“It’s been good so far,” said Antoine coming into service after nine stages. “We had a couple of spins this morning, but mostly it has been good, the new car is great.”

For Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell of Subaru Rally Team Canada, it’s been a harder day. On the second stage, hard landing after a jump damaged the intercooler, causing a boost leak. Not long after, the team lost a front brake line. The team hope they had it fixed heading out from the midday service, but returned on a tow strap, behind sweep.

“We were near the end of the second pass on Blue Sea, and the car just wasn’t working right. We couldn’t get power to the ground,” said Richard. “It’s a tough start to the season, but we were on pace despite having problems this morning, so I’m actually pretty happy how things went up until the end.”

Craig Henderson and Lyne Murphy got stuck in a snowbank, and despite being fifth on the road, had to watch nearly the whole field drive by without any help.

“Steeve Hobbs stopped and tried twice, but he had to get going,” said Henderson, clearly frustrated. “We weren’t off that far, but no one would stop. We ended up max late.”

Leo Urlichich is perhaps earning his “Crazy” moniker back after a high speed spin that ended with the car hitting a telephone pole while moving backwards. Amazingly, despite all of the cosmetic damage, the structure and safety of the car was ruled to be acceptable and the team was allowed to continue. However, time lost with a few spins, combined with six minutes in penalties for early check in have dropped Leo and co-driver Carl Williamson back to ninth.

The troubles at the front of the pack have made for an interesting top five. Bruno Carre and Yvan Joyal are second, in a great spot for the championship. They’re followed by Sylvain and Simon Vincent. Waiting to start the first pass of the Farley stage, Sylvain offered up his strategy.

“You have to pace yourself. If you go too hard at the start, you will be too tired. It’s almost 250km of stages, so you need to stay sharp. It’s a long day.”

Joel Levac and Stephanie Lewis, who finished fourth at Sno*Drift last weekend, are on pace to perhaps do the same here, sitting in fourth, with a small margin over fifth place Mathieu Dube and Eric Losier.

Peter Kochandrle and Angela Cosner are leading two wheel drive, with a margin of nearly six minutes over Thierry Menegoz and Guillaume Bechard. Kochandrle is in 15^th overall.

Teams are presently out running one of the longest legs of the rally, including the infamous Tortue stage. With no remote service this year, any problems that happen out on those stages could force a DNF if a team can’t manage the long transit back to town.

Check back again for more news from the 2012 Rallye Perce Neige, in Maniwaki, Quebec.

“I think it’s perfect to be first on the road, it’ll be less polished,” said Urlichich after the start order draw. “I have to be smooth, and not too wild. Drive smart like at Sno*Drift last weekend.”

Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell will be second on the road, followed by main rivals Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard.

“I think Pat has the perfect road position,” said L’Estage. “Sometimes you get too far back [in the order] and you can get pulled into the icy tracks. It’s not easy.”

Bruno Carre and Yvan Joyal will run fourth on the road, followed by Craig Henderson and Lyne Murphy.

Any one of these teams can challenge for the podium, and they aren’t the only ones. Ugo Desgreniers has finished on the podium here before, and Steeve Hobbs is also capable of a top three finish.

Also on hand to mix things up is Max Riddle, back after a heavy roll at the final rally of 2011. He’s excited for a good finish here, and has done well at the snowy Big White regional rally in Kelowna, BC.

Keith Townsend and Jen Horsey have reunited after running Targa Newfoundland together, and will be running in Leo’s back up car. While it’s been a while since the two have run a Canadian Rally Championship event, they could surprise a lot of people with a smooth and mature drive.

Two wheel drive also has an interesting field. Thierry Menegoz has entered, in his easily recognized Ford Fiesta, and Peter Kochandrle will be eyeing a two wheel drive win in his Group 2 VW Golf. You can also expect a strong performance from Martin Walter in his rear wheel drive Nissan 240SX.

With light snow falling, and expected to continue through the night, tomorrow’s stages will be coated with a light dusting of snow, though what is underneath varies from stage to stage. Some of the in town stages have decent grip, while the stages held deeper in the forest, to the west of Maniwaki are icy in spots, and deep snow in others. Tire strategy will be key, and changes to the schedule – no remote service and a new final stage run in town – will also mean drivers accustomed to how things have run in the past will need to be careful to rethink service and tire strategies.

As per Canadian Rally Championship rules, no studs are allowed, meaning cars can get sideways, and drivers will use snowbanks to stay on the road. One wrong move, and the snowbanks that could help can pull you right off the road, often forcing a team to retire from the rally.

