Contact: Terry Epp Canadian Association of RallySport Tel: 905-640-6444 Email: rally.cars@sympatico.ca		Date: June 27, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Stouffville, ON – The Canadian Rally Championship will hold the Baie-des-Chaleurs Rally this weekend in New-Richmond, QC, the third of six rounds in its 2006 schedule.

Winner of last year’s edition and winner the first two rounds of this season, Quebecker Antoine L’Estage and American co-driver Mark Williams are this year’s favorites in their Hyundai Tiburon 4WD. But the spectacular Baie-des-Chaleurs Rally holds lots of surprises for everyone and L’Estage/Williams may not be immune to them.

Among the teams who dream of winning in the back roads of Gaspésie, are Sylvain and Chloé Erickson in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4. Second in both previous rounds this season, the father and daughter team from Gatineau, QC, remains a very serious contender for this year’s event and championship.

With their first overall career win a few weeks ago in Pennsylvania, Americans Matthew Iorio and co-driver Ole Holter represent the strongest challenge for victory from among the numerous teams driving Subaru Impreza WRXs. However, Quebec teams Joel Levac/Eric Bourbonnais and Mathieu L’Estage/Laurence-Fanny L’Estage, both in WRXs, are also among the crowd’s favorites and should do well.

In 2-wheel-drive, many times Canadian champion Frank Sprongl and co-driver Brian Maxwell in their Suzuki Swift+, are leading their Production 2 class. It should also be noted that among the 2-wheel-drive cars will be Albertans Zbigniew Szewcyzk/Tomasz Karzinski in a Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart and Ontarian Ian Crerar in a Porsche 911, running in the new Group 5 (2-WD vehicles with a higher displacement than Group 2).

Baie-des-Chaleurs Rally will start over 30 teams, including five local teams, competing on the back roads of the region. As usual, special stages will be held on gravel roads, but for the first time, the organizers are holding a super stage at Circuit RPM/Sani-Sable in New Richmond. The rally will start Friday at 6:00 PM and the first car will finish around 5:00 PM on Saturday.

The official program of the event is available in Pole-Position Magazine, presently on sale. Filming for TV is provided by ATV Productions. For more information on rallying and rally events, please visit the Canadian Association of Rallysport website, at www.carsrally.ca. And for information and full results on the Baie-des-Chaleurs Rally, please visit www.rallyebdc.com