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| The Shark gets a New Livery for The New England Forest Rally Photo/ Libra Racing |
Newry, ME. – July 20, 2013. With four rounds of the
2013 Rally America Championship in the bag, defending champion David Higgins of
the Subaru Rally Team is holding a commanding grasp on the 2013 championship point’s
race as we head to Maine for round five. Canadian Antoine L’Estage and
co-driver Nathalie Richard have reigned supreme in Maine taking the victory at
the New England Forest Rally in the past three years. It was also in Maine in 2010 where Rockstar
Energy Team clinched the 2010 Rally America Championship. L’Estage and Richard will return to Maine next
weekend in their old Tiburon to chase down a fourth victory in a row.
The 2013 season has been a mixed bag to date for the RockStar
Energy Team of L’Estage and Richard. After a dramatic come-from-behind victory
at Sno*Drift in January, their luck has gone from bad to worse. At round number
two, Rally in the 100 Acre Woods, the team would suffer a DNF due to
overheating on day one. At The Oregon
Trail Rally in May, where the team would debut the WRC Mitsubishi, a very rare
mistake by Antoine on stage 9 resulted in a spectacular crash. Fortunately, both Antoine and Nathalie were
able to walk away unharmed. The WRC
Mitsubishi did not come off as well suffering significant damage and therefore the
car was returned to England for repairs.
Antoine had planned to run the WRC Mitsubishi throughout the
2013 Rally America Championship. To help fund this program L’Estage rented his
trusty EvoX to Ritfat Sungkar for 2013. With the WRC car back in England and
Ritfat in his regular car, Antoine was without a car for STPR and therefore was
forced to miss round 4.
With sponsor commitments on the line L’Estage looked to rent
a car for Maine. “We looked at several
cars and were close to a deal on one, but for various reasons it did not happen,”
said L’Estage. Without a confirmed car in place, it was looking somewhat bleak
for L’Estage and Richard to make their return to the Rally American
Championship in Maine.
It was then that John
Buffum of Libra Racing suggested that Antoine use his old Tiburon. The Tiburon
was retired from competition in 2009 when Antoine moved to the Mitsubishi EvoX.
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| Antoine has had a lot of success in the Tiburon in the past, although somewhat dated now, it may still factor in Maine. Photo Neil McDaid |
“The car has not been used in the Rally America Championship
in several years. There was a lot of
work to get everything in place,” said Antoine. “I have to give a big thanks to
John and his team at Libra Racing for working so hard to get the car ready. We will get a test in the car early next week
so we can get a felling for everything again and give the car a good shakedown.”
Although the Tiburon was a very competitive car down through
the years for Libra racing, it’s now somewhat dated against the WRC-based Ford Fiesta
of Ken Block and the Subaru of David Higgins. Antoine will also have to adjust back to the
mechanical diffs, and will lose the advantage of the sequential box for a dog
box. When asked what his goal for Maine was Antoine’s answer was simple, “I am
going all out. I have won this rally for the past three years and I will try
really hard to make it four. I always go out to win.”
Without question, Antoine will definitely have his work cut
out for him to get the victory, as it’s also a must win
for Ken Block to keep his championship hopes alive. But as we have seen in the past, Antoine and
Nathalie excel in Maine, and with Block and Higgins chasing the championship,
anything can happen. Stay tuned for updates throughout the rally.
For spectator information and the most up to date news,
check out www.rally-america.com
By Neil McDaid
By Neil McDaid
