User:Mprice444/sandbox

Leonid "Crazy Leo" Urlichich (born 02 February 1985 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian-born Canadian rally 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.

Urlichich is notable for his impressive speed from the time he first stepped into a rally car, as he won the second gravel rally he has ever finished. He is well known for his aggressive driving style, which earned him the name Crazy Leo, and comparisons to Colin McRae.

Early career
At the age of 17 Urlichich enrolled in Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, where he perused a Business Administration degree. His first competitive outings took place while at university, at the local rally cross events in his daily-driven Subaru WRX STi. Notably Urlichich still uses that same Subaru as his reconnaissance car.

A freak accident led Urlichich to Can-Jam Motorsports, which owners noted his daring/reckless driving style and his indifference to the visual appearance of the car. He stated that he only cared about “going fast”. He could count, though, on the understanding of the team, which have won multiple championships preparing cars for the Subaru Canada factory team.

2007 marked his first performance rally, Rallye Perce-Neige Maniwaki, held in Quebec.

2008-2009
In the years 2008-2009 Urlichich has competed irregularly in the Ontario regional and the Canadian national events, while working full time in a Toronto-based media company. 2008 Black Bear rally earned Urlichich his first ever performance rally victory. Urlichich and co-driver Dave Shindle dominated the event, winning all but the last stage against the experienced Peter Thomson and Andrew Comrie-Picard.

2010
The 2010 season was Urlichich’s full season in the Canadian Rally Championship. Rally Baie-des-Chaleurs delivered his first national podium, as he finished second. Urlichich and Can-Jam Motorsports have lent their rally-prepped recce car to a rival driver Antoine L'Estage, because the transmission on his Mitsubishi Evo X has failed during the pre-rally shakedown. Urlichich and a US co-driver Chrissie Beavis finished third overall in the 2010 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 prestigious 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 is 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 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 Subaru ‘Beast’ was able to finish second overall. The video of the accident went viral on YouTube getting over a million views in the first two weeks.

Urlichich had a successful season and with the help of his co-driver was able to increase the pace. The pair finished second in the Canadian Championship, beating Subaru Canada factory team, and fifth in the Rally America National Championship.