Press Release - February 7, 2016

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Maxime and Robert Labrie, First Winners of 2016

in the Eastern Canadian Rally Championship

February 7 2016. - This past weekend, the Rallye Perce-Neige was held in Maniwaki, Québec, the first round of the 2016 Eastern Canadian Rally Championship (ECRC). A tricky event taking place on snow and ice that had many surprises and several different leaders throughout the day before top honours were eventually awarded to Quebec driver Maxime Labrie, co-driven by his father Robert, in a Swap Shop Subaru WRX STI.

It is the regional section of the rally which counted for ECRC 2016 and took place during the second half of the event only, but 20 of the 23 teams involved in the ECRC also participated in the national section, and ECRC teams have made the show.

First rally leaders were Jean-Sébastien Besner and Yvan Joyal (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) followed by young Karel Carré and Samuel Joyal (Subaru WRX STI). The national rally then saw the Labrie duo, who were only sitting in fifth spot a third of the way into the day, slowly climb their way ahead to definitively take the lead in the second half of the rally and then cross the finish line two minutes and twenty seconds ahead of Besner/Joyal in the ECRC standings. This win at Rallye Perce-Neige is Maxime Labrie's first career overall national victory and one of his first in the Eastern Canadian Rally Championship.

In these tricky conditions, where the most minor "off" could result in minutes lost trying to get your car out of a snowbank, there was nothing too surprising about Labrie and Besner's performances, seeing as they are two experienced drivers. The podium is completed by Simon and Éric Losier (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.8) who have achieved excellent stages time in the second part of the event, the ECRC section.

One of the most biggest surprise of the event is the fourth place finish clinched Simon Dubé et Éric Lachance (Volkswagen Golf GTI). The 2WD 2016 champions have dominated the ECRC part of the rally in their class (2 wheel drive cars) by more than 22 minutes. They also finished ahead of no less than 8 four wheel drive cars!

The Top 5 was completed by the father/daughter duo of Sylvain and Chloé Érickson, who swapped their un-ready Hyundai Accent WRC for the Subaru Impreza RS, with which Sylvain gave the most spectacular show to all the spectators lining the roads in the Forêt de l'Aigle during the 2016 edition of this popular event.

The Érickson family is followed by a rookie driver. Simon Vincent, son of Sylvain Vincent (winner of the series' inaugural season's first event, last year), co-driven by his mother Dominique Cyr and using the Subaru WRX STI prepared by Test Racing, with which his father concluded his own driving career at the end of 2015, contested a remarkable Rallye Perce-Neige to finish in ECRC sixth place.

Quebeckers Bruno Laverdière and Pat Lévesque (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8) finished seventh, and Ontarian Eric Vlasic, co-driven by Quebecker Hubert Gaudreau, in a Subaru Legacy eighth, ahead of Gaspesian André Leblanc/René Leblanc, and Mikael Arsenault/Manuel Arsenault, both on Subaru WRX STI.

Also to note was Karel Carré and Samuel Joyal's sixteen place finish, following mechanical problems in the second half of the rally that cost them their fight as they battled for the overall victory.

The Eastern Canadian Rally Championship (ECRC) consists of nine rounds this season, all at the regional level, spread out between Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces. The next round will take place on May 7th, in Ontario, for the Lanark Highlands Forest Rally.

2016 Calendar