ATTENTION NEWS, SPORTS AND AUTO EDITORS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Comrie-Picard and Ford Racing Team O’Neil Fiesta
Fast But Stuck at Rally America SnoDrift
ATLANTA, Michigan (ACP RACING - 28 January, 2014) – Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard and co-driver Ole Holter went off the road at the 2014 SnoDrift Rally this past weekend while leading the competitive two-wheel-drive class in their Team O’Neil Ford Racing Fiesta R2. They were stuck for a total of just under 36 minutes and lost any chance of the class win, although they were able to claw back and took third overall in the class by the end of the race the next day.
“Of course we’re incredibly frustrated,” said ACP, “but the silver lining is that we were the fastest car in our class, and we know we have what it takes to win the Championship.”
The first time ACP sat in the car was the day before the rally, and so the team was pleased that the first stages of the rally were either ties or outright wins for the Ford team.
The rally, held on the rural roads four hours north of Detroit in winter conditions, is always a terrific challenge with traction at a premium and many difficult night stages. Comrie-Picard won the event overall in 2006 and in the two-wheel-drive class last year.
The Team O’Neil Motorsports division of the Team O’Neil Rally School ran not only Comrie-Picard’s Ford Racing car, but three other similar Ford Fiestas for other drivers. All finished the gruelling event, and brothers Troy and Jeremy Miller finished second in the class, a terrific result for a novice team.
“We’re proud of all our teams and drivers,” said team principal Tim O’Neil. “We know we have what it takes to repeat our 2013 Championship win, and we’re focusing on that with ACP as well as making sure that all of our customer Fiestas are the weapon of choice for the up-and-coming drivers in the Championship.”
The team is now preparing for the Rally in the 100 Acre Woods, near Salem Missouri, on February 21-22. It’s a high-speed, high-commitment event, and suits Comrie-Picard and the Ford Fiesta well.
Scott Denby, Ford Racing Business Manager, said “We’re going to 100 Acre Wood confident that ACP and Team O’Neil have what it takes to put the Fiesta on the podium.”
The Team O’Neil Rally School features Ford Fiestas as training cars and offers a great way for new competitors to learn the craft of rally driving and then compete in fast, reliable cars on North American rally events.
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 hundreds of miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.
ABOUT THE DRIVER: Andrew Comrie-Picard has won the North American Rally Championship, holds the FWD record at the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, is an X Games Rally medalist, and has won his class in the Baja1000. When he isn’t racing, Comrie-Picard works in film and television as a writer, host, producer, and precision driver. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
ABOUT TEAM O’NEIL: Team O'Neil Rally School located in Dalton, New Hampshire has been teaching rally and safety driving techniques since 1997. On 600 acres in the White Mountains Team O'Neil is the premier location to learn how to drive on loose surfaces. Five-time North American rally champion Tim O'Neil has hand-built the roads to mimic all the situations he has come across in is decades of rallying, and has trained every winner of the Rally America Rookie-of-the-Year award, including Ken Block.
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The ACP Rally program is made possible by: Ford Racing (www.fordracing.com), Team O’Neil Rally School (www.teamoneilmotorsports.com), BFGoodrich (www.bfgoodrichtires.com), Lincoln Welders (www.lincolnelectric.com), Recaro (www.recaro.com), Exedy (www.exedyusa.com), Innovate Motorsports (www.tuneyourengine.com), and Mishimoto (www.mishimoto.com)
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CONTACT:
www.facebook.com/andrew.comriepicard
@ACPRacing
310-256-5640
media@acpracing.com
Photos by Scott Rains.