Peter Thomson wins the Perce-Neige Rally
Maniwaki (Quebec), February 6, 2005.- Ontario driver Peter Thomson and
his American co-driver Rod Hendricksen piloted their Group N Subaru
Impreza to victory in the 40th running of the Perce-Neige Rally held in
Maniwaki (QC) this weekend.
Antoine L'Estage and Yanick Napert from St-Jean sur Richelieu, Quebec,
driving a 4WD Hyundai Tiburon led the early stages of the event held in
perfect winter conditions. L'Estage and Napert, the favourites for
overall victory were unfortunately forced into a retirement at mid-event
due to a broken transmission.
With L'Estage and Napert out of the running, the fight for victory
involved Quebecers Joel Levac and Jean-Paul Perusse and Peter Thomson of
Toronto. Thomson took the advantage in the twisty Special Stage 7,
setting a time that was 25 seconds faster than that of his closest rival.
This stunning performance gave Thomson the overall lead -- a position he
kept until the end of the rally. In previous years, Thomson had clinched
national class wins and victories in Ontario rallies but this was his
first overall victory in a Canadian event.
Joel Levac and Eric Bourbonnais, driving a Subaru Impreza WRX, finished
second followed by Jean-Paul Perusse and Marcel-Paul Raymond in their
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.6. American Matthew Iorio (Subaru Impreza WRX)
finished in fourth place.
One of the brilliant performances of the 2005 Perce-Neige Rally was that
of Bill Beacon and Peter Watt of team Suzuki Canada. Driving their
two-wheel drive Suzuki Swift+, they captured a stunning top five finish
and even set the fastest time in the last special stage. To beat the
Group N four-wheel drive cars and the Open class cars in a two-wheel
drive car is quite astonishing! In their first rally behind the wheel of
the other Swift+ entered by Suzuki Canada, Frank and Dan Sprongl did very
well, finishing in eighth position.
The Perce-Neige Rally marked the opening round of the 2005 Canadian Rally
Championship. The second event -- the Rocky Mountain - will be held in
Calgary, Alberta, May 27 and 28. For additional information about the
Canadian Rally Championship, please visit the web site at
www.carsrally.ca.
Final standings (Top 10 -- the complete results can be found at www.rallyscoring.com):
1) Peter Thomson - Rod Hendricksen Subaru Impreza WRX - 2h39'39"
2) Joël Levac - Eric Bourbonnais Subaru Impreza WRX at 40 sec.
3) Jean-Paul Perusse - Marcel-Paul Raymond Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.6 at 2'59"
4) Matthew Iorio - Ole Holter Subaru Impreza WRX at 3'20"
5) William Bacon - Peter Watt Suzuki Swift + at 12'52"
6) Frederic Labrie - Robert Labrie Subaru Impreza WRX at 13'28"
7) John Cassidy - Dave Getchell Subaru Impreza WRX at 13'37"
8) Frank Sprongl - Dan Sprongl Suzuki Swift + at 14'03"
9) Ken Block - Marc Goldfarb Subaru Impreza WRX at 17'43"
10) Philippe Dube - Daniel Paquette Subaru Impreza RS at 18'39"
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