Reigning Canadian champions Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard are only three wins away from a perfect season after winning yet another round this weekend at Rallye Baie des Chaleurs, in New Richmond.
The pair pulled an early lead and never look behind. Wherever they flew by, the others struggled.
"It's a very good win, and we led from the first stage," said L'Estage at the finish of the rally.
"We pushed very hard last night, and made a good gap. Today was more about trying to manage that lead, and everything went well. A lot of guys had problems this weekend, but we did not. It has been a big team effort."
Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell of Subaru Canada for example experienced brake, power and overheating issues on top of a windshield fogging up because of high humidity, but sill rallied to second place.
"We did a bunch of upgrades to the car, and all of those upgrades performed flawlessly," said Richard. "We had a bunch of little problems with parts that have been on the car for years. It's just sort of one of those bad luck rallies."
Crazy Leo Urlichich and Carl Williamson is another pairing that had to battle its way through the rally, on their way to a third place. A more mature than ever Urlichich pointed out how far they've come in terms of pace, regardless of their problems.
"All problems aside, we have worked extremely hard for more than two years on improving my pace," said Urlichich. "The team has gone to extreme lengths to help me with this. This rally marks an amazing moment where I believe we were faster than Pat Richard on pace. I am very happy because of this pace, and to be honest, that is more important to me than our particular result here."
Americans Ed McNelly and Ole Holter won in the two wheel drive class on their first time out aboard their Ford Fiesta R2.
In Production GT, the win went to Gatineau's own Ouellette brothers Alex and Nick.
Final results – Rallye Baie des Chaleurs (New Richmond)
1.Antoine L'Estage – Nathalie Richard in 1 hour, 28 minutes and 31.5 seconds
2.Pat Richard – Alan Ockwell – 1hour31min45.2s
3.Leo Urlichich – Carl Williamson – 1h37min26.2s
4.Craig Henderson – Lyne Murphy – 1h37min38.9s
5.Steeve Hobbs – Jean-Mathieu Tremblay – 1h40min01.9s
6.Andre Leblanc – Rene Leblanc – 1h40min58.2s
7.Simon Losier – Brian Maxwell – 1h41min23.8s
8.Maxime Labrie – Robert Labrie – 1h42min53.4s
9.Alexandre Beland – Yvan Joyal – 1h43min03.3s
10.Michel Bois – Marie-Philip Simard – 1h43min50.2s
The pair pulled an early lead and never look behind. Wherever they flew by, the others struggled.
"It's a very good win, and we led from the first stage," said L'Estage at the finish of the rally.
 |
| Nathalie Richard and Antoine L'Estage celebrating (Photo: Mike Proulx) |
"We pushed very hard last night, and made a good gap. Today was more about trying to manage that lead, and everything went well. A lot of guys had problems this weekend, but we did not. It has been a big team effort."
Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell of Subaru Canada for example experienced brake, power and overheating issues on top of a windshield fogging up because of high humidity, but sill rallied to second place.
 |
| Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell airborne (Photo: Mike Proulx) |
"We did a bunch of upgrades to the car, and all of those upgrades performed flawlessly," said Richard. "We had a bunch of little problems with parts that have been on the car for years. It's just sort of one of those bad luck rallies."
Crazy Leo Urlichich and Carl Williamson is another pairing that had to battle its way through the rally, on their way to a third place. A more mature than ever Urlichich pointed out how far they've come in terms of pace, regardless of their problems.
 |
| Crazy Leo Urlichich drove to a find third place (Photo: Mike Proulx) |
"All problems aside, we have worked extremely hard for more than two years on improving my pace," said Urlichich. "The team has gone to extreme lengths to help me with this. This rally marks an amazing moment where I believe we were faster than Pat Richard on pace. I am very happy because of this pace, and to be honest, that is more important to me than our particular result here."
Americans Ed McNelly and Ole Holter won in the two wheel drive class on their first time out aboard their Ford Fiesta R2.
In Production GT, the win went to Gatineau's own Ouellette brothers Alex and Nick.
Final results – Rallye Baie des Chaleurs (New Richmond)
1.Antoine L'Estage – Nathalie Richard in 1 hour, 28 minutes and 31.5 seconds
2.Pat Richard – Alan Ockwell – 1hour31min45.2s
3.Leo Urlichich – Carl Williamson – 1h37min26.2s
4.Craig Henderson – Lyne Murphy – 1h37min38.9s
5.Steeve Hobbs – Jean-Mathieu Tremblay – 1h40min01.9s
6.Andre Leblanc – Rene Leblanc – 1h40min58.2s
7.Simon Losier – Brian Maxwell – 1h41min23.8s
8.Maxime Labrie – Robert Labrie – 1h42min53.4s
9.Alexandre Beland – Yvan Joyal – 1h43min03.3s
10.Michel Bois – Marie-Philip Simard – 1h43min50.2s