| Contact: Michel Poirier-Defoy Tel: (450) 491-2480 E-mail: lpindfoy@sympatico.ca | Date:November 7, 1999 |
| EVENT: | Rallye Automobile Charlevoix | |
| LOCATION: | Île -aux - Coudres, Québec | |
| STATUS: | Seventh event in 1999 | November 5-7 |
| STATS: | 17 special stages | 183.62 Km of speed sections |
| TOTAL RALLY DISTANCE: | 500 Km | Two day event |
1999 Standings: Frank Sprongl, 135 points; Sylvain Vincent, 87; Tom McGeer, 40; John Kemp, John Paynter, 27; Yves Barbe, Jon Nichols, 22; John Buffum, 20; Éric Tremblay, 19; Marc Racine, 18 Jeff Smith,16
Class Leaders: Open : Frank Sprongl Production GT : Sylvain Vincent Group 2 : J. Nichols Prod. Sport : Bruno Laverdière Prod. 1750 : Rosenshein
Leading Marques: Open : Audi Production GT: Subaru Group 2 : Volkswagen Prod. Sport : Toyota Prod. 1750 : Suzuki
| 1999 SUBARU CANADIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| November 5-7 | Rallye Auto Charlevoix | Ile-aux-Coudres, Quebec | |
| November 19-20 | Rally of the Tall Pines | Bancroft, Ontario | |
| February 2000 | Rallye de Quebec | Quebec, Quebec | |
| February 2000 | Rallye Perce-Neige | Pembroke, Ontario | |
| May 2000 | Bighorn Rally | Hinton, Alberta | |
| May 2000 | Rocky Mountain Rally | Calgary, Alberta | |
| July 2000 | Rallye Baie des Chaleurs | New Richmond, Quebec | |
| September 2000 | Rally of the Voyageurs | Parry Sound, Ontario | |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Île-aux-Coudres, Quebec--- John Buffum, long-time rallyist and multiple North American rally champion won the seventh event of the Subaru Canadian Rally Championship presented by Yokohama Tire of Canada. Buffum, in his Mitsubishi EVO 5 beat Canadian champion Frank Sprongl’s Audi Quattro S2 by a margin of 22 seconds; Sprongls goal of a perfect season was foiled. New Yorker Jon Kemp finished out the top three. Best performance for a Quebecer came from Sylvain Vincent in 4th place. 57 cars left the starting line on Friday evening on the Ile-aux-Coudres for a series of 17 special stages over two days in the Charlevoix region. Over 20,000 people attended the spectator event which made a redoubled security effort necessary.
Only seconds apart
It was down to the last stage on the final day; Buffum and Sprongl swapping leading times and stages depending on whether road surfaces were gravel or asphalt, a matter of agility or sheer power. Tom McGeer, in his Subaru Canada Impreza WRX was a contender on a number of stages until he was forced to bow out with a broken clutch.
It was a bitter battle to the end for a number of teams, which made for crowd-pleasing entertainment. American Chris Havas (Golf) pulled ahead in two-wheel drive class Group 2, ahead of brother Andrew (RX7) and Marc Racine (Honda) of Joliette, Qc.
In Production GT class, Jacob Wisniewski surprised everyone with victory, ahead of Quebecer Eric Tremblay and Nova Scotian John Paynter. Production class saw the Chrysler Neon of Evan Moen in front of Stephane Levesque from Quebec by only 1:26 minutes. Ilana Rosenshein took a serious step forward in her quest for the 1750 championship despite a distant finish. Bruno Laverdiere of Laval; clinched best rookie this year and Sport class title.
Quality drivers retire
In addition to the McGeers, a number of teams were forced to retire: Jon Nichols had transmission trouble, Keith Townsend had a violent crash, Sakis Hadjiminas had some electrical problems and Alcaraz had brake troubles. Yves Barbe had the most tragic of problems; his Eagle Talon stopped in its tracks less than a few kilometres from the finish line. He was in fourth place, but did not finish.
The Subaru Canadian Rally Championship is presented eight times this
year, between February and November. It is sanctioned by the Canadian
Association of RallySport and supported by Subaru Canada and Yokohama
Tire (Canada) Inc. Additional information is available from the CARS
website at www3.sympatico.ca/rally.cars. or the RAC web site at www.rallye-charlevoix.com
INFORMATION:
CARS Mister Terry Epp (905) 640 6444
Michel Poirier-Defoy (450) 491 2480
lpindfoy@sympatico.ca
# TEAM CAR HOMETOWN CLASS FINAL 1 John Buffum Lance Smith Mitsubishi Lancer Colchester, Vt Open 85:54 2 Frank Sprongl Dan Sprongl Audi Quattro S2 Mississauga, On Open 86:16 3 Jon Kemp R. Hendrickson Audi Quattro 4000 Rochester, NY Open 89:35 4 Sylvain Vincent D. Cyr Subaru Impreza WRX La Plaine, Qc Open 93:21 5 Chris Havas É. Tremblay Volks Golf GTi Vermont Gr2 97:05 6 Andrew Havas Pete Pollard Mazda Rx 7 Vermont Gr2 97:48 7 J Wisniewski T Mozejko Toyota Celica Toronto, On GT 100:24 8 Marc Racine Luc Piché Honda Civic Joliette/Boisbriand Gr2 100:52 9 Éric Tremblay JF Guité Subaru Impreza Québec, Qc GT 101:07 10 Steve Barnes M.Kelly Audi Quattro 5000 Halifax, NS Open 101:28The high points:
The low points:
# Rally was delayed due to very large crowds in many stages
# Many priority drivers were sidelined (McGeer, Nichols, Townsend, Erickson, Richard)