Canadian Rally Championship

Canadian Rally Championship

Category	Rallying
Country	Canada
Inaugural season	1957
Drivers' champion	Antoine L'Estage
Official website	www.carsrally.ca
Current season

The Canadian Rally Championship is an automobile rallying championship sanctioned by the Canadian Association of RallySport (CARS) held since 1957 in Canada.

Canadian rallying history

Bryan Maplethorpe, in his open class 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX rally car at the 2007 Kananaskis Rally in Alberta, Canada.

The Canadian Rally Championship (CRC) is Canada's only national rallying series. 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Rally Championship, making it the longest running motorsport series in Canada. It has been run continuously since 1957 when Leslie Chelminski and Les Stanley from Montreal shared the very first national rally title in a factory-prepared Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia. In the early days, the rally championship was based on a navigational (also called time-speed-distance or TSD) rally series which, at times, had as many as twenty events in the series. The most notable Canadian car rallies in those days were the Canadian Winter Rally and the Shell 4000. Some Rally champions from the TSD era include Art Dempsey, Bill Silvera, and Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductees John Bird, Paul S. Manson, and Bruce D. Simpson.

As the sport gradually changed and adopted the European "stage" format, performance rallying became part of the Canadian motorsport picture. As opposed to TSD rallies, where competitors are required to follow the organizer's schedule, travel below posted speed limits and otherwise adhere to the rules of the public roads they are traveling on, performance rallies incorporate high speed "special stages" on roads closed to vehicles other than the rally cars, which must be specially prepared with full safety equipment. In 1973, the Canadian Rally Championship became based solely on stage rallies, including the Rally of the Tall Pines, which is still the premier event, and is held in November every year.

2015 CRC Season

The CRC consists of 6 national events for 2015. These events take place on gravel or snow-covered roads from coast to coast.

2015 Event Calendar

Round	Date	Event	Club	Location	Surface
1	February 6–7	Rallye Perce-Neige Maniwaki	CASLL	Maniwaki	Ice and snow-covered gravel
2	June 27–28	Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs	CRAB	New Richmond	Gravel
3	September 11–12	Rallye Defi	CASDI	Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts	Gravel
4	October 2–3	Pacific Forest Rally	WCRA	Merritt	Gravel
5	Oct 31– Nov 1	Rocky Mountain Rally	CSCC	Calgary	Ice and snow-covered gravel
6	November 27–28	Rally of the Tall Pines	MLRC	Bancroft	Gravel (ice and snow cover possible)

2014 Drivers' Championship Final Standings

Place	Driver	Car	Points
1.	Antoine L'Estage	Mitsubishi	132
2.	Martin Rowe	Subaru	52
3.	Alexandre Beland	Subaru	50
4.	Sylvain Vincent	Subaru	42
5.	Joel Levac	Mini	28
6.	Boris Djordjevic	Mitsubishi	26
7.	Jean-Sebastien Besner	Mitsubishi	24
7.	Maxime Labrie	Subaru	24
9.	Patrick Richard	Subaru	17
10.	Will Hudson	Ford	16

2014 Co-Drivers' Championship Final Standings

Place	Co-Driver	Points
1.	Alan Ockwell	110
2.	Nathalie Richard	69
3.	John Hall	51
4.	Simon Vincent	42
5.	Lyne Murphy	32
6.	Stéphanie Lewis	28
7.	Yvan Joyal	24
8.	Philippe Poirier	20
8.	Massimo Narini	16
10.	Leanne Junnila	15

