Quebec driver Antoine L’Estage (of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) and his co-driver Nathalie Richard (of Halifax, NS) will contest this weekend’s Rallye Baie-des-Chaleurs, Round 3 of the Canadian Rally Championship and Round 8 of the North American Rally Cup. Winners of the last five national rallies in Canada, the 2010 triple-championship winning duo is looking towards this very popular rally in New Richmond, Quebec to claim their sixth in a row and increase their lead in the championship standings.
The Rallye Baie-des-Chaleurs is one of the most popular in North America but it’s also one of the most difficult. “We are definitely on a roll and we hope that our entire Rockstar Royal Group team can continue to ride the wave this weekend in Gaspésie” shares Antoine L’Estage, who currently holds a fifteen point lead in the Canadian drivers’ championship. “Baie-des-Chaleurs is one of my favourite rallies and I would like to win this rally for a third time. I go into every rally wanting to win but I won’t lose sight of the main goal, which is maintaining a good lead in the hunt for the title,” he adds.
As is often the case, the weather conditions could play a big role in the outcome of the event but it’s not something that concerns Antoine L’Estage: “I’m not worried about that – we have great Yokohama tires for the gravel rally roads whether it’s going to be dry and dusty or wet and muddy,” declares L’Estage.
Winner of last month’s Rocky Mountain Rally in Alberta, Antoine L’Estage climbs to fourth spot overall in the total number of lifetime Canadian national rally victories. He is only topped by rally legends John Buffum, Frank Sprongl and Taisto Heinonen, drivers who were Antoine’s idols prior to and in the early stages of his rally career. “It’s a very special feeling to have reached this level in overall victories. When I was a kid and I watched John and Taisto compete, and then later on, Frank. Never did I think that I would be at the top of the statistics with the three of them,” confides the Rockstar Royal Group driver, who is the top-ranked Quebecois in the history of the sport.
Less than a week after claiming victory at the Rocky Mountain Rally, the team contested the STPR rally in Pennsylvania, the penultimate round of the 2011 Rally America series. Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard were once again brilliant, leading the majority of the rally while suffering from an underpowered engine. The duo finished second in the standings by a mere 1.3 seconds, the closest finish in North American rally history since 2005. These points allow the team to continue their fight for the Rally America title in two weeks’ time in the states of Maine and New Hampshire and it increases the team’s lead in the North American Rally Cup.