Rallye Perce Neige starts first thing tomorrow morning, and as usual, we’ll be brining the news back to you at home.

Television review of the 2011 Canadian Rally Championship season.

“Wow, this is incredible,” said Leo, after the rally. “The team has all been working so hard towards this goal, and to win here really shows what we’ve been able to do together. We had made a lot of changes this season to the car, and so there’s always something new to learn. I’m just so happy to have done this. Next goal is the Canadian championship!”

Urlichich managed to have a clean drive while three champions ahead of him on the road suffered problems.

First to retire were Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard, when the transmission in their Rockstar Mitsubishi exploded on stage five. With half the casing missing and the other half cracked, as well as some damage to the internals, there was no way to continue.

“We didn’t hit anything,” said Richard. “We were in fifth gear, and Antoine was hard on breaking and shifted to fourth, and BANG.”

“Of course it is frustrating,” said L’Estage. “We had won every stage and had a good lead, but the important thing is we already had the championship, so I don’t feel too bad.”

Next to have problems were the Subaru factory teams. Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell of Subaru Rally Team Canada got a flat tire, costing over three minutes and began to develop transmission problems. David Higgins and Craig Drew of Subaru Rally Team USA also got a flat, losing about the same amount of time as Richard. Leo, who had been running within 15 seconds of Higgins in total time, was well positioned to move into the lead, with almost three minutes margin over second place.

From there, all Leo had to do was drive smart, and hope to hold off any charge from Higgins or Richard.

After swapping the transmission and rear diff in his car, during a 20 minute service, Richard left for the stages only to retire shortly after with a “box full of neutrals.” That handed Bruno Carre third place behind Higgins, but Carre had problems of his own, his car overheating.

Simon Losier and Brian Maxwell had worked their way up the order, claiming a sixth place at the finish, which also clinched the Manufacturer’s title for Mitsubishi for the first time.

“We have been having such a clean run,” said Simon at the last service. “We just have to keep it clean and get to the finish. I think we have enough of a lead over seventh that we won’t have to push too hard and get the title for Mitsubishi.”

Meanwhile, in two wheel drive, a massive field was suffering the same sort of attrition. Peter Kocandrle had continuing problems with a half shaft in his Golf, eventually retiring after five stages, despite setting very competitive stage times. The Zedril brothers, 2011 Canadian 2WD champions, retired after mechanical problems struck in the early afternoon. American entry Dillon Van Way also broke a half shaft, forcing his retirement.

The two fastest crews that remained were Simon Dube and co-driver Pat Lavigne, and American Wyatt Knox and co-driver Ole Holter. The pair traded positions when Knox had problems, and Dube had more than a minute lead after a blistering time on the penultimate stage, fourth fastest overall. But then the tables turned again, with an electrical problem shutting off Dube’s car, costing six minutes and the lead.

“This was an incredible event,” said Knox. “It was my first time at Pines and first time in the Fiesta R2, so to win here is amazing. We never do so much distance in one day in the US, so even staying awake and alert here at the end of the day is a big challenge. It’s pretty crazy.”

Dube did claim a distant second, though it was small consolation for he and co-driver Pat Lavigne. Third place went to newcomers Edward McNelley and Pascal Be Baron in a Team O’Neil prepared Ford Fiesta.

The Ontario Performance Rally Championship also came down to the Rally of the Tall Pines, with four teams all in striking distance of the title. Nick and Massimo Narini were the fastest team early in the event, running as high as fourth, until they had problems that dropped them down the order and then out of the event. Chris Martin and Brian Johnson were also in the hunt until mechanical problems dropped them out of the running. Warren Haywood and Amanda Tolhurst also retired with mechanical issues.

Nick and Kelly Mathew were initially off their typical pace, when electrical problems on the first stage caused intermittent power loss. Despite these early problems, the team was able to persevere and moved up the order for a seventh place finish, the OPRC win and title.

Second in OPRC went to Michelle Laframboise and Dean Hopkins, who finished in eighth overall, a career best. Third went to Ryan Huber and John Vanos.

If you missed the live stream of yesterday’s events, you can watch the coverage here on Flatovercrest.com. There were three shows sent live as project put together by TV2Go. Using HD cameras and a satellite truck, TV2Go took the Canadian Rally Championship to the world. The live coverage team was bolstered by students from Loyalist College in Belleville, ON.

Watch show one HERE followed by Show 2 and Show 3

The Canadian Rally Championship returns for 2012 in just over two months, with the Rallye Perce Neige, in Maniwaki, QC, February 4-5, 2012. Be sure to mark your calendars and follow the coverage here at Flatovercrest.com