Pat Richard leads, Ken Block out at Baie

Posted on 26. Jun, 2009 by Dean in Baie-des-Chaleurs 2009

Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell of the
Subaru Rally Team Canada have moved into the lead of the 2009 Rallye
Baie Des Chaleurs. The two moved up after Ken Block and Alex
Gelsomino crashed out of the rally on stage four.

Richard and Ockwell had been running in
second place having suffered a flat on the second stage, costing
valuable time. The car is also equipped with a five speed gearbox
after the six speed was damaged prior to the rally. The reduction in
number of gears is costing the team time.

“We're probably down about 20-30km/h
at the top end,” explained Richard. “On the long straights we're
going to lose time, but I'll just have to make it up on the corners.”

Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard
in the Rockstar Energy Drink Mitsubishi sit in second place,
approximately 20 seconds behind Richard and Ockwell.

“I am not totally confident in the
car right now,” said L'Estage. “I am still learning it, and you
have to be so completely in sync with the car to compete at the
speeds we are going. Right now, I just don't know the car well
enough.”

Rough conditions have already taken a
toll on the teams, many coming in with flat tires. Sylvain Erickson
and Brian Maxwell were one such team, though the pair are working
with bigger issues. Erickson has never worked with Maxwell before,
and the pair are using english notes, another first for Erickson.
Despite the challenges, the pair sit in third at the end of the
rally.

“We've had a couple of
miscommunications that have cost us time,” said Maxwell. “We've
also had two flats, which has slowed us down.”

In 2005, Maxwell co-drove for Antoine
L'Estage for the first time at Baie. It was also the first time
L'Estage used english notes.

“Sylvain has rallied a lot more
generally without notes,” said Maxwell. “When he started, it was
before notes were used, so he's used to driving blind. Even with
previous co-drivers, they weren't really using notes.”

“You know, when you think about how
fast he goes, without notes, once he learns how, it will be amazing.”
said L'Estage.

The rally has already taken a bite out of Andrew
Comrie-Picard and Jen Horsey, who are suffering brake problems.

“We basically had about half the
brakes over the last few stages,” said Horsey. “It's a
development issue, and we know what we want, but we haven't been able
to get it yet, so we're working with what we have.”

The pair were late checking out of the
first service taking a two minute penalty.

“At this point, this is just a test
event for us,” said Horsey.

A tight battle has developed in the two
wheel drive class, with Peter Kocandrle and Jimmy Brant working to
catch the Zedril brothers in their Mitsubishi Lancer.

“Everything is holding together
well,” said Jan Zedril, as the team pulled into service. “Just
clean the windows, get something to eat and drink.”

The Zedrils suffered a bad off at the
Rocky Mountain Rally last month, and started this event with a little
reservation.

“Of course we were slow at the
beginning, just to get back to things,” said co-driver Jody Zedril.
“We took a stage or two to get going again, but now we're back at
it.”

Kocandrle is working to close the 20
second gap to the Zedrils, but suffered a flat late on the first
stage, and also had a few “silly” moments at the spectator area.

Bruno Carre is also back after a bad
crash at Rocky, though his shell could not be repaired, so he's
renting a shell from Planet Motorsport for the rally.

“It's not the same as my old car, and
I can't adjust the brakes like I am used to, but otherwise, it's
great,” said Carre, who admitted he was taking things a little more
cautiously here at Baie.

Nick and Kelly Mathew are back with a
repaired car after a DNF at the Black Bear regional rally in Ontario,
just two weeks ago. The bad luck has yet to leave the team it seems,
as the two suffered two flats over the first three stages, and also
bent a strut, limping into service.

“After all the work Planet Motorsport
did to get us ready for Baie, this should be easy for them,” said
driver Nick Mathew.

Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino were
unavailable for comment after the crash, but the crew at Subaru Rally
Team USA informed us that the pair are ok.

The crash created a force majeur to be
applied on stage four, and the delay meant that stage five was
canceled. All teams that completed stage four will keep their times,
and any car that did not make it through would be given the time of
the slowest car to complete the stage.

Stages start early tomorrow and the
rally concludes at the famous Camp Brule jump.