Press Release - November 2 - 2025
Vincent Lalande and Leah Brisset Win a Drama-Filled Rallye de Charlevoix!
November 2, 2025.— The penultimate round of the 2025 Eastern Canadian Rally Championship (ECRC), the Rallye de Charlevoix took place this weekend and, true to tradition, drew thousands of spectators along a route combining asphalt special stages in the towns of La Malbaie and Clermont with gravel forest roads. This 32nd edition of the Rallye de Charlevoix delivered plot twists from start to finish. Winners of the previous ECRC event (Rallye Défi Petite Nation last September), Simon Vincent and his co-driver Hubert Gaudreau (Subaru WRX STI) seemed poised to repeat their success, but a turbo failure cost them the lead on the final stage. This opened the door for Vincent Lalande and Leah Brisset, in a Peugeot 208 Rally4, who had kept constant pressure on their rivals and ultimately claimed overall ECRC victory as well as the two-wheel-drive class win.
Simon Vincent / Hubert Gaudreau - Rallye de Charlevoix 2025
Photo : © Clément Tavernier / poleposition.ca
After Friday’s torrential rain, competitors were greeted Saturday morning by typical fall weather, cool, windy, but dry, for the opening stages. Battling for both ECRC victory and points in the Canadian Championship, Simon Vincent and Hubert Gaudreau quickly set the pace. As the day went on, they built a margin of over three minutes, which seemed comfortable over young Vincent Lalande and his co-driver Leah Brisset. Growing increasingly confident behind the wheel of his new Peugeot 208 R4, a two-wheel-drive car designed for World Rally Championship stages, Lalande once again shone near the front.
Luck finally came Lalande’s way on Sunday during the last two of the six scheduled stages. Turbo issues forced Vincent to slow down, watching his lead shrink rapidly. In the end, Lalande/Brisset won by 21.8 seconds over Vincent/Gaudreau.
Third overall and second in the four-wheel-drive class at the end of the first day, Vincent Trudel and his American co-driver Michelle Miller (Subaru WRX STI) held their position through the final stages, while Charles and Juliette L’Estage (impressive on Saturday with their 2-wheel drive Ford Fiesta R2), drop in the standings Sunday morning after rolling in the famous La Pax stage.
Sébastien Clark and Pat Lévesque (Subaru WRX STI) ultimately completed the Top 4, ahead of the second of the three Peugeot 208 Rally4 entries, driven by Mikael Arsenault and France’s Mathieu Belhacene.
On Sunday, 23 of the 26 ECRC registered teams were still in the rally, but position changes were frequent throughout the event. Consistency proved key, and in that specialty Réjean Perron and Alexandre Marcoux (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution) were among the best. They finished sixth, ahead of the Subaru WRX STIs of Marc-André Drouin/Éric Dubé, Ontario rookies Michael Dimkovski/Sam Roxon, and Simon Dickner/Pierre-Luc Lagacé. Also in a Subaru, Karianne Hubert and Marie-France Desmarais-Trépanier rounded out the Top 10, ahead of the third Peugeot, driven by France’s Maxime Galpin and Quebec’s Jonathan Desgroseilliers, and the L’Estage crew.
This event was also a round of the Canadian Rally Championship and the North American Rally Cup. Simont Vincent and Hubert Gaudreau have won the National standings.
The Eastern Canadian Rally Championship (CREC) features seven events this season, split between Quebec and Ontario, after the only scheduled Nova Scotia round this fall was canceled. The next event will take place in three weeks and will serve as the season finale: the Tall Pines Rally in Bancroft, Ontario.