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| The Renault Clio 2 of Debec and Kistersky on ES4. |
There were over eighty starters in the modern section of the 38th running of this year's Rallye du Medoc and of these sixty eight were classified at the end of the event. There was a good field of competitive R5 cars at the front and some nice variety down the field, including cars dating back many years. You can see a mixture of both in my photos from the fourth special stage on Sunday 12th December and from the Parc Fermé the day before. Run on minor public roads around the Médoc peninsula and its world famous Bordeaux vineyards, the rally has been centred around the town of Lesparre-Médoc for a number of years, and traditionally is one of the last events on the calendar, and a welcome excuse to avoid Christmas markets! Last year it was cancelled because of Covid so this year's event was eagerly anticipated. The Sunday when I attended the special stage was a warm day that stayed dry in the morning, even if it was rather grey most of the time. Later in the day it rained so the competitors got a mixture of wet and dry driving and also day and night driving. I certainly enjoyed my morning watching and taking pictures at this regional asphalt rally and hope you enjoyed that I shared some of it with you.
Like all regional rallyes in France the total distance of the timed special stages of the Rallye du Médoc is limited to just 40km, but it still gives the competitors and spectators a good weekend with nighttime stages on the Saturday evening and daytime stages on Sunday morning and early afternoon.
For those motor sport historians who may recognise the name of Lesparre-Médoc but can't quite remember why, there was a F2 race run around the public roads of this town in 1950. It was a triangular shaped circuit and the race was won by André Simon in a Simca-Gordini. Raymond Sommer and Jean Behra also competed that day, May 5th 1950.
For the VHC/VHRS cars, click here.
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| The winner of the rally was this Volkswagen Polo R5 of Jean-Sébastien Vigion and Adrien Labrousse. |
The winner of the rally, Jean-Sébastien Vigion is a 38 year old French driver who first won the Rallye du Médoc back in 2007. As well as being a rally champion he has also had success in rallycross.
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| Runner-up was this Citroën DS3 R5 with the team of Julien Marty and Michaël Dussillos. |
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| The third team on the podium were Luc Giroux and Julien Loup in a Citroën C3 R5. |
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| An unusual car to see on a rally was this Aston Martin Vantage. Here it is in the Parc Fermé. Unfortunately it left the road on the first special stage, so no chance to see it on ES4. |
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| The Peugeot 106 S16 of Vigier/Lauseille. |
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| Peugeot 205 Rallye on ES4 driven by Fragnaud/Brun. |
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| The Subaru Impreza of Guerin/Lecomte |
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| Headlights blazing on the Renault Clio of Buran/Gilet. |
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| The BMW Z3 of Lasalle/Irigaray just before it broke down. |
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| The Parc Fermé in Lesparre-Médoc with a Seat Ibiza in the foreground. |
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| The Bezinauds in their BMW Compact. |
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| Kicking up the dust is the Renault Clio RS Line of Harnois and Pichon. They won RC5. |
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| Winner of the RC4 Group was the Renault Clio of Pion/Regal. |
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| Winner of the RNat Group were the Larqeuys in this Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. |
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The rather impressive looking Porsche 997 GT3 RS 3.8 that unfortunately didn't finish the rally.
However, it did made a nice noise! |
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| The Subaru Impreza STI Prodrive of Remolins/Vernhez. |
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| Borderie/Palombie in a BMW 318 Ti Compact. |
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 aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.
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| The Peugeot 206 of Mulon/Lopes. |
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| Another of the faster R5 cars, the Citroën C3 of the Brissiauds. |
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| An electric rally car! A Porsche Taycan turbo arrives to take part in the ENRS part of the rally. |
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