Photos by Andrew Harvey
Antoine L’Estage (above) captured his second straight CRC title in 2011, winning seven races in a row on the way. Canadian Rally Championship Update
Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard are champions again, but Mitsubishi and Subaru have a score to settle “Being first on the road is really
WITH FILES FROM DEAN CAMPBELL After securing the 2010 Cana-
dian Rally Driver and Co-Driver Championship, the Rally America title and the North American Rally Championship, Mitsubishi’s An- toine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard kicked off their 2011 title defence in style with a command- ing six minute win at the season- opening Rallye Perce Neige on February 4-5 in Maniwaki, QC. Te event would foreshadow the season to come as title rivals Pat Richard and co-driver Leanne Jun- nila struggled with mechanical is- sues and penalties in their Subaru. “Tis is a perfect start for the
year,” said L’Estage following the event. “Everything worked well, the tires, the car and the team.” Defending 2010 Two-Wheel-
Drive champions Jan and co-driver Jody Zedril also kicked off their 2011 title defence with a win in their Mitsuibish Lancer, despite not having the best setup for the Group
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5 class they were entered in. “We have plans to go to Group
5, but didn’t have time to prep the car to that level. Besides, on the ice you don’t need the power, you need better tires,” said Jan. “We also didn’t have our rally suspension, so we ran the whole event on a stock Mitsubishi suspension!” Te regional portion of the event
was won by Nick and Massimo Narini, whose pace has steadily risen in the last year.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN RALLY After the customary long layoff
between the Canadian Rally Championship’s first and second events of the year, L’Estage and Richard waged an epic duel at the Rocky Mountain Rally on May 26- 27 in Calgary, AB. Heavy snow delayed the event
for two and a half hours and L’Estage was essentially reduced to being a sweeper for the cars follow- ing behind on the Cox Hill stage.
bad,” said L’Estage. “In the time it takes to turn around at the end of the stage the road is completely covered over with snow again.” Te conditions cost L’Estage a fair amount of time, but it also proved hazardous for other teams as the soft snow left many contenders stuck on stages throughout the day. Richard, however, was coping well and led the event by nine seconds with 15km to go. “It’s about surviving,” said Pat
Richard during the only service of the rally. “We’ve got Yokohama AO31 mud tires, which seem to be the right tire for the job.” Unfortunately, Richard went off course shortly after, damaging their Subaru, which allowed L’Estage to leapfrog the four-time Canadian Rally Champion and take his sec- ond win of 2011. “Te tension in those last stages was super high,” said L’Estage. “Pat drove very well, and we had a great
fight today. I wasn’t sure I could make it up, but we won five of the nine stages, and had a fair fight.” Eric Grochowski and Keith
Morison avoided trouble and drove a steady rally to win the Two- Wheel-Drive class, despite a failing engine. Te regional win went to Hardy Schmidtke and John Hall.
RALLYE BAIE DES CHALEURS Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie
Richard continued their hot start to 2011 at the Rallye Baie des Chaleurs on July 1-2 in New Rich- mond, QC. Te duo kept their 2011 undefeated streak going and won their sixth rally in a row, dating back to the 2010 season. Te win was a fortuitous one as
both L’Estage and rival Richard suffered through a bevy of mechan- ical issues throughout the first day. Richard’s Subaru developed engine problems early on and then a hard hit after a big jump later in the day caused their driving lights to fail.
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