A rubber story… After a first day contested in the dry, from which Yoann Bonato (Citroën C3 Rally2) emerged as a fragile leader (2″ 4 ahead of Éric Camilli, 6″ 5 over Hugo Margaillan, first leader, author of a fault in SS4), the second stage on Saturday gave cold sweats to the weather forecasters.
In the morning, on mostly dry ground despite the threatening sky, Bonato paid for a poor choice of tires and let Margaillan and Camilli (C3 Rally2) take the lead, respectively 4″ 6 and 0″ 8 ahead of him. During the second loop of three specials, this time in the rain, Camilli cracked the first, taking a 10″ penalty in SS10 (chicane cut) before dropping 10″ on Bonato in the penultimate time.
Margaillan then briefly regained power, before the quadruple French champion fought back in the last two lap times and finally won with a margin of 6″ 0 over his CHL Sport-auto team-mate. Camilli completed a 100% Citroën podium, at 14″ 3 from the winner. Bonato at the same time took the lead in the French Championship, with 40 points, seven lengths ahead of Margaillan and Thomas Chauffray.
And, on this Rhône-Charbonnières, it is even a quadruple of the C3 Rally2, because Léo Rossel ranks fourth (only 2″ 3 behind Bonato) after a very solid race with his first scratch time (in SS11) in the French Championship, followed at a distance by Chauffray (VW Polo GTi R5), which had a contrasting weekend.
Two best times for Chauffray, fifth at the finish
After a discreet start at the wheel of a car he was discovering and which he took some time to adjust to his liking, the Normand offered two best times on Saturday and managed to move up to fifth final position. Well helped it is true by the setbacks of the Sarrazin Motorsport Volkswagen Polos, which were at fault in SS11. Jérémi Ancian, then 4th, and William Wagner (6th Friday evening) were downgraded to 11th and 12th final ranks.
We also remember from this eventful rally the magnificent fight between the Alpine A110 Rally RGT Cédric Robert and Raphaël Astier, the second dominating the first Friday, before Robert regained the advantage on Saturday with better tyres. They finished 6th and 7th, ahead of David Salanon (VW Polo GTi R5), Éric Rousset (Citroën C4 WRC) and Éric Mauffrey (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) who completed the Top 10.
Finally, let’s point out the beautiful sixteenth place in the end of Ludovic Jeudy and his old Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 F2/14, which for a long time pointed ahead of the Alpines of the Trophy, won by Fabrice Bect (14th). See you in a month at the Antibes-Côte d’Azur rally, where Nicolas Ciamin, the first winner of the year, will be back.
