34ème Rallye National de Saintonge, Moderne 2023

]

The Citroën Saxo VTS of Dejeans and Nichol that retired on the seventh of eight stages.

The Rallye National de Saintonge is one of my closest rallies and thus it is always good to catch it even if I only managed one stage again this year due to other commitments.  However, I made up for that by trying to see how slow a shutter speed I could use once I got past the faster cars and was pleased to get some success at 1/50th and 1/80th.

This rally counted towards the Coupe de France des Rallyes and for the local Nouvelle Aquitaine Nord ligue.  Last year's winner, Denis Millet, took victory again this year.  The top 12 cars and most of the group and class winners can be seen below with a few of the other cars as well.   Over 100 cars took part and 66 were classified as finishers.

I watched ES1 near Bussac-sur-Charente at the first of the official spectator areas on this long 23km stage.  There were two stages each taken four times, thus eight stages in all.

Denis Millet and Aurelia Chevalier won the rally in this Volkswagen Polo GTi R5.

Runner up was another Volkswagen Polo driven by Stéphane André and Samuel Passetemps.

Third were Bruno and Laetitia Cadillon in this Peugeot 306 Maxi.  They won the National Rallye Group.

This Porsche 997 came fourth and won the GT Group in the hands of Jimmy Thibauudeau and Dimitri Pilet.

Fifth overall and winner of the FRC4 Groupe was this Renault Clio Super 1600 of Mickael and Ludovic Taudiere.

This Renault Clio came sixth overall and won its class driven by John Laroche and Ronan Choucroun.

Seventh overall and winner of its class was the Renault Clio 4 of Christopher Touvron and Orphélia Chaigne.

Eighth overall was this Peugeot 208 

Ninth overall and winner of its class was this Peugeot 208 of Sylvain and Daniel Mahier.

Rounding out the top ten was this Renault Clio of Patrice Laroche and Damien Augustin.

Eleventh and winner of their class was this BMW Compact of Yannick Lacouture and Romain Aligant.

Twelfth and winner of its class was this Peugeot 106 S16 of Cyril Guyot and Emilie Sauvaitre.

Fourteenth and winner of its class was this Renault Clio RS of Téva Gschwindemann and Théo Bonnegarde.

Sixteenth and winner of the FRC5 Groupe was this Renault Clio R5 Line of Jonathan Baron and Romuald Moine. 

Seventeenth was this Citroën Saxo Kit Car of Xavier Pencole and Audrey Rossignol.

Eighteenth and winner of the F215 class was this Peugeot 207 RC of Lucas Martin and Florentin Boutin.

This Honda Civic driven by Franck and Emmanuel Pierre won class N2.

Frédéric and Astrid Gallot won class A7S in this Peugeot 207 S2000.

Winner of class N4 was this Renault Megane 3 RS of Dylan and Yoann Contamine.

This Citroën Saxo driven by André Auger and Hervé Magnan won class F212.

The winner of class A5 was this Peugeot 105 XSi driven by Emeric Gouineau and Loic Bonneaud.

This BMW Z3 won class GT10 driven by Cédric Lassalle and Gérard Irigaray.

Tony Magot and Maxime Torlet in this Subaru Impreza WRX STi won class A8.

Winners of class A6 were Laurent and Nathalie Lepage in this Citroën Saxo VTS.

Julien and Pierre Lambert in this Renault Twingo RS won class R1.

This Peugeot 206 ZX won class N2Série in the hands of Fabien Lapeyronnie and Killan Delage.

This lovely little Autobianchi A112 Abarth won class F211 driven by Pascal and Manon Beauvais.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

This Mitsubishi Evo X didn't finish the rally.

A Renault Clio Super 1600 driven by Geoffrey Menut.

A Renault Clio RS Line at 1/50th second exposure.

This Citroën Saxo GTS was disqualified.

A Volkswagen Golf.

A Citroën C2 Evo that eventually left the road and retired.

This Honda Integra Type R retired.

This Renault Clio retired later on this stage.

Citroen AX.

Who forgot to shut the back door?   This Peugeot 106 did finish.

Pau Classic Grand Prix 2023, Endurance Pre-1977

 

This Volkswagen Polo caught my eye.  Here it is at the Hoch chicane.

The second group of Endurance racers was for the Pre-1977 cars.   I saw these in practice of Friday but somehow missed both of their 45 minute races.  Both races were won by the Porsche 911 2.8 RSR of Meireles and Nina.  Here are some pictures I took in practice.

This Porsche 2.5 ST driven by Vincent Jiminez finished second in Saturday's race and third in Sun day's race.

This Triumph Spitfire 6 brought some relief from the many Porsches and Touring cars

This BMW 2800 CS was fast but didn't finish either race.

