November 3 2024.- This past weekend, the Eastern Canadian Rally Championship (ECRC) presented the Rallye de Charlevoix, the penultimate round of its 2024 season. Contested under sunny skies with the prestigious Manoir Richelieu in La Malbaie as its headquarters, the event took place over two days of competition and was filled with twists and turns in front of a once again very large crowd. By Sunday’s finish, it was the young 16-year-old prodigy Vincent Lalande, co-driven by Amélie Bélanger, who recorded his third victory of the season. Lalande thus took over the lead in the championship with his Subaru WRX STI, while in the 2-wheel drive class, Nicolas Laverdière, co-driven by Frenchman Nicolas Fouteret, dominated the event with his Ford Fiesta.

On Saturday, with the traditional competitive stages in town on the asphalt of La Malbaie and Clermont, but also in the fast gravel forest stages, the first day of competition saw Gabriel Monette and Alexandre St-Arnaud (Subaru WRX) set the fastest time before the Rallye de Charlevoix 2023 winner, Simon Vincent, co-driven by Hubert Gaudreau (Subaru WRX), took the top spot.

Vincent/Gaudreau led until the fourth stage, when they suffered a puncture which cost them almost 7 minutes. This opened the door for Vincent Lalande and Amélie Bélanger, who led until the penultimate stage of the day, when they saw Sébastien Clark and Pat Lévesque (also in a Subaru) take the lead from them. Unfortunately for the latter, an abandonment in a Sunday morning stage counting only towards the Canadian Championship, prevented them from competing in the second day of the ECRC championship, eliminating them from the fight.

Lalande/Bélanger then took back the lead and, with a mastery worthy of the most experienced drivers, while just contesting the event for his very first time, Vincent Lalande sped towards victory with the help of the perfect pacenote calling work of Amélie Bélanger. Vincent Trudel, co-driven by American Michelle Miller, finished second by 2 minutes, 1.9 seconds. This is the second year in a row that this crew has reached the podium at the Rallye de Charlevoix, renowned for being an unpredictable event. Trudel/Miller were in battle for the podium throughout the two days of competition.

Authors of a magnificent event while dominating their opponents in the 2-wheel drive class, Nicolas Laverdière and his French co-driver Nicolas Fouteret (Ford Fiesta) won their category in addition to finishing fourth overall in the ECRC. They finished ahead of five Subaru 4-wheel drive teams, namely Vincent/Gaudreau, authors of a great comeback following their early troubles, Gabriel Monette/Alexandre St-Arnaud, Karianne Hubert/Éric Dubé, Patrick Richard/Caroline Moreau, and Jacob Moreau/ Marie-France Desmarais-Trépanier. This is a first Top 6 finish for Karianne Hubert, driver and co-ordinator of the winter Rallye Perce-Neige Maniwaki, and a first finish for Jacob Moreau, a young open-wheel driver who was competing in his first Rallye de Charlevoix.

Philippe Corbeil, co-driven by Patrice Harvey (BMW), and John Hudon/Daniel Girard (Toyota Echo) completed the Top 10 in the ECRC overall standings, in addition to finish in second and third positions in the 2-wheel drive category. In the end, 16 of the 22 crews registered in ECRC, finished the rally.

The 2024 Rallye de Charlevoix also counted towards Canadian Rally Championship and the North American Rally Cup.  Overall winners were Antoine L’Estage, 10-time Canadian, and Alan Ockwell, in a Ford Fiesta Proto.

The Eastern Canadian Rally Championship (ECRC) is comprised of nine rounds this season, spread out between Ontario and Quebec.  The next event will take place in Bancroft, Ontario, on November 24^th, for the Tall Pines Rally.

For more information, please visit the website www.ecrc-crec.ca .

Photo credit © Stéphane Gagné

2024 ECRC Calendar