# Canadian Rally Championship

The Canadian Rally Championship is an automobile rallying championship sanctioned by the Canadian Association of RallySport (CARS) held since 1957 in Canada. The Canadian Rally Championship follows a 2 class format; 2-Wheel Drive, 4/All-Wheel Drive.

## Canadian rallying history

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.

## 2018 CRC Season

The CRC consists of 7 national events for 2018. These events take place on gravel or snow-covered roads from coast to coast.

### 2018 Event Calendar

| Round | Date | Event | Club | Location | Surface |
| 1 | February 2–3 | Rallye Perce-Neige Maniwaki | CASLL | Maniwaki | Ice and snow-covered gravel |
| 2 | May 25–27 | Rocky Mountain Rally | CSCC | Invermere | Gravel |
| 3 | June 29–July 1 | Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs | CRAB | New Richmond | Gravel |
| 4 | September 6–08 | Rallye Defi | CASDI | Montpellier, Quebec | Gravel |
| 5 | September 28–30 | Pacific Forest Rally | WCRA | Merritt | Gravel |
| 6 | November 23–24 | Rally of the Tall Pines | MLRC | Bancroft | Gravel (ice and snow cover possible) |
| 7 | December 7–9 | Big White Winter Rally | WCRA | Kelowna | Ice and snow-covered gravel |

### 2017 Drivers' Championship Final Standings

| Place | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1. | Antoine L'Estage | Subaru | 111 |
| 2. | Brandon Semenuk | Subaru | 75 |
| 3. | Leonid Urlichich | Subaru | 69 |
| 4. | Nicholas Spencer | Subaru | 31 |
| 5. | Nicolas Laverdière | Mitsubishi | 30 |
| 5. | Simon Vincent | Subaru | 30 |
| 7. | André Leblanc | Subaru | 27 |
| 8. | Travis Nease | Subaru | 22 |
| 9. | Eric Grochowski | Subaru | 21 |
| 9. | Wim van der Poel | Ford | 21 |

### 2017 Co-Drivers' Championship Final Standings

| Place | Co-Driver | Points |
| 1. | Alan Ockwell | 111 |
| 2. | John Hall | 82 |
| 3. | Alex Kihurani | 55 |
| 4. | Grzegorz Dorman | 35 |
| 5. | Vincent Trudel | 30 |
| 6. | Leanne Junnila | 27 |
| 6. | René Leblanc | 27 |
| 8. | Liga Kotane | 24 |
| 8. | Patrick Lévesque | 24 |
| 10. | Martin Burnley | 22 |

### 2017 Manufacturers' Championship Final Standings

| Place | Team | Points |
| 1. | Subaru | 140 |
| 2. | Mitsubishi | 68 |
| 3. | Ford | 17 |
| 4. | Porsche | 4 |
| 5. | Honda | 2 |

## 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 | George A. Merson | 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 |
| 2016 | Antoine L'Estage | Darren Garrod | Subaru |
| 2017 | Antoine L'Estage | Alan Ockwell | Subaru |
| 2018 | Karel Carré | Samuel Joyal | Subaru |
| 2019 | Karel Carré | Samuel Joyal | Subaru |
| 2021 | André Leblanc | René Leblanc | Subaru |
| 2022 | Jerome Mailloux | Philippe Poirier | Subaru |
| 2023 | Jean-Sébastien Besner | Yvan Joyal | Ford |

## 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 2016. There are 13 drivers who have attained Grand Master status (>2000 points)
| Driver | Lifetime Points | CARS Points | Career Wins |
| Antoine L'Estage | 6190 | 1373 | 49 |
| Taisto Heinonen | 5580 | 1110 | 40 |
| Frank Sprongl | 5000 | 1065 | 36 |
| Tom McGeer | 4990 | 1053 | 21 |
| John Buffum | 4900 | 778 | 43 |
| Patrick Richard | 4160 | 894 | 22 |
| Jean-Paul Perusse | 3860 | 784 | 21 |
| Walter Boyce | 2920 | 593 | 12 |
| Randy Black | 2880 | 570 | 10 |
| Sylvain Vincent | 2540 | 571 | 1 |
| Bo Skowronnek | 2390 | 503 | 5 |
| Carl Merril | 2350 | 382 | 8 |
| Bjorn Anderson | 2120 | 420 | 6 |