Lexus CT 200h Wins Rallye International Vert de Montréal [Update]

Posted by Kevin on October 5th, 2011

A Lexus CT 200h has won the third annual Rallye International Vert de Montréal leg of the FIA Alternative Energies Cup, a world championship for vehicles with alternative energy propulsion.

The owner/driver of the CT 200h, Sébastien Kroetsch, is a commenter here at Lexus Enthusiast, and a friend of mine — my hearty congratulations to both Sébastien and his co-driver, Éric B-Meunier, for their victory!

See more photos of the Lexus CT 200h

Update: As it turns out, the CT 200h was first in the “Regularity” category (amount of fuel used divided by weight) and third in the “Fuel Consumption” category, which was good enough for second place overall. The Prius Plug-in team of Vinh Pham & Peter Nytkowas finished first overall.

See the final results

CanadaHybridsLexus CTh: First GenerationRacing
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Comments
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CONGRATS!
  • Anonymous
  • October 5, 2011
Luxury and efficiency wins again!!! Congratulations of the Win boys!
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It's actually the 5th edition this year. Out of all the vehicles there we only got beat by two Prius Plug-in on the fuel consumption index, we even used less fuel than a Chevrolet Volt. Toyota Canada's team gets to go to Monaco's own Green Rally thanks to their Best in event Prius. Check out even more pictures from the Rally on facebook.com/belairlexus
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      krew
    • October 5, 2011
    I've updated the article to reflect the overall results.
  • Anonymous
  • October 5, 2011
You even beat Raymond Durand in his Prius - he won the Alternative Energies cup last year! I was at this event and met Sebastien and Eric - both were really great guys to talk to. I was a little surprised to see a CT entered. With all of the attention and media surrounding the plug-in Prius and Volt, the black CT was the dark horse of the race. Sebastien, how did you guys prepare for the race?
    S
    To tell you the truth, our experience last year thaught us a lot. On our first day we had no idea what we were doing except for following the recommended speed and directions. One tip from a rally volunteer staff changed our whole calculations for the last day of the event. While behind the wheel of a competitor's car at that time we managed to finish first with our new calculated numbers. It was too little too late then to win anything other than experience. This year we were on the ball. Not using any machines or computers like Toyota teams we did all our numbers before the race and were even more precise then them. I had a good laugh when Mr. Pham asked me what type of machine we were using and I pointed my head.
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    Max_bramante
  • October 5, 2011
It's all about his great chassis.
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  • B
    BlackDynamite
  • October 6, 2011
RIP Steve Jobs  And Thank You! You made the World a better place BD
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  • B
    BlackDynamite
  • October 6, 2011
RIP Steve Jobs  And Thank You! You made the World a better place BD
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    ydooby
  • October 6, 2011
I'm confused. Is this a race of speed or just fuel efficiency? Is the overall ranking based on the time to the chequered flag or just an average of the scorings in the “Regularity” and the “Fuel Consumption” scorings? Anyone knows? If this is not a race of speed then it's quite meaningless as everyone would simply go as leisurely as possible.
    K
    • K
      krew
    • October 7, 2011
    I was told the Fuel Consumption scores are more heavily weighted than Regularity, but I quite honestly had some difficulty understanding exactly how the race was run. If you're curious, you can watch this video, which shows the setup (even though the video is actually in French): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAggw6PX3nk&feature=share There was also this article that recapped the race: http://www.auto123.com/en/news/green-wheels/auto123com-and-porsche-impress-at-the-montreal-green-rally?artid=136265 Hope that helps!
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    • K
      krew
    • October 7, 2011
    However, there is another point to add -- the FIA organization only looks at Regularity, so in another sense the CT 200h did win the race as well. Very confusing, I admit.
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      Sebastien Kroetsch
    • December 20, 2011
    For a portion of the Rally you have to drive as efficiently as possible but the Regularity portion are time by the second so you can't concentrate on you fuel comsumption. You have to be precisly at the right place on the right time. We won the Regularity portion of the Rally which got us the First place Internationally but the Rally also takes under consideration the fuel used through the course. In that regards, plug-in cars would obviously be more efficient and win that portion. What's sad is that Fuel comsuption as mentionned weighs more than the Regularity portion which is the real Rally in my opinion.
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      ydooby
    • December 20, 2011
    Thanks for kindly explaining the details Sebastien. And congrats on the win! Thanks to krew for the info too!
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Interesting, I never knew about this. Thanks.

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