Six weeks after the Rallye International Baie-des-Chaleurs in Québec, Eastern Canadian Rally Championship (ECRC) teams were back to competition in Ontario to contest the Black Bear Rally. The event was won by Ontarians Trevor Pougnet and Ryan Rouleau, with their Subaru WRX STI, their first victory of the season. They became the fifth different overall winners in the six rallies contested so far in 2024.
Held under sunny skies and on dirt roads in the Catchacoma region, a two-hour drive northeast of Toronto, the event saw the Ottawa duo of Pougnet and Rouleau lead from start to finish. They did have to face serious competition, as evident by the four different winners in the first four stages.
After Pougnet and his co-driver took the lead at the end of the first competitive stage, Zachary Bourassa and co-driver Érika Séguin, in a Subaru WRX STI, won the second stage. Then it was the experienced Leo Urlichich and Sam Roxon who set fastest time on the third stage, with their Ford Focus ZX3, before Yohan Tessier and Marie-France Desmarais-Trépanier, in a Subaru from the multi-champion Test Racing team, followed suit by winning the fourth stage. At the halfway point of the rally, the top six crews were separated by less than a minute.
The second half of the event saw Trevor Pougnet and Ryan Rouleau pick up the pace and win the final three stages to claim victory, with a lead of 18.7 seconds over Urlichich/Roxon, who also won the two-wheel drive class. The top-three overall was rounded out by Tessier/Desmarais-Trépanier, ahead of Jonathan Drake and Ian Lantz (Subaru Impreza) and Olivier David/Leah Brisset (Subaru WRX STI).
Sixth overall, Mathieu Royer and Alyssa Voyzelle-Montminy, also finished in second place in two-wheel drive, with their Nissan Sentra. For Voyzelle-Montminy, her weekend was particularly busy because, right after the Black Bear Rally podium, she hit the road for the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, where she was participating in the 54th edition of the event, as a driver in a Super Production Challenge race. She also contested the GP3R practices on Friday, under the rain, before heading to Catchacoma.
Andrew Miller, with co-driver and former Canadian champion Mike Koch, finished in seventh place, with their Subaru, ahead of American and series regulars Margaret Sharron and Jennie Holden (Subaru WRX STI). The overall top-ten was completed by Martin Donnelly/Brandon Pace (Subaru), followed by Mark Toufanov/David Bell, who also finished third in 2WD class with their Toyota GT86.
It was a disappointing day for Zachary Bourassa and Érika Séguin, who suffered mechanical problems, and for Jon Desgroseilliers/Audrey Godin, who were competing with a BMW 128i two-wheel drive. These two teams were the only ones to not finish the 2024 edition of the Black Bear Rally, which started with 17 teams.
The Eastern Canadian Rally Championship (ECRC) is comprised of nine rounds this season, spread out between Ontario and Quebec. The next event will take place on September 7-8, as part of the Rallye Défi Petite Nation in the Outaouais region near Montpellier, QC.
For more information, please visit www.ecrc-crec.ca.
- By Service Presse
