Drink team’s fifth victory in the six rounds of the Canadian Rally Championship this year.

Antoine L’Estage holds five North American championship titles (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012), five Canadian titles (2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012), one American title (2010), and thirty-seven overall victories in Canada and the US. Nathalie Richard holds eight overall national championship titles (2004, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012 in Canada and 2004, 2005, 2010 in the US), as well as forty-three overall rally wins on both sides of the border. She also holds a record eight North American Co-Driving Championship titles (2004 – 2012, excluding 2006).

Photo: Neil McDaid / Rally World News