NEW RICHMOND, QUEBEC, July 2, 2011 - Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs features some of the fastest stages in the Canadian Rally Championship. A challenging combination of rough roads and slippery conditions demands respect from rally teams.  By meeting these challenges and overcoming mechanical gremlins, Antoine L'Estage (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) and Nathalie Richard (Halifax) won the Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs, their sixth Canadian Rally victory in a row. Both L'Estage and Patrick Richard nearly retired twice from the event with technical difficulties.

"The crew are the ones who made us win this event," said L'Estage. "On Friday they had to rebuild the differentials, and then today they replaced the transmission in record time - just 40 minutes. There's no way we'd be here without their work."

L'Estage's main rivals Pat Richard (Squamish, BC) and Leanne Junnila (Calgary) also suffered multiple problems during the rally. "We lost boost and damaged our lights on Friday, and then today, broken suspension, damaged differentials," said Richard. "It's been a real roller coaster of an event. This is what happens though when you're trying to fight for a win. Things break."

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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.”

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As Antoine L'Estage prepared to compete in the 2011 Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs, he explained to us that this is his 100th rally as a driver. L'Estage first competed three times as a co-driver for Jean-Sebastien Besner, Jean-Paul Perusse and his father, Jaques L'Estage.

"It was good, because I learned about the other parts of rally, even if there were no notes, there was a lot to learn," said L'Estage before the start of the rally today. "When Nathalie (Richard) told me this was my one hundredth rally, I thought 'wow, that's pretty cool.' I hadn't even realized."

For L'Estage the rally got off to a great start but by the end of the day, tables had turned. Running second on the road, L'Estage opted for cut gravel tires, rather than mud tires, the same choice made by chief rivals Pat Richard and Leanne Junnila.

Unfortunately for Richard and Junnila, their Subaru was suffering engine problems, costing a great deal of time. Each stage, L'Estage would find himself with a greater margin. "We lost 15 or 20 second on the first stage, and about twice that on the second stage," said Richard at Friday's only service after the first three stages. "I was able to get a bit of a fix sorted out before the third stage, but it keeps dropping power."

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Morely, AB, MAY 27, 2011 – Antoine L'Estage (Ste-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) and Nathalie Richard (Halifax) won the Subaru Calgary Rocky Mountain Rally, their second event of the 2011 Canadian Rally Championship. L'Estage and Richard triumphed after a day-long battle with the rival Subaru Rally Team Canada pairing of Pat Richard (Squamish, BC) and Leanne Junnila (Calgary). The Rocky Mountain Rally is Canada's highest altitude rally and unpredictable weather played a key role in this year's edition.

Organizers were immediately challenged by overnight snowfall that made sections of the rally route impassible. Volunteers worked feverishly to create a new schedule, and the rally started after a three hour delay.  L'Estage and Richard were first on the road, which meant they would be sweeping the loose gravel and snow from the road surface, making the road faster for the teams behind. Teams completed four passes of the Cox Hill stage before heading to service, where L'Estage hoped for a reseed to put someone else first on the road.

“It was really tough this morning, very bad to be first on the road,” said L'Estage. “In the time where we turned around to do the next stage, the road covered over in snow, so again I had to clear the road.”  

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