 |
Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard celebrate an epic come-from-behind victory at the 2012 Sno*Drift Rally, held this past weekend in Northern Michigan. Despite winning three of the eight special stages on day one, L’Estage, in his Libra Racing / Rockstar Energy sponsored Mitsubishi Evo X, found himself trailing Subaru’s David Higgins after the first day of competition. L’Estage would concede the first three stages on day two to Higgins and co-driver Craig Drew but would pull back over six seconds on the longest stage of the rally SS12 “Camp 30." After battling through the afternoon stages, swapping stage times along the way, it would be on the second pass of “Camp 30” the penultimate stage of the rally that L’Estage would set a blistering pace on the icy surface to pull ahead of Higgins. With only one short stage left in the rally it only took a clean run from L’Estage and Richard to cap off this outstanding victory over the rival Subaru team. Photo: Neil McDaid
|
 |
|
“If you build it they will come.” Despite the blistering cold,
hardy rally fans lined the banks of the spectator stage held in a large quarry
west of Atlanta, MI. Pictured here is
Subaru Rally Team driver David Higgins and co-driver Craig Drew, running first
on the road. David looked for the fastest line through this snow covered man made
stage. Higgins opened his rally by taking some early stage victories and ,despite
making hard contact with a tree on the closing stages on day one, held the
overall lead into the closing stages of the rally on the day two. David and his
Subaru Team would eventfully have to settle for second overall, but are already
vowing revenge at 100AW.
Photo: Neil McDaid |
 |
|
“Not so Crazy Leo” after a little off during practice we seen a more subdue version of this very popular Canadian/Russian driver. Leonid Urlichich [aka Crazy Leo] and co-driver Carl Williamson opted to run first on the road, but their pace was drastically off from prior events. Nonetheless this “less crazy” approach netted the team a third overall podium place, which is no small feat at Sno*Drift. Photo Neil McDaid
|
 |
|
“He's back!” Without question there was a certain buzz among
rally fans with the return of Ken Block to the Rally America Championship. Ken’s
newly rebranded “Hoonigan Racing Team” will contest all Rally America events in
2013.
Photo: Neil McDaid |
 |
|
Ken Block will be the first to tell you that Sno*Drift has been a frustrating rally for him over the years. But he was feeling pretty confident in the car setup when we spoke with him prior to the first stage. After setting the second fasted time to David Higgins on the first stage, Ken’s string of bad luck would continue at Sno*Drift. Electrical gremlins would stall his Fiesta after only two stages. Thankfully, Rally America has adapted the Super Rally rule where Ken was able to return on day two. It was a case of what might have been had the Fiesta not had problems on day one. Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino would set fastest times on several stages throughout day two. Unfortunately, the penalties accumulated on day one would leave a podium finish out of reach. Block would claw his way back to sixth overall.
Photo: Neil McDaid |
 |
|
SP Class: With defending SP Champion Laughlin O Sullivan not able to make
it to Sno*Drift due to his new car build not being complete, Evan Cline and his
new [again] co-driver Jake Blattner would take full advantage and charged to
the class victory. Evan was as high as forth in the overall standing at one point on day one,
but with the return of Block and taking the sensible approach for the class
victory, Cline would finish 7th overall. Mason Moyle / John A Hall would take 2nd
in SP Class and Nick Roberts / Nick Judkins in only their second national rally
would take third on the podium.
Photo: Neil McDaid |
 |
|
There is
no better feeling when debuting a new car than putting it on the podium in its first
rally! Andrew Comrie-Picard [right] and Jeremy Wimpey celebrate their overall victory
in 2WD. Andrew and the team took a calculated move to run their Scion XD
normally aspirated for Sno*Drift and it paid off big. The team won an impressive 19
of the 20 stages. Team Scion Racing was flanked on the podium by a pair of Ford Fiestas; Dillion Van Way in second and "Fast" Eddie McNally in third. Photo: Neil McDaid
|
 |
|
With an unconfirmed schedule for multi-time 2WD Rally America Champion
Chris Duplessis, the weight of the 2WD battle for Ford will fall on the
shoulders of drivers Dillon Van Way and “Fast Eddie” McNally. For 2013, Van way has recruited the service of
Andrew Edwards to call the notes, Edwards, comes
with an impressive resume that includes the British Junior Rally Champion
co-driver title in 2010 and runner-up in the national championship in 2011. Although
Dillon was unable to match the pace of the Scion Racing team at Sno*Drift we
are expecting to see a tighter battle at 100AW in late February.
Photo: Neil McDaid |
