NEW RICHMOND, QC — Rally driver Andrew Comrie-Picard overcame failing brakes throughout the Baie des Chaleurs Rally to finish fifth overall, clawing back from 11th overall after the first night.

"From almost the first corner of the rally it was apparent the braking system wasn't up to handing the weight of the car on these high-speed Baie roads. We have the best pads and fluid in the business, but the rotors and calipers couldn't take the heat" said Comrie-Picard.

With the brake calipers weeping fluid and the rotors overheating and cracking throughout the event, the team had to drive carefully to use the brakes as little as possible and brake very early.

Guest co-driver Jen Horsey said the situation made for a wild ride. "Andrew is usually very calm behind the wheel and I've never even heard him take a sharp intake of breath going into a corner -- but there were a few here when the pedal hit the floor."

After dropping to 11th place after the Day 1 stages, the team upped the pace on Day 2, putting in top three stage times to move ahead of rivals on every stage. Eventually they ran out of time and distance to move any higher than fifth overall, in a very competitive rally. Fortunately they had no flats on their Yokohama rally A035 tires while many of their rivals suffered punctures on the rough roads.

The finish solidifies the team’s third overall position in the Canadian Rally Championship and keeps them in shooting distance for the championship -- now at its halfway point.

"We have our work cut out for us for the rest of the year, but the new Mitsubishi Evolution 10 is getting better with every event as we develop it system by system. We expect to be competing for the win at the next round," said Comrie-Picard.

The team also scored the biggest air over the event’s famous big jump with a distance of 112 feet, recorded by rally website www.flatovercrest.com.

Rally car racing is considered the extreme sport of automobile racing and is often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” This all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over courses that cover hundreds of miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.

The sport is also featured in the annual X Games, the premier action sports event on the globe, featuring athletes competing for medals and prize money in sports including BMX Freestyle, Moto X, Skateboard, and Rally. Comrie-Picard has been among the dozen invited drivers every year since the rally discipline was introduced to the contest, and he secured a first-round invitation to return in 2009.

The Canadian Rally Championship has six events from coast to coast. The Rally America national championship includes nine events in a cross-continent season that extends from January to late October. ACP Rally will contest a busy season, with rally events on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, select drift events -- and the X Games. The team will return to the Canadian championship in September for Round 4, Rallye Defi, outside Montreal.

The team’s next event will be the X Games in Los Angeles.

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ABOUT THE DRIVER: Andrew Comrie-Picard is a contender for the top of the ranks in the American, Canadian, and North American rally championships and will return to compete in X Games this summer for the fourth time. When he isn’t racing, Comrie-Picard works in film, television, and print media as an automotive expert and divides his time between Toronto, Canada, and Los Angeles, California.

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The ACP Rally program is made possible by: NOS Energy (www.drinknos.com), K&N (www.knfilters.com), Mitsubishi Canada (www.mitsubishi-motors.ca), Yokohama Canada (www.yokohama.ca), Motul (www.motulusa.com), AMS (www.amsperformance.com), Works (www.worksevo.com), Brian Crower (www.briancrower.com), JE (www.jepistons.com), Exedy (www.exedyusa.com), Öhlins (www.ohlinsusa.com), Pfitzner Performance Gearbox (www.ppgearbox.com.au), Mishimoto (www.mishimoto.com), Oakley (www.oakley.com), Innovate Motorsports (www.tuneyourengine.com), Team Dynamics (www.teamdynamicsracing.com), Endless (www.endlessusa.com), NBB (www.nbblights.ca), Sparco (www.sparcousa.com), NGK (www.ngksparkplugs.com), Seibon Carbon (www.seiboncarbon.com), Piloti (www.piloti.com), and Skull Candy (www.skullcandy.com).

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For more information and video highlights, visit: www.acprally.com. To arrange interviews or find out more, contact team manger Jen Horsey at +1647-500-2729 or j-horsey(at)rogers(dot)com. Find us on YouTube or Facebook under ACP Rally.