Other rally
Series spotlight: 2010 Champions
L'Estage and Richard: 2010 Rally America Champions! Golden Valley, MN (July 22, 2010) -- Rockstar Energy Drink Royal Group Team's Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard, both from Quebec, Canada, became the newest Rally America National Champions ...
Published: Aug 19, 2010, 2:04 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
L'Estage and Richard: 2010 Rally America Champions!
Golden Valley, MN (July 22, 2010) -- Rockstar Energy Drink Royal Group Team's Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard, both from Quebec, Canada, became the newest Rally America National Champions after a spectacular drive at the drama filled New England Forest Rally!
This is Antoine L'Estage's first Rally America title and Nathalie Richard's third co-driver title. She co-drove for her brother, Patrick Richard, on his way to win the 2005 Rally America and 2004 SCCA ProRally Championships.
L'Estage led the 2010 Championship heading into the season's final round with a 13 point advantage over New England hometown favorite, Bill Bacon a full-time Firefighter from Nashua, NH, and just needed 5th place or better to gain enough points to become Rally America's third ever title holder. Bacon, who has doggedly pursued L'Estage on the podium all season, was the only driver within striking distance of L'Estage, but he had to win the event outright and rely on L'Estage finishing outside of 5th place to snatch the Championship for his own. But Bacon suffered a devastating flat tire on Stage 9 that pushed him back to an overall 6th place finish.
Luck was on L'Estage's side though as he faced the return of 4-time Rally America Champion, Travis Pastrana from Davidsonville, Maryland, and Monster World Rally Team's Ken Block from Encinitas, California. Pastrana missed two crucial rally events when he was in Australia for two months performing in a Live Nitro Circus television show, thus costing him valuable points and relegated him to a 3rd place position in the overall Championship points.
Early on, Ken Block led the New England Forest Rally in his Monster Energy-backed Ford Fiesta until he went too wide in a sweeping Stage 4 corner and ditched his car damaging his rear suspension. That left Pastrana in the overall lead by nearly 3 minutes until Stage 11 when he lost oil pressure in his 2010 Subaru WRX STI and was forced to retire. L'Estage and Richard then cruised to the end, winning the New England Forest Rally and stepping into the record books as the new 2010 Rally America National Champions!
It was not an easy season for L'Estage and Richard. At the start of 2010, they planned to compete in just four Rally America events in addition to their Canadian Rally Series schedule with just one car - a 2010 Mistubishi Lancer Evolution X prepared by US Rally legend John Buffum and his team at Libra Racing. But once the two Canadians found themselves at the top of the overall Rally America points in early spring and with two West Coast Rally America events looming, they mustered enough energy and funding to trek across the country from Quebec to see if they could maintain their overall points lead.
"I've never rallied in the West Coast, so it was a huge gamble for us," said L'Estage following the Olympus Rally. "I came to the West Coast with the goal of maximizing recce at Oregon Trail and winning this rally. At Olympus there was no point in catching Pastrana. I just wanted to save my 2nd place for the big picture."
L'Estage also placed his West Coast finishes in perspective: "Travis Pastrana has been out here rallying for years and should know these roads. I suppose it would be the same situation if Pastrana came to the Canadian Baie Des Chaleurs Rally where I know those roads and he just showed up for the first time."
Antoine L'Estage has even more on the line competing in two North American Rally Championships with a single car making his run for a title even more special and improbable. Each event L'Estage entered he hoped for a smooth and problem-free run. Any catastrophic failure meant throwing away his season in both the Rally America Championship as well as the Canadian Rally Series, not to mention the coveted North American Rally Cup.
With the Rally America Championship secured, he and Nathalie can now focus their efforts on finishing the Canadian Rally Series season where they currently sit in 4th place overall.
Before he returns to his homeland, L'Estage has one more stop on U.S. soil at the Summer X Games 16 in Los Angeles where he plans to compete in both Rally Car Racing and the newly added discipline for Rally cars, SuperRally.
An experienced X Games competitor, L'Estage has even more momentum on his side heading to the big show in Los Angeles to win his first X Games medal. Plus, he will be part of motorsports history as a participant in the first-ever SuperRally competition featuring four rally cars at a time battling wheel-to-wheel on the L.A. Memorial Coliseum floor.
This has been the dream season that has validated Antoine L'Estage's talent as one of North America's best rally drivers. There are many ways to win a Championship and L'Estage, along with his co-driver, Nathalie Richard, have shown that consistency pays huge dividends in the world or rally. With that, L'Estage and Richard have cemented their place in rally history as the duo who broke Travis Pastrana's run of four consecutive Rally America Overall Championships. And now he joins his co-driver's brother, Patrick Richard, as only the second Canadian rally driver in history to win the Rally America Overall Championship.
-source: rally america
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
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article USRC: Volkan Isik to compete in Int'l Rally NY
Next article Quentin Mitchell Zimbabwe Challenge Rally preview
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Ken Block
Cadillac F1 announces high-profile signing of former Miami GP president ahead of 2026 F1 debut
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Cadillac F1 announces high-profile signing of former Miami GP president ahead of 2026 F1 debut
Lia Block "struggled" with being seen only as Ken Block’s daughter but proud: "He shaped who I am"
F1 Academy
F1 Academy
Zandvoort
Lia Block "struggled" with being seen only as Ken Block’s daughter but proud: "He shaped who I am"
Items from Ken Block’s career listed for charity auction
Other rally
Other rally
Items from Ken Block’s career listed for charity auction
Latest news
Kimi Antonelli delivers Austin surprise pole in tricky Mercedes: "Finally we're seeing the results"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
24 min
Kimi Antonelli delivers Austin surprise pole in tricky Mercedes: "Finally we're seeing the results"
Why Ferrari failed to deliver on its hype in F1's United States GP qualifying
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
39 min
Why Ferrari failed to deliver on its hype in F1's United States GP qualifying
Jorge Martin planning MotoGP return at Malaysian GP
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
1 h
Jorge Martin planning MotoGP return at Malaysian GP
Lando Norris laments "very bad job" in qualifying for F1 United States GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
Lando Norris laments "very bad job" in qualifying for F1 United States GP
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
Subscribe