A number of Ford Escorts were participating including this 1300 Mk1.

BMW 2002 Tii negotiating the chicane. 

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

Another BMW 2002 chases the Triumph Spitfire.

The Triumph Spitfire of Clot and Bernard.

2ème Rallye Régional Val de Boutonne - Moderne - 2023

The rally was held in mixed conditions.  Here a Peugeot 205 GTi races through the rain.

The second ever Rallye Val de Boutonne managed to attract a good entry of 102 cars for the main rally.  The rally was held over one day on Sunday 26th March 2023 over two different stages each run three times giving six special stages in all and 40km of competitive driving.  I took these photos on the tight last corner of the stage between Lussant and Cabariot in the Charente Maritime department of France.  The weather was windy and very changeable with everything from sun to heavy rain.

This regional  rally qualified for the Coupe de France des Rallyes and the local league - Nouvelle Aquitaine Nord.

Last year's winners Bruno Longépé and Ronan Choucrun in their Volkswagen Polo GTi R5 won the second special stage but crashed out on the third and retired from the rally.  All of the other stages were won by the eventual winners de Sousa and Bonneris, also in a VW Polo.   The Porsche 997 was consistently in the top three times on each stage but not quite up to challenging the VW Polos on speed.

An enjoyable day's photography quite close to where I now live and surprisingly different shots taken from the same corner but from different positions.  Perhaps, due to the weather there were not too many spectators at this corner.  The buvette or drinks tent was very handy when the rain came and I took some of my best shots of the day from under its cover!

Another shot in the rain - a Peugeot 106.

Overall, Group and Class Winners :

Shown in the order they were classified overall.

The winners of the rally were Cédric de Sousa and Nicolas Bonneris in this Volkswagen Polo.

Second overall were Jimmy Thibaudeau and Dimitri Pilet in this Porsche 997 GT3.

Third overall and winners of the FRallyNat Group were Gary Guerin and Jordan Lecomte in this Subaru Impreza.  This was the same position they achieved last year.

Fourth overall and winners of the FRC4 Group were Pascal and Mathieu Phelippeau in this Renault Clio 5.

Fifth overall and winners of the R3 class were Aurélien Pion and Maëva Perrinaud in this Renault Clio.

Eighth overall and winners of the N4 class were Joffrey Coussot and Jérémy Exposito in this Renault Megane.

Tenth overall and winners of the R2 class were Anthony Faussabry and Emmanuel Brochard in this Peugeot 208 VTI.

Winners of the A6K class were Florent Jaunas and Quentin Mounier Jaunas in this Citroën Saxo Kit Car.

Winners of the A6 class were Jean Brasseur and Bruno Robert in this Peugeot 106 S16.

Winners of the A7 class were Jean-Philippe and Fernande Rousseau in this Renault Clio Williams.

This Honda Civic VTI clobbered the bales but recovered to win Groupe FRC5 crewed by Johnny Martin and Christophe Can.

Winner of Class F214 was this Renault Clio 3 RS crewed by Sébastien Germain and Sébastien Gouionnet.

Winner of class Rally5 was this Renault Clio crewed by David Defaux and Aurélien Baron.

Opposite locking on its way to a class win in N3 is this Peugeot 206 RC crewed by Kévin and Lenny Hurtaud.

Winner of class A5 was this Peugeot 106 XSI of Emeric Gouineau and Brice Ricou.

Winners of Class F212 were Jean Blayon and Catherine Giraud in this Peugeot 106 S16.

Winners of class N1 were Mickael Guinot and Grégory Jeanneau in this Peugeot 106 Rallye.

Winners of class N2Série were Sébastien Peninou and Eva Hostein in this Citroën Saxo VTS.

Winners of class F213 were Jérôme Lecomte and Aurore Simonnet in this Peugeot 106 S16 Rallye.

Winners of class R1 were Anthony Gouin and Fabien Yonnet in this Renault Twingo RS.

Winners of Group FRCA were Alexis Machefert and Bryan Bouthier in this Peugeot 206 RC.

Winner of class FR2 was this Opel Adam Cup crewed by Benoît and Nicolas Barbier.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

Other participants:

A Renault Clio 4 RS splashing through the puddles.  It finished ninth overall in the hands of Alexandre de Sousa and Sébastien Pinaud.

A Peugeot 208 on opposite lock though the final corner of ES4.

Lovely to see a Simca Rallye 3 still taking part in rallies.

A Citroën C2 on opposite lock in the damp conditions.

There are still a lot of Peugeot 205s rallying.

A Peugeot 205 Rallye.

A Peugeot 106 S16 on opposite lock.

A Peugeot 205 GTi in the rain.

A Peugeot 205 in the rain.

Renault Clio RS in the rain.