Podium finish for ACP at Rally America season opener

ATLANTA, Michigan (ACP Rally) – Rally driver Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard made a strong start to the season this weekend with a podium finish at the Sno*Drift rally in wintry northern Michigan.

He and co-driver Marc Goldfarb overcame early handling problems with their NOS Energy Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX to pull into third place late on Day 2.

“It was a classic snow rally,” says Comrie-Picard. “We stayed in it and didn’t make any big mistakes.”

Sno*Drift is the only true winter rally in the series, and the typically slick conditions reward a measured approach and excellent tire choice. The rules for rally competition in North America prohibit the use of studded tires and finding traction at high speeds poses a particular challenge on ice and snow.

“Winter rallies are a constant balance of deciding how hard to push against how to take as few risks as possible,” said Comrie-Picard. “Our Yokohama tires give us confidence across the whole range of these tough winter conditions -- from deep snow to glare ice.”

A braking problem with the team’s competition vehicle emerged early in the contest and cost them some time, but the crew of technicians -- supported by specialists from AMS, in Chicago, and Works, in California – were able to nurture the car to the finish.

Comrie-Picard and the NOS Energy Mitsubishi shared the podium with Red Bull-backed Travis Pastrana, the winner in his factory Subaru WRX STi, and second-place Rockstar Energy’s Tanner Foust in the ex-factory Hyundai Tiburon.

ACP Rally’s next competition will be at the Rallye Perce-Neige Maniwaki in Quebec next weekend (February 6-7). They are favored for a top finish at the Canadian season opener; they won the event in 2007 with a measured drive and finished second there last year.

Comrie-Picard and co-driver Marc Goldfarb contested Sno*Drift in the NOS Energy Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. The team is also developing a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X that they debuted last November in Canada. They will run the Evolution X in select events in 2009.

The team is pleased to announce the return of key sponsors NOS Energy Drink, K&N Air Filters, Yokohama Tire Canada, and Mitsubishi Canada, who again partner with ACP Rally in the 2009 season.

Rally car racing is considered the extreme sport of automobile racing and is often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” This all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over courses that cover more than 100 miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.

The sport is featured in the annual X Games, the premier action sports event on the globe, featuring athletes competing for medals and prize money in sports including BMX Freestyle, Moto X, Skateboard, and Rally. Comrie-Picard has been among the dozen invited drivers every year since the rally discipline was introduced to the contest, and he has already secured an early invitation to return in 2009.

The Rally America national championship is a challenging, all-season series comprised of nine events across the country, beginning with Sno*Drift and wrapping up in October with the Lake Superior Performance Rally. The Canadian Rally Championship has six events in a cross-Canada season that extends from early February to late November. ACP Rally will contest a busy season, with championship events on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, and the X Games.