Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard bounced back to take a commanding lead of the Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs after differential problems nearly ended their rally on Friday night. However, trouble struck late on Saturday that cut the teams lead to a much smaller margin than they would have liked.
At the start of the day, Pat Richard and Leanne Junnila were leading the rally, having come out ahead after multiple problems struck both the Subaru team and the Rockstar team of L’Estage and Richard. But that lead didn’t last. “Three kilometres into the second stage today, the rear control arm snapped,” said Richard. “It’s exactly the same problem we had at Tall Pines last year. It’s a known issue so we change the part every service.”
The damage also broke the half shaft which in turn damaged the differentials, causing the Rocket Rally crew to scramble to get the car completed in time to leave service. For L’Estage it seemed like the pressure was off.
“I pushed hard on the second stage, and after Pat had problems, we took a good lead,” said L’Estage. “The car isn’t quite perfect, but it’s going well.”
The morning stages included a new loop that was both technical and rough.
“The new stage was really good with our new notes system,” said Crazy Leo, who had problems on Day one and was busy working his way back up the order. In his sights was Bruno Carre, who was running third fastest. “We had a problem on these last stages,” said Bruno. “The intercooler broke, causing a boost leak, so we were down on power.”
In two wheel drive, David Berube had been able to hang on to the lead despite broken suspension. “We have a spare, so we should be ok I think,” said Berube. “We have a minute or so over the second place car.”
For Pat Richard, the problems continued through the day. “We had a lot of trouble on the last few stages,” said Richard at the second service of the day. “The left front shock is blown, and we had a slow leak in one of the tires.”
The continued trouble meant L’Estage was opening a larger lead. “I pushed again on the first stages of this loop,” said L’Estage. “But I have abotu a three minute lead, so I can back off a little. It can be tough to back off, because if you go too slow, you can lose concentration and make a mistake. The crew worked so hard to get me back out today, without them I would not be racing.”
Leo was continuing his charge, and aside from a spin and stall, he was making up ground on Carre. “I won’t be able to catch Leo,” said Carre after learning Leo had moved ahead of him in the order. “I prefer these last stages, but we still have a boost problem, so I don’t know how we will go.”
For L’Estage, the drama was just beginning. At the finish of the second last stage, the Rockstar EVO began to make bad noises in first gear. By the time he arrived at service, the car would not go into reverse. The crew dove in to swap in a new transmission in the hopes that L’Estage could hang on to some of his lead.
At the finish of the last stage, Richard flew over the jump, and came to a stop at the finish, aware of L’Estage’s problems, but unsure of how much of the lead L’Estage had lost. “We just drove like we’ve been driving all day. I don’t know if it will be enough,” said Richard.
When L’Estage arrived at the finish, fourth on the road, he looked very uncertain of who had won. “It didn’t go well,” said L’Estage, of the last stage. “We had a boost leak. I need to know Pat’s time, I don’t know where we have finished.”
Returning to Rally HQ, scores were calculated, and L’Estage and Nathalie Richard hung on to just 20 seconds of their lead, winning their sixth consecutive Canadian Rally. “The crew are the ones who really won this rally,” said L’Estage. “Rebuilding the differentials, and then replacing the transmission, There’s no way we could be on the podium without their work.”
For Pat Richard and Leanne Junnila, the result was frustrating. The pair had driven with a Championship strategy in mind, pacing themselves to hold what had been a comfortable second place when a lead became impossible. Now, finishing with just a 20 second gap from first, Richard struggled with what could have been. “I think back to all the places I could have taken time, and found that 20 seconds,” said Richard. “It’s been an up and down roller coaster of a rally. Both Antoine and I were really pushing it, but the cars also have to be able to take it, and they both got pretty beat up this weekend.”
Leo Urlichich and Martin Brady finished third, but Leo has greater ambitions. “It was a good rally, and we had problems, so I’m happy we made it to here, but I want to be faster, to be trading times with the guys at the front,” said Leo.
Bruno Carre and Yvan Joyal finished fourth, while Max Riddle and Aaron Neumann finished fifth, Riddle’s best result in a rally career that spans just seven months. “Pat said if I finished fifth in a national, he’d up the power in the car,” said the young driver. “It’s good to be at the end with a clean car, no real problems. This rally was incredible, the roads were just wild.”
David Berube was unable to hang on to the two wheel drive lead after both front shocks blew in his VW Golf. “I tried to keep going, but Simon Dube just took too much time, maybe a minute on each of the last two stages,” said Berube.
Indeed, Dube’s performance was enough to give him the two wheel drive win. “It was tough being so far down after two flats yesterday, but we went as fast as we could today, and on the long stages made the time to the win.”
The Next round of the Canadian Rally Championship is the Rallye Defi, set near Mont Tremblant, Quebec, September 9-10, 2011. For Richard to have a shot at the 2011 Canadian Rally Championship, a win at Defi will be vital.
– Credit: http://www.carsrally.ca/