Other rally

Rallye International de Charlevoix day 1 summary

U.S. Champion builds solid lead in Canada's premier car rally. LA MALBAIE, QUE. (Oct. 25/2002) - Eleven-time U.S. driving champion John Buffum built a commanding lead on Friday in the first leg of Canada's premier car rally in the Charlevoix ...

Published: Oct 27, 2002, 3:33 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

U.S. Champion builds solid lead in Canada's premier car rally.

LA MALBAIE, QUE. (Oct. 25/2002) - Eleven-time U.S. driving champion John Buffum built a commanding lead on Friday in the first leg of Canada's premier car rally in the Charlevoix region of Quebec.

At the wheel of a Hyundai Tiburon, the veteran Vermont driver pulled out a gap of more than three minutes over top Canadian, Andrew Comrie-Picard, on the first of three days of action in the Rallye International de Charlevoix.

This event is the longest and most grueling round of the Subaru Canadian Rally Championship, presented by Yokohama, and is Canada's candidate for inclusion in the world championship. It is being observed by members of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, the sport's global governing body.

Buffum was fastest on five of Friday's six special stages - the high-speed sections on roads temporarily closed to the public - despite a long absence from the driver's seat. Semi-retired the past few years, he has not competed since the 2001 Charlevoix event.

With Steven McCauley as navigator, he completed 145.54 kilometres of special stages in one hour, 28 minutes, 55 seconds, for an average of 96.17 kph. He attributed his success to the right choice of tires for the conditions - a tricky mix of snow, ice, slush and mud on forestry roads north of La Malbaie.

"Our tire choice was good, but I definitely did not expect to be this far ahead," said Buffum, who previously won at Charlevoix in 1999.

Second-placed Comrie-Picard, a native of Alberta now living in New York, had problems with the tires on his Mitsubishi Lancer. He picked up four flats and had to borrow spare tires from another team, already out of the event.

Toronto-area drivers Peter Thomson and Tom McGeer ended the day in third and fourth places, both driving Subaru Impreza WRXs. McGeer, a five-time Canadian champion, is chasing the North American Rally Cup this year and has to finish here to have any chance of overhauling current leader Pat Richard.

Richard, of Vancouver, who has already clinched the 2002 Canadian title, was an early casualty. Just one kilometre into the opening stage, the factory Subaru driver hit a bank and broke the suspension of his Impreza WRX.

Attrition has been high. Eight of 30 cars failed to complete the first day of competition. Besides Richard, notable retirements included Sylvain Erickson, of Gatineau, Que. - currently second in the Canadian point standings - who hit a rock and damaged the suspension of his Mitsubishi Lancer.

German visitor Antony Warmbold was the only driver to beat Buffum all day. He was fastest on stage four in his world championship specification Toyota Corolla, but went out on the very next segment. Monaco's Auguste Turiani retired with steering problems on his Mitsubishi Lancer.

-cars-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Tarka: Supervan misses out on off-road swansong

Next article Oxfordshire: Leg one summary

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

F1 Mexico GP: Friday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

54 min

F1 Mexico GP: Friday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch

Unwell Kimi Antonelli skips F1 Mexico GP media day

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

2 h

Unwell Kimi Antonelli skips F1 Mexico GP media day

Adding a stage, fuel cell mod all on table to fix superspeedway fuel saving

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Talladega II

2 h

Adding a stage, fuel cell mod all on table to fix superspeedway fuel saving

Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans

WEC

WEC WEC 3 h

Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts