MANIWAKI, QUEBEC -- This weekend ATR Racing traveled to Maniwaki, Quebec to compete in the 2000 Rally Perce-Neige. The event was ATR Racing’s first winter rally and the team’s first Canadian National rally event.

The morning of the event dawned with clear blue skies and thermometers reading -29 degrees Celcius. Throughout the day conditions varied from rough snowy roads to bare ice to smooth and sanded hard packed snow. 48 teams were registered to take the start and race through the wintery conditions, but by the end of the day only 20 cars had survived the event. The ATR Racing Honda Civic finished a solid third place out of 8 cars originally entered in the Production 1750 class.

The team was quick from the beginning of the event, but the wintery conditions soon started to take their toll on many of the teams, and the ATR Racing team was no exception. A 3 minute road penalty, which was later appealed and removed, meant that the team was reseeded near the back of the pack and had to fight through slower traffic for much of the second leg. Another few minutes were lost when the team got stuck in a snowbank in an effort to avoid another stuck car which had blocked the road. The team fought valiantly to regain the lost time, but then a high speed spin lodged the car in a snowbank and another 18 minutes were lost digging it out.

"At that point we knew we were out of the running for the win, but we still wanted to ensure that we could finish and hang on to our third in class position," commented co-driver Tom Mahoney. The team did just that, finishing the event with a fast pace but without further incident. "It would have been nice to win, but we had a lot of fun anyway. This was our first winter rally and the experience we picked up will be invaluable in the future," concluded driver Andrew Miller.

More information about the race is available on the event’s website at http://www.vroum.com/perce-neige.

ATR Racing now prepares for their next event which will be in early May at the Ski Sawmill Rally in central Pennsylvania.

ATR Racing wishes to thank Metro Electric Corp. of Buffalo, New York and Autohaus Sport Tuning of Orchard Park, New York for their continued support of the ATR Racing Team, as well as Subaru of Canada and Yokohama Tires for their support of the Canadian Rally Series.