Bruno Carré & Yvan Joyal have taken their first national win at the first round of the Canadian Rally Championship, the Rallye Perce Niege. Retirements flooded in after the start of the first stage, with mechanical problems & mistakes filling up the retirement ranks. In all, 18 crews bowed out of the rally before the finish.
Mathieu L'Estage turned up at the snow event without the luxary of studded ice & snow tyres. Even without the 'proper' tyres, L'Estage finished the event in 2nd overall, his best finish of his career. Caution was the order of the day for L'Estage & that, coupled with his driving talent, netted him the highest finish of his career.
Patrick Richard, the defending champion, slid off the road on the first stage & lost about 2 mins. Richard fought back with a string of fastest stage times before retiring with electrical gremlins.
Other drivers to come a cropper on the challanging stages included Leo Urlichich, leader for three stages, Andrew Comrie-Picard (North American Rally Cup Champion 2009) & who spun on the Kitigan Zibi stage & lost his 2 min lead over Carré.
Another notable preformance by a certain Jon Nichols, in his 2WD Volkswagen Golf. Nichols, a series veteran, has not sat in a 2WD car since 2006. Nichols put in a skilful rally to finish in sixth overall, ahead of a lot of more powerful, 4WD machinery. Nichols finished over 6 mins ahead of his nearest 2WD competitor.
The Canadian National Rally Championship will continue on the Rocky Mountain Rally, on June 27th - 29th.
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