Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard started the 2009 Canadian Rally Championship with a win at the legendary Rallye Perce Neige last week-end. The rally featured an exceptionally strong field that included six former winners, and some of the most trying conditions this rally has ever seen.

L'Estage and co-driver Richard came to the event with their brand new Rockstar Royal Group Mitsubishi EVO X and planned to use the event to develop the car. After almost 200 kilometres of competition, the reigning North American Rally Champions had a winning margin of just four seconds.

"It's absolutely amazing, unbelievable," said L'Estage at the finish. "We came here expecting to be slower, and just learn the car, but other people had problems and we got faster. I'm very, very happy with the result."

Second place went to Sylvain and Philip Erickson. Showing his traditional aggressive driving style, Erickson pulled into the lead in the afternoon, but slipped to their final podium position behind L'Estage after encountering engine trouble and pacenote problems.

"I am very happy to have finished on the podium," said Sylvain Erickson. "It was a tough event and not everything went how we wanted, but we've made it here to the podium as the fastest Subaru."

Third place goes to Peter Thomson and Rod Hendricksen. The two have not run very many events this past year, but were able to stay clean the entire event and finish up on the podium.

"It's a bit unexpected, but it's great to get the podium," said Thomson. "We just tried to do our own thing and let everyone else make mistakes."

The 2009 Rallye Perce Neige Maniwaki featured a strong and very deep field. Multiple champions including Antoine L'Estage, Pat Richard, Frank Sprongl and Peter Thomson as well as others to watch in the form of Craig Henderson, Nick Mathew and Chris Martin, were all on hand to contest the race. Many of these drivers are expected to contest the full Canadian Rally Championship.

Former Canadian Rally Champion Frank Sprongl took the early lead and won nearly every stage. A time penalty was assessed in the early afternoon and Sprongl was fighting to make up the time but crashed late in the day, ending his rally.

Defending Canadian Rally Champions, Subaru Rally Team Canada's Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell, were leading the event when their engine blew near the end of the rally.

Brothers Jan and Jody Zedril were the fastest two-wheel drive car, finishing 14th overall in their 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer. The duo ran in the Group 2 class, reserved for modified two wheel drive cars.

The Rallye Perce-Neige Maniwaki is the only true winter rally in the Canadian Rally Championship and is home to some of the longest stages on the continent. The event included a grueling 195 kilometers of fast competitive stages over ice and snow.

"It's a fantastic start to the season, we had a really deep field here. That we had six drivers who have all won here before is pretty amazing," said Terry Epp, the National Series Manager for the Canadian Association of Rallysport.

The series moves west for the next round of the championship, the Rocky Mountain Rally, May 29-30. The event is based in Calgary, Province of Alberta.