10 minute read
CRC Update
Review
With Files From Carsrally.ca and Inside Track
Formerly the final round of the annual Canadian Rally Championship Schedule, the Rally of the Tall Pines is now the penultimate of the season calendar, setting the stage for title battles to be concluded, or blown wide open prior to the season-ending Big White Rally in Kelowna, BC. Here’s a look at the season thus far.
RALLYE PERCE-NEIGE
Jérome Mailloux and Philippe Poirier drove their Test Racing Subaru to the top step at Rallye Perce-Neige, the opening round of the 2022 Canadian Rally Championship held in Maniwaki, QC. Usually taking place on ice and snow-covered roads in February, this year’s event was postponed to April 2. Warm spring conditions meant the teams faced a wide range of thawing road conditions, from hard gravel to deep mud and water crossings. After extending an early 34-second lead on the hard-packed town stages, Mailloux and Poirier were hoping to rely on that cushion of time through the treacherous deep-forest stages in the afternoon. However, they would not be allowed to relax with a fast group of teams chasing them down. After fending off the competition, they arrived at the end of the shortened event to celebrate the win with their Test Racing team.
The reigning champions, André and René Leblanc, pushed hard to stay within striking distance of Mailloux, and took the lead after a strong performance on the first two stages in the afternoon. However, they admitted their approach through the rough and water-saturated 29km Tortue stage was too cautious, and they dropped back into second.
On the last stage of the rally, they were caught by the ruts and sent into the snowbank where they lost nearly nine minutes before being pulled out by Alexandre Moreau, dropping them to fifth overall at the finish.
Local heroes Olivier Martel and Vincent Hubert were consistent all day long, finishing almost every stage in the top four and earning a stage win. The consistency and speed paid off with a second-place overall finish, exceeding their expectations and staking their claim as a championship contender in 2022.
Marc-Andre Brisebois and Marie-France Desmarais took some time getting up to speed in their brand new wide-body Subaru but ramped up the pace over the course of the 11 stages. The 2021 runners-up have their sights set on the title this year, and started their season with a third place finish.
In two-wheel-drive class, Chris Greenhouse and Ryan Scott got out to an early lead but suffered a driveline failure on the high-speed Blue Sea stage.
A frustrated Greenhouse was able to repair the car at service but lost more than 13 minutes to the leaders. Veteran rally driver Mal Swann and co-driver Timothy Dine powered their turbocharged, rear-wheel drive Volvo into a commanding class lead, only to suffer a heartbreaking electrical failure on the highway just a few kilometres shy of the finish time control.
This promoted a surprised Marc-Oliver Leblanc and Marc-Olivier Cavanagh into the top spot for their maiden National class win. Greenhouse climbed his way back to second, with the Volkswagen of Hans Larose and Alexandre Pesant rounding out the class podium.
Tanveer Deen and his sister Naila took their Mitsubishi EVO IX to a comfortable win after dominating the Rocky Mountain Rally, the second round of the Canadian Rally Championship, held in Kananaskis Country, AB. The event packed 178 competitive kilometres into just seven stages, with the bulk of the Rally being held on the epic 34 km long Powderface Trail stage.
Twenty-six teams took the start, including two teams coming north from the US, and four teams making the trip from Quebec. Defending champions André and René Leblanc travelled to Western Canada in hopes of adding points to their championship run, as did 2021 Canadian Rally Championship Overall runners up Marc-André Brisebois and Marie-France Desmarais Trépanier.
Dry conditions had teams concerned about dust after recce, but winds on rally day meant dust was not a concern. With teams spending over 90 minutes on the stages, the event proved to be an extremely tight battle, with only 7.5 seconds separating second and fourth place finishers.
The event opened with two passes of the 4 km long Loop Reverse stage to get the teams warmed up, after which Deen had a 0.8-second lead over second place. While facing challenges for stage wins, Deen would continue to lead the event and score his first overall victory in the Canadian Rally Championship.
Nick Wood and Jennifer Daly who won every stage in Open 2WD, the impressive performance included setting the fastest time on Stage 5 in the crowd-pleasing Datsun 1200 rear-wheel-drive car. The team charged up the standings from seventh overall after the short forest loop stages to claim second overall with a slim 6.3-second margin over third place.
Boris Djordjevic and John Hall finished off the event in third place, to take the final podium spot with a margin of only 1.1 seconds over André Leblanc, who drove a strong final stage to take fourth position away from Besner by 24.2 seconds.
In the Two-Wheel-Drive class, defending champion Jason Bailey was joined by Leanne Junnila in his Ford Fiesta and brought home a solid second place in class, and sixth place overall, only 35 seconds adrift after over an hour and a half of racing. Kornelius Rempel and Betsy Nguyen completed the Two-Wheel-Drive class podium in their Honda Civic.
RALLYE DÉFI PETITE NATION
The 30th Edition of the Rallye Défi Petit Nation, the fourth round of the 2022 Canadian Rally Championship, saw 36 teams tackle two days and 21 stages of gravel action.
Several of the stages featured abrupt changes in character, swinging from smooth and fast to rough and technical, forcing the drivers to remain focused for every kilometre. With dusty conditions and a reputation for being a rally of attrition, the stage was set for high speeds and maximum drama.
After a minor crash and mechanical trouble ended his chances at a podium at Rallye Baie-Des-Chaleurs, Joel Levac returned to the stages with his ex-WRC Mini Countryman. Employing a new co-driver, Florian Barral from Peymeinade, France, Levac made his intentions clear from the first kilometre, winning Stage 1 by 30 seconds. His dominant performance continued through the first day, putting on an amazing show for the fans at the Carrière Lirette Gravel Pit Spectator stage. He ended Friday up by almost a minute and a half over Jerome Mailloux.