2014 Manufacturers' Championship Final Standings

Place	Team	Points
1.	Mitsubishi	120
2.	Subaru	90
3.	Mini	24
4.	BMW	12
5.	Ford	10

Champions

Year	Driver	Co-Driver	Marque
1957	Leslie Chelminski	Les Stanley	Volkswagen
1958	Leslie Chelminski
1959	Art Dempsey	Bill A. Silvera
1960	Art Dempsey	Bill A. Silvera
1961		Bill A. Silvera
1962		John C. Wilson
1963		John Bird	Volkswagen
1964		John Bird	Volkswagen
1965		John Bird	Volkswagen
1966	Bruce Simpson		Volvo
1967	Klaus Ross	Paul S. Manson	Datsun
1968	Keith Ronald	John Slade	Volkswagen
1969	Bruce Schmidt	Betty Schmidt/Paul S. Manson	Datsun
1970	Walter Boyce	Doug Woods	Datsun
1971	Walter Boyce	Doug Woods	Datsun
1972	Walter Boyce	Doug Woods	Datsun
1973	Walter Boyce	Doug Woods	Fiat
1974	Walter Boyce	Doug Woods	Toyota
1975	Jean-Paul Perusse	John Bellefleur	Fiat
1976	Jean-Paul Perusse	John Bellefleur	Fiat
1977	Taisto Heinonen	Tom Burgess	Toyota
1978	Taisto Heinonen	Tom Burgess	Toyota
1979	Taisto Heinonen	Tom Burgess	Toyota
1980	Taisto Heinonen	Tom Burgess	Toyota
1981	Randy Black	Bob Lee	Toyota
1982	Taisto Heinonen	Tom Burgess	Toyota
1983	Randy Black	Tom Burgess	Nissan
1984	Tim Bendle	Mary Crundwell	Toyota
1985	Tim Bendle	Louis Belanger	Toyota
1986	Bo Skowronnek	Terry Epp	Volvo
1987	Alain Bergeron	Martin Headland	Toyota
1988	Alain Bergeron	Raymond Cadieux	Toyota
1989	Paul Choiniere	Martin Headland	Audi
1990	Tom McGeer	Trish Sparrow	Audi
1991	Frank Sprongl	Dan Sprongl	Audi
1992	Tom McGeer	Trish Sparrow	Audi
1993	Tom McGeer	Trish Sparrow	Subaru
1994	Frank Sprongl	Dan Sprongl	Audi
1995	Frank Sprongl	Mike Koch	Audi
1996	Carl Merrill	Yorgi Bittner	Eagle
1997	Frank Sprongl	Dan Sprongl	Audi
1998	Frank Sprongl	Dan Sprongl	Audi
1999	Frank Sprongl	Dan Sprongl	Audi
2000	Tom McGeer	Mark Williams	Subaru
2001	Tom McGeer	Mark Williams	Subaru
2002	Patrick Richard	Ian McCurdy	Subaru
2003	Tom McGeer	Philip Erickson	Subaru
2004	Patrick Richard	Nathalie Richard	Subaru
2005	Peter Thomson	Rod Hendrickson	Subaru
2006	Antoine L'Estage	Ole Holter	Hyundai
2007	Antoine L'Estage	Nathalie Richard	Hyundai
2008	Patrick Richard	Alan Ockwell	Subaru
2009	Patrick Richard	Alan Ockwell	Subaru
2010	Antoine L'Estage	Nathalie Richard	Mitsubishi
2011	Antoine L'Estage	Nathalie Richard	Mitsubishi
2012	Antoine L'Estage	Nathalie Richard	Mitsubishi
2013	Antoine L'Estage	Nathalie Richard	Mitsubishi
2014	Antoine L'Estage	Alan Ockwell	Mitsubishi
2015	Antoine L'Estage	Alan Ockwell	Subaru

Canadian Performance Rally Lifetime Standings

The following standings are based on an individual's placings in the first six overall positions on all Canadian Championship Performance Rallies from 1973 to 2008. There are 13 drivers who have attained Grand Master status (>2000 points)

Driver	Lifetime Points	CARS Points	Career Wins
Taisto Heinonen	5580	1104	40
Tom McGeer	4990	1053	21
Frank Sprongl	4940	1049	36
John Buffum	4900	778	43
Jean-Paul Perusse	3860	784	21
Walter Boyce	2920	593	12
Randy Black	2880	570	10
Patrick Richard	2430	508	14
Bo Skowronnek	2390	503	5
Carl Merril	2350	382	8
Antoine L'Estage	2270	496	15
Sylvain Vincent	2130	460	0
Bjorn Anderson	2120	420	6

External links

• The Canadian Association of Rallysport web site.