Antoine L’Estage, from St.-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., and his U.K.-based co-driver, Craig Parry, won the 11th edition of the Pacific Forest Rally on the weekend. The PFR was the fourth stop in this year’s Canadian Rally Championship series.
Driving a Mitsubishi Lancer EvoX, the Rockstar team of L’Estage and Parry took the first stage (Mab Lake) of this year’s PFR on Friday night and never looked back. They managed to hold off a late-stage charge by the Subaru Canada rally team of Patrick Richard (Squamish, B.C.) and Robb Fagg (U.K.).
“I like the Pacific Forest Rally because it’s a driver’s event,” L’Estage said. “The roads have a lot of rhythm, and our Mitsubishi performed flawlessly. It was my first event with Craig Parry of Wales as my co-driver. Everything went well as if we had teamed up for years. Our goal is to keep on winning and take the lead in the championship.”
This weekend’s win was L’Estage’s sixth in 10 years of contesting the Pacific Forest Rally, his 41st victory in his stellar racing career, and his third consecutive win in the 2013 CRC series since failing to finish the year’s opening event — the Rally Perce-Neige in Maniwaki, Que. back in February.
The Rockstar team won nine of the 14 stages contested over two days in this year’s PFR. Their total elapsed time of one hour and 19 minutes was just 44 seconds better than Richard and Fagg who were driving a Subaru Impreza STi.
Third overall went to the novice team of Taylor Nelson (Lethbridge, Alta.) and Remington Edwards (Edmonton).
A total of 24 teams took part in this year’s Pacific Forest Rally. The next event in the CRC series is the Rocky Mountain Rally, to be contested in Invermere, B.C., Nov. 1-2. The championships will conclude at the Rally of the Tall Pines in Bancroft, Ont. Nov. 29-30.
Going into the final two events of the season, Richard continues to lead L’Estage by five points in the driver category, while Mitsubishi has moved ahead of Subaru in the manufacturer’s competition.
