Press Release - July 25, 2016

• Print

Jean-Sébastien Besner and Hubert Gaudreau Claim Victory in Nova Scotia !

July 25, 2016.- The 2016 Eastern Canadian Rally Championship’s (ECRC) fifth of nine rounds and the only event contested in the Maritimes, the Ledwidge Lookoff Rally, in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, resulted in victory for the Quebec team of Jean-Sébastien Besner and his co-driver Hubert Gaudreau as they dominated the competition and won every single competitive stage. In two-wheel drive, local driver Malcolm Swann (co-driven by Quebecker Martin Cadieux) was victorious. 

Starting late on Saturday afternoon, under an intense sun, and continuing past midnight, this unique event on the calendar saw Besner/Gaudreau (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) take the lead on the first competitive stage. With thirteen gravel stages and thirteen stage wins later, Jean-Sébastien Besner and Hubert Gaudreau scored a perfect rally as Besner became the first driver to claim two ECRC events this season.  They took the victory with a gap of four minutes and twenty seconds over the second placed team and local Rallye Baie-des-Chaleurs competitors, Quebeckers Mikael and Manuel Arsenault (Subaru WRX STI).

Jonathan Conrad and Wayne Pitts (Subaru Impreza WRX) completed the podium, ahead of Cal Vandaalen and Meg Grandmaison (Subaru Impreza RS) and American rally veteran Vittorio Bares, co-driven by Tim Dine in an Audi quattro 4000.

Sixth overall and another veteran, Malcolm Swann particularly stood out. The Nova Scotian driver, co-driven by Quebecker Martin Cadieux in a Mazda RX-7, was one of the local favourites and delivered by claiming victory in the two-wheel drive class.

In the overall championship standings, as the season came to its mid-way point at the 2016 Ledwidge Lookoff Rally 2016, Jean-Sébastien Besner holds a solid lead at the top of the standings ahead of Simon Vincent, who was not competing this weekend in Nova Scotia. Besner currently has 71 points, Vincent is second with 39, as is Maxime Labrie. Bruno Laverdière, Eric Vlasic and André Leblanc complete the Top 6.  In the co-driver’s championship, Hubert Gaudreau joins Yvan Joyal, who won the Rallye Perce-Neige with Besner at the start of the season, at the top of the standings.

In two-wheel drive, Simon Dubé and Vincent Trudel lead their respective driver and co-driver standings.

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 of the championship, the Black Bear Rally, will take place in two weeks in Gilmour, Ontario.

2016 Calendar