Squamish's rally driving pro Patrick Richard is once again marking the racing circuit with skillful skid marks this season.
The Subaru Rally Team Canada driver, who holds four national overall driver titles and a North American driver's title, and his co-driver, Alan Ockwell, are defending their Canadian Rally Champions.
The duo claimed second place in the Rocky Mountain Rally held this past weekend near Calgary, Alberta.
"The stages were super haywire," said Richard. "It's been disappointing, I don't know the last time I came second."
The event was unusually challenging thanks to heavy snow, which caused delays and forced event organizers to re-route stages due to unsafe and even impassable roads.
Tire choice proved vital for every team as massive snow dumped onto the stage roads leading up to and during the event.
Some roads at altitude in the Porcupine Hills region of Alberta had up to 30 centimetres of snow, mixing with mud and water to create a slippery, difficult and unpredictable surface.
As a result of the unpredictable conditions, tire selection became a crucial factor, and Richard's choice of snow tires on the first day was not ideal. It helped create a time deficit he could not make up over the remainder of the event.
The team finished a little more than two minutes back from first place finishers Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard of Mitsubishi.
After two events, Subaru and Mitsubishi are tied for first in the Canadian Manufacturer's Championship.
Conditions created challenges for rally organizers. Saturday's schedule had to be completely redesigned when the road surface proved impassible on the southern stage roads. Organizers created a new schedule with the remaining roads, and teams tested themselves on five stages, finishing the rally late Saturday afternoon.
"It was a collaborative effort," said Shabir Haji, organizer of the Rocky Mountain Rally, of the decision to rewrite the schedule.
"We knew when the forecast was bad we may have to change the route. When marshals were getting stuck, the decision was quick. We had to develop a format to get the stage distances for the teams."
Third place was claimed by Bruno Carre, who came out of nowhere to win the Rallye Perce Neige in February. Leo Urlichich and Chrissie Beavis finished in fourth place, and Craig Henderson and Lyne Murphy placed fifth.
The next round of the Canadian Rally Championship is the Rallye Baie des Chaleurs, in New Richmond, Qu茅bec July 2 and 3. Drawing some of the biggest crowds of the year, the Baie rally is known for fast speeds and big jumps.
The Canadian Rally Championship is comprised of six events held nationwide in a season that extends from February to November.
The all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over closed-road courses that typically cover more than 150 kilometers of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads. Fans can get up close to the cars in the service areas and catch all the action from specially designated spectator points located at the best spots on the route.
The Canadian Association of Rallysport (CARS) is the official sanctioning body for rallying in Canada. Rally car racing is often described simply as "real cars, real roads, real fast."