A broken half-shaft on the first stage on Saturday left the team with only rear-wheel drive, but Levac was still able to keep pace with
(Top) Jérome Mailloux and Philippe Poirier started off the 2022 Canadian Rally Championship by winning the season-opening Rallye Perce-Neige in Maniwaki, QC. The duo finished ahead of title rivals Olivier Martel and Vincent Hubert (middle) in second and Marc-Andre Brisebois and Marie-
France Desmarais (above) in third. Photos by Rob Sztuka
Review
(Above) Jérome Mailloux and co-driver Philippe Poirier lead the 2022 Canadian Rally Championship heading in to the Lincoln Electric Rally of the Tall Pines while Subaru (above) leads the Manufacturers’ Championship over Mitsubishi. Photos by Rob Sztuka
the top runners. It would be their only mechanical issue in an otherwise textbook rally, and Levac continued to victory with a lead of over five minutes after winning all but two stages.
Championship points leaders Jerome Mailloux and Philippe Poirier had the title in their sights from the get-go, refusing to be drawn into making a costly mistake chasing the uncatchable Levac. Their Test Racing Subaru WRX STI suffered minor mechanical problems at several points throughout the event, including a power loss in the second loop of stages on Saturday.
Despite keeping the service crew busy, Mailloux’s pace kept him solidly ahead of the rest of the pack and finishing in second place has extended his lead in the championship.
Prior to Défi, Mexicans Ricardo Cordero and Marco Hernandez won the Rally Baies des Chaleurs, with Mailloux and Poirier finishing second overall and first in the Canadian Championship standings in their Test Racing Subaru WRX STI.
Back at Défi, looking for a second podium in a row, Alexandre Moreau and Ian Guité had been running consistently in third until a crash ended their rally. This promoted Jean-Sebastien Besner and co-driver Yvan Joyal onto the podium. Knowing better than most how difficult Rallye Défi can be, the veteran team adopted a conservative pace early on. A rear differential problem in their Mitsubishi Evo forced the team to swap in a stock road car unit on Friday night, making the car twitchy and prone to oversteer. Despite this, Besner 18 Rally of the Tall Pines Program maintained a smooth and fast pace for another podium.
The Two-Wheel-Drive battle was tight and exciting through the first day of the rally. American Chris Greenhouse, paired with co-driver Ryan Scott, was determined to overcome setbacks at earlier events to win the class. He and his freshly rebuilt Dodge SRT4 faced steep competition from 2WD points leader Nick Wood, and 2021 Rallye Défi 2WD winner Francis Belley. Belley, with co-driver Danny Mallette, traded the lead with Greenhouse through the first loop, while Wood was held back by minor gearbox issues combined with feeling unwell. By the end of the first day, Wood and co-driver Jennifer Daly were back up to their usual pace, but Greenhouse had already built a lead of over 40 seconds.
Rallye Défi has a well-earned reputation for ruining the best laid plans of drivers and co-drivers. Starting the second day with the hopes of carving up Greenhouse’s lead, Belley suffered a driveline failure that took him out of the rally, and Wood had a “disagreement with a tree,” which forced the team back to service early, resulting in rally-restart penalties. They would still go on to finish fourth in class, earning Wood valuable points towards his championship. Greenhouse and Scott would be flanked on the 2WD podium by Kurtis Duddy and Matthieu Toupin in their Nissan Sentra, and Pascal Besse and Nicolas Tousignant in the classic Porsche 911.
In Production AWD class, Trevor Pougnet and Ryan Rouleau brought their Subaru home to the class win.
The final event of the 2022 Canadian Rally Championship season prior to the Lincoln Electric Rally of the Tall Pines was the Rallye Charlevoix, contested on October 22-23 in La Malbaie, QC.
Championship leaders Jérome Mailloux and co-driver Philippe Poirier moved into the early lead in their Subaru WRX STi, winning the first four stages before a gearbox issue allowed Jason Bailey and co-driver Shayne Peterson to eat into the championship leaders lead in their Ford Fiesta, winning 9 of the last ten stages, only losing out to Olivier Martel and co-driver Marie-France Desmarais’ Subaru WRX STi in Stage 8 action.
Despite Bailey and Peterson’s torrid pace, Mailloux and Poirier nursed their ailing Subaru into the final day with a 90-second lead, hoping to hold on over the final four stages.
Despite cutting almost a minute out of their lead, Bailey and Peterson had to settle for second overall when the dust settled at the 2022 Rallye Charlevoix, finishing 31 seconds behind Mailloux and Poirier, who head into the 2022 Lincoln Electric Rally of the Tall Pines as Canadian Rally Championship title leaders.
Trevor Pougnet and co-driver Ryan Rouleau rounded out the overall podium in their Subaru WRX STi, winning the Production Class in the process. Kurtis Duddy and co-driver Matthieu Toupin were the top Two-Wheel-Drive duo in their Nissan Sentra ahead of Nick Wood and co-driver Jennifer Daily in their Datsun 1200.
The event proved to be a punishing one, with more than half the field retiring from a host of maladies, including engine, transmission and driveshaft problems.
IMSA sportscar stalwart Kuno Wittmer, who won the 2014 GTLM class title, made his Canadian Rally Championship debut in a Subaru WRX STi co-driven by Michael Szewczyk. TP
