Dramatic victory gives L’Estage and Richard the Rally America title

BETHEL, Maine (July 17, 2010) – A dramatic victory earned in the final minutes of the two-day New England Forest Rally has earned the Yokohama team of Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard a U.S. national rally championship. Driver L’Estage and co-driver Richard overcame a blown turbocharger that left them in a disappointing fifth place at the halfway point of the grueling rally to take the lead in the second-last stage, then held on to claim the victory and the Rally America national title.

The Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X of L’Estage and Richard, of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, finished 42.7 seconds ahead of the Subaru of second place Ramana Lagemann of Massachusetts and co-driver Christine Beavis of California. Third went to the Mitsubishi of Joseph Burke of Georgia and co-driver Alexander Kihurani of Pennsylvania. L’Estage and Richard held a comfortable lead in the Rally America championship coming into the New England Forest Rally, the final event of the 2010 calendar.

Their championship hopes were dimmed with the early turbo failure that cost them one minute and 40 seconds to the Subaru of early leader Travis Pastrana of Maryland and Christian Edstrom of New York. But former Rally America champs Pastrana and Edstrom had their own difficulties, with mechanical problems that took them out of the rally on the second-last stage. L’Estage and Richard had fought back to second place, then took over the lead – and the title – in the final minutes of the event. It is the first time that a Canadian team has won the prestigious title since 2005, when Yokohama team driver Pat Richard of Squamish, B.C. and sister Nathalie claimed the championship.

Known for its rough surfaces and difficult conditions, the New England Forest Rally is notoriously hard on tires. L’Estage/Richard relied on specialized Yokohama A035e competition tires for the marathon event. “They were faultless,” L’Estage reports. Before they wrapped up the U.S. championship. L’Estage and Richard earned the Yokohama-sponsored team an invitation to this summer’s prestigious X Games in Los Angeles – the crown jewel in the U.S. season. Rally joins such extreme action sports as BMX, freestyle motocross and skate boarding in a frenzied three-day festival from July 29 through August 1, 2010. The televised action has gained a worldwide following since the first X Games in 1995.

In addition to its sponsorship of Antoine L’Estage/Nathalie Richard and Pat Richard/Allan Ockwell, Yokohama Canada is a supporting sponsor of the Canadian Rally Championship. The Canadian championship has been televised nationally on TSN and RDS since 1993, and is made available on multiple media platforms, including TSN 2, as downloads from iTunes, on-line on Flat Over Crest (www.flatovercrest.com) and to 80 million homes in Europe on MotorsTV.

Yokohama Tire (Canada) Inc. markets and distributes a full line of tires for high performance, passenger car, light truck, and commercial truck applications, as well as off-the-road tires for mining, forestry and construction applications. It maintains distribution centres across Canada to serve more than 700 independent tire dealers and more than 2,000 retail locations.