Richard Leads at End of Day One

Posted on 24. May, 2008 by Dean in Rocky Mountain Rally

Teams finished the day at Race City, the super special held in Calgary. As cars began pulling into service, it quickly became apparent that attrition was starting to affect teams. Antoine L’Estage was nowhere to be seen and Andrew Comrie-Picard arrived on a tow strap behind Warren Currie.

“We were fifteen kilometres into stage three, and pushing. The motor started to misfire and throw oil. It got tight and stopped and then restarted,” explained ACP. “We’ll try to run this stage and then fix the car overnight.” The pair needed to somehow complete the final stages in order to continue tomorrow. Unfortunately, the car would not restart and the despite pushing the car over the start line, the pair could not get it started and were forced to retire. The crew is still making repairs to the car, and hope to appeal the retirement.

Leo Urlichich was also nowhere to be found, though turned up later with an explanation. “I crashed out,” offered Crazy Leo, before cracking a big grin and adding “no, the engine just blew. I didn’t crash.” Frustrating for the Eastern Canadian driver, the blown motor put an end to his rally early on, robbing him of the opportunity to get valuable seat time and experience at what was a new event for the driver.

Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard showed up at service, missing a front wheel. “We didn’t hit anything, the studs all just broke off,” shrugged L’Estage. “We were maybe two turns from the end of [Powderface]… the transit was just too long, so we had to retire.” A disappointing turn for the current champions, this also puts a dent into their championship hopes for this year. “I think this is the first mechanical DNF we have had since maybe Baie 2006,” said Antoine.

Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell benefited from their competitions woes and now sit in first place overall, with a lead of almost three minutes. The pair continued to run with no rear brakes for the rest of the day, and on the final stage at the Race City super special, the pair lined up head to head against Gord Olsen. As the pair battled on the wet track, the two cars came into the last set of corners side by side, and Olsen finally edged out through the last couple of corners to win the stage. With his drive today, and the hard luck of the competition, Olsen now sits in second place.

Rounding out the top three is Zebe Szewczyk and Thomas Karzynski, who have driven their Group 5 Mitsubishi Lancer incredibly well, showing the power of local knowledge and experience. Just behind them in fourth overall is Simon Losier. Those only his first gravel rally in his Mitsubishi Evo VIII. Mark Jennings-Bates finished the day in fifth and is also the leading novice entry. Sixth place is held by Hardy Schmidtke and Adam Vokes and the pair lead the P4 class.

Group 2 is led by Eric Grochowski and Leanne Junnila in their 1996 VW Golf. Colin Armstrong and Jason Thain suffered damage to a control arm and dropped well down the order, finishing the day in 23rd position. Second place in Group 2 is held by Kris Schofield and Jaclyn Schofield in a 1987 Toyota Corolla GTS, one of two rear wheel drive entries in the event.

Jan and Jody Zedril currently lead the P3 standings, with a margin of slightly more than a minute over Neil and Lorna Wright in a 1988 Mazda RX7. Jim and Rebecca Stevens are the only P2 entry, and currently sit in 19th overall.

In preparation for tomorrow, teams are making any final repairs to cars before calling it a night. Pat Richard has made arrangements to have new brakes flown in from Vancouver tonight to solve the problems encountered earlier today. As with any new car, the 2008 STI is being refined through experience, the brakes requiring more attention. Richard is confident that the parts coming from Vancouver will solve the problems, hopefully providing a trouble free run tomorrow. Provided the pair can hold position, Richard and Ockwell will be able to provide a win for the maiden run of the new rally car and vault into a healthy lead in the championship standings.

Tomorrow, teams will head to the Porcupine Hills to take on eight stages. With the continued rainfall, conditions are going to be extremely muddy, and under such circumstances stages have been cancelled in the past. Stages start first thing in the morning, and teams will battle till late in day finishing at the Skyline Ranch at about six pm.

RALLY RADIO:  Be sure to check out our latest episode of Flatovercrest Rally Radio – featuring interviews and commentary from Friday’s stages and service. 

Tags: ACP, Antoine L'Estage, Mitsubishi, Pat Richard, Rocky Mountain Rally, Subaru