Driver Antoine L'Estage and his co-driver Nathalie Richard, from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu (Québec), had been exchanging times with Irishman Niall McShea, the 2004 FIA Production World Champion, at the New England Forest Rally this past weekend.
At the wheel of their Royal Group Yokohama Hyundai Tiburon, the L'Estage/Richard duo were beating all their regular opponents before any chance of victory slipped through their hands with a seized motor on the very last competitive stage of the rally.
« It's pretty disappointing. Had we finished today, we would've been leading the championship! Still, the most important thing to me is that we are able to keep the pace with a world champion and battle the faster, newer, and more powerful cars in the series » explained Antoine. Throughout competition Saturday, L'Estage took back nine seconds on the eventual winner before the Quebecois' engine failure.
Just prior to the start of the rally, the thought of battling for first place seemed almost unreachable for Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard. The team drew the dreaded position of first on the road, meaning they would involuntarily "sweep" loose gravel from the competitive roads, enabling cleaner, faster runs for the teams behind them. Nevertheless, the team finished the first day in the top three.
The second day of the event started off well for L'Estage and Richard, winning the first stage of the day and reducing the gap to first place. With a podium finish in sight, the team from Quebec succumbed to a seized motor and came to a dead stop on the stage.
« The results will show that we didn't finish but we were the only ones who came close to potentially depriving Niall and his co-driver Marshall Clarke of the win. Antoine drove a great rally and afterwards, we got as many congratulations as if we had won! » indicated Nathalie Richard.
The next stop for the team will be July 31st, August 1st and 2nd in a unique competition: the X Games in Los Angeles, known as the Olympics of extreme sports, for which the team qualified following their two victories in the first half of the Rally America season.
As for the Canadian Rally Championship, Quebec's Rallye Défi Ste-Agathe/Montpelier will take place on September 5th and 6th.
At the wheel of their Royal Group Yokohama Hyundai Tiburon, the L'Estage/Richard duo were beating all their regular opponents before any chance of victory slipped through their hands with a seized motor on the very last competitive stage of the rally.
« It's pretty disappointing. Had we finished today, we would've been leading the championship! Still, the most important thing to me is that we are able to keep the pace with a world champion and battle the faster, newer, and more powerful cars in the series » explained Antoine. Throughout competition Saturday, L'Estage took back nine seconds on the eventual winner before the Quebecois' engine failure.
Just prior to the start of the rally, the thought of battling for first place seemed almost unreachable for Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard. The team drew the dreaded position of first on the road, meaning they would involuntarily "sweep" loose gravel from the competitive roads, enabling cleaner, faster runs for the teams behind them. Nevertheless, the team finished the first day in the top three.
The second day of the event started off well for L'Estage and Richard, winning the first stage of the day and reducing the gap to first place. With a podium finish in sight, the team from Quebec succumbed to a seized motor and came to a dead stop on the stage.
« The results will show that we didn't finish but we were the only ones who came close to potentially depriving Niall and his co-driver Marshall Clarke of the win. Antoine drove a great rally and afterwards, we got as many congratulations as if we had won! » indicated Nathalie Richard.
The next stop for the team will be July 31st, August 1st and 2nd in a unique competition: the X Games in Los Angeles, known as the Olympics of extreme sports, for which the team qualified following their two victories in the first half of the Rally America season.
As for the Canadian Rally Championship, Quebec's Rallye Défi Ste-Agathe/Montpelier will take place on September 5th and 6th.