North American Rally Champion Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard took third place overall and the Bronze Medal in Rally Car Racing at X Games 16 using ENKEI RC-G4 wheels this weekend in a hard-fought battle that saw twelve of the best drivers and teams in the country and from around the world fighting in the Los Angeles Coliseum.
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For Comrie-Picard, the result was the culmination of successful year as a driver, TV host, and now team owner. “We’ve competed at every X Games, but this year was probably the most challenging. The venue change, the rules changes, and running a car for a guest driver – all these things made concentrating on my own driving difficult, and yet we were lucky enough to come through with a medal” said ACP.
The X Games Rally Car Racing had previously taken place at the Home Depot Center, but this year was at the historic LA Coliseum. Rules changes saw the allowance of European-format 600-horsepower cars, and Comrie-Picard supported FormulaDrift teammate Samuel Hubinette by lending Hubinette his newer Mitsubishi Evoluiton X for the SuperRally competition.
“Actually all the pressure and complexities that this year threw at us were probably a good thing. We didn’t have time to think about anything else, so when race day came, we just went for it. X Games is all about putting it out there, and that’s exactly what we did” said Comrie-Picard.
Ford drivers Tanner Foust and Brian Deegan took first and second place respectively, and fellow Canadian Antoine L’Estage tied with Comrie-Picard for the Bronze in lieu of a showdown medal match. He, like Hubinette, was competing in a newer Mitsubishi Evolution X.
The result was a tremendous success for ACP Racing and Comrie-Picard, as only a day before they blew their high-spec large turbo and so competed with a stock Mitsubishi turbo and 40mm intake restrictor. This meant they were competing with about 200hp less than their main rivals on 45mm intake restrictors.
“You work with what you have,” quipped ACP. “We’ll be back next year with all the game we can muster, and we’ll be in it for the gold.”
ABOUT THE DRIVER: Andrew Comrie-Picard is the current North American Rally Champion and in 2010 competed in X Games for a fifth time. He also drifts at the professional level for Dodge Motorsports and BFGoodrich in the FormulaD drift championship in a Viper. When he isn’t racing, Comrie-Picard works in film, television, and print media as an automotive expert; he hosts the television show Ultimate Car Build-off (http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/ultimate-car-build-off/
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The ACP Rally program is made possible by: NOS Energy (www.drinknos.com