Leonid "Crazy Leo" Urlichich (born 2 February 1985 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, USSR) is a Russian-Canadian

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sports ...

driver currently competing in the Canadian and the US national championships. He drives for a Toronto-based team Can-Jam Motorsports and has expressed ambitions to compete in the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

. Urlichich is notable for winning the second gravel rally he has ever finished.

Career

Early career

At the age of 17 Urlichich enrolled in

Trent University Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Trent is known for its Oxbridge college system and small class sizes.

Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...

, where he pursued a Business Administration degree. He first drove competitively while at university, at the local rally cross events in his daily-driven Subaru WRX STi. 2007 marked his first performance rally, Rallye Perce-Neige Maniwaki, held in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

2008-2010

2008 Black Bear rally earned Urlichich his first ever performance rally victory. Urlichich and co-driver Dave Shindle won the event after setting the fastest times on all but the last stage against more experienced

Peter Thomson Peter Thomson may refer to: * Peter Thomson (golfer) (1929–2018), Australian golfer * Peter Thomson (diplomat) (born 1948), Fiji's Permanent Representative to the United Nations * Peter Thomson (footballer) (born 1977), English footballer * Peter ...

and Andrew Comrie-Picard. The 2010 season was Urlichich's full season in the

Canadian Rally Championship The Canadian Rally Championship is an automobile rallying championship sanctioned by the Canadian Association of RallySport (CARS) held since 1957 in Canada. Canadian rallying history The Canadian Rally Championship (CRC) is Canada's only natio ...

. Rally Baie-des-Chaleurs delivered his first national podium, as he finished second. Urlichich finished fifth overall in the 2010 Canadian Rally Championship.

2011

2011 season saw Urlichich team up with an Irish co-driver Martin Brady. The team has competed in eight events across Canada. Urlichich lost Rallye de Charlevoix to Antoine L'Estage and John Buffum (who was co-driving at this event) by one second. At the end of the season Urlichich and Brady won Rally of the Tall Pines and finished second in the Championship. David Higgins, who finished second in the event noted that the rally was one of the most difficult in his career due to the nature of stages.

2012

2012 was Urlichich's inaugural season in the Rally America championship in the United States. Partnered with an experienced Welsh co-driver Carl Williamson, Urlichich has won a stage at the debut

Sno*Drift Sno*Drift is a rally racing event held in Montmorency County, Michigan, annually, with headquarters in Atlanta, Michigan. The event is currently the first Rally America National Rally Championship event of the season. Currently the event is or ...

rally and finished the event third, later to be penalized to sixth place due to the substrate of the catalytic converter missing. At the second rally of the year Urlichich crashed heavily into a telegraph pole, but despite serious damage to his car, he was able to finish second overall. The video of the accident went viral on YouTube getting over 1.4 million views. Urlichich and Williamson finished second in the Canadian Championship, second in the North American Rally Cup, and fifth in the

Rally America The Rally America National Championship was the national championship of rallying events in the United States. The inaugural season was in 2005. Rally America was also the name given to the organization that sanctioned the championship, was brie ...

National Championship.

2013

Urlichich was absent from full-time competition in 2013, spending time in Europe working on a program to compete in one of the Support Categories of the

in 2014.

2014

Debut season in the WRC, in the high profile ‘Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy’.

2016

Champion, Class Four, MLRC Rallycross Championship

2017

Canadian Rally Champion (P4WD)

2018

1st P4WD, Rallye Perce-Neige

2019

Canadian Rally Champion (P4WD) 1st P4WD, Rallye Perce-Neige 1st Overall, Rally of the Tall Pines

Co-drivers and pacenotes

Over the years Urlichich has competed with nine different co-drivers, including a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

co-driver Carl Williamson, who has co-driven for

Jari-Matti Latvala Jari-Matti Latvala (born 3 April 1985) is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and 2019 ...

in the

Stobart Ford The M-Sport Ford World Rally Team (formerly M-Sport World Rally Team, Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team and Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team) is the privately run World Rally Championship team of M-Sport, the firm run by Malcolm Wilson (rally driver), ...

World Rally Team. Urlichich has claimed on multiple occasions that he recognizes the importance of Pacenotes in modern rallying. According to Williamson, Urlichich has developed a "rather unique Pacenote system", which was designed from scratch and uses some

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

words.

Personality and social media

Urlichich is known for his passion about rallying and his quirky behavior that shows through his interviews. His public persona matches his personality, which has gained Urlichich a sizeable social media following, larger than that of any other rally driver in North America, except Ken Block and

Travis Pastrana Travis Alan Pastrana (born October 8, 1983) is an American professional motorsports competitor and stunt performer who has won championships and X Games gold medals in several disciplines, including supercross, motocross, freestyle motocross, an ...

Other disciplines

On July 22 and 23, 2011 Urlichich competed in the

Castrol Castrol is a British oil company that markets industrial and automotive lubricants, offering a wide range of oil, greases and similar products for most lubrication applications. The name ''Castrol'' was originally just the brand name for com ...

Canadian Touring Car Championship race at the legendary

Mosport International Raceway Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi- track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. The facility features a , 10-turn road course; a ad ...

, where he struggled and had to use his skills of driving on dirt during his off track excursions.

Career results

WRC results

Drive DMACK Cup results

References

External links

Profile at eWRC-results.com
*https://carsrally.ca/competitors/leonid-urlichich/ Russian emigrants to Canada Canadian rally drivers 1985 births Living people Saintéloc Racing drivers World Rally Championship drivers Sportspeople from Moscow Russian rally drivers