3ème Rallye Régional Val de Boutonne - Moderne 2024

A Peugeot 106 Rallye attacking the ES3 stage at Moragne driven by Mickael Guinot and Grégory Jeanneau.  They finished 50th overall.

March 24th saw the third running of the Rallye Val de Boutonne.  A qualifying round of the Coupe de France des Rallyes, it is organised by l'ASA Richelieu and takes place in the Charente Maritime Department.  A French regional rally it is run over six stages (two different stages each run three times over one day) with a total timed competition running of 40km and a total kilometrage of 123km.

A good field of 102 cars started the rally.   I watched them on both ES2 the Lussant-Cabariot stage and ES3 the Moragne - St Coutant stage.   With relatively reasonable weather a good crowd came out to see the rally cars on the stages and in Tonnay-Boutonne.

The Favouites:

Cédric De Sousa, a French driver from a well known rallying family, won the Rally Val de Boutonne in 2023.  He drives a Volkswagen Polo.

Bruno Longepe is a 53 old French rally driver who won the Coupe de France des Rallyes in 2014.  He won the first edition of the Rallye Val de Boutonne in 2022 and is a regular winner in his Volkswagen Polo.

Jimmy Thibaudeau is a 45 year old French rally driver and was runner up in last year's Rallye Val de Boutonne.  He drives a beautiful sounding Porsche 997.

Mathias De Sousa, a cousin of Cédric, is a 32 year old French rally driver, who earlier this month finished second in the Rallye de la Vienne.  He drives a Citroën C3.

The rally was based at the Cooperative Agricole in Tonnay-Boutonne.

All of the top ten finishers and group winners plus a fair selection of the rest are shown below:

The rally winners were Bruno Longepe and Ronan Choucroun in this Volkswagen Polo.  They won five of the six stages.

A close second were Cédric De Sousa and Emmanuel Brissiaud, also in a Volkswagen Polo.  Here they are on stage 2 which they won to take a brief lead in the rally.

Third on the podium in this Citroen C3 were Mathias De Sousa and Baptiste Langlois.

Fourth overall and winner of the FRGT group was this Porsche 997 driven by Jimmy Thibaudeau and Dimitri Pilet.

Fifth overall and winner of FRNAT group were Gary Guerin and Jordan Jecomte in this Subaru Impreza WRC STI.

Sixth overall was this Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X of Johnann Hayet and Kévin Boisson.

Seventh overall and winner of the FRC4 group was this Renault Clio 5 of Thierry Landais and Morgan Lefebvre.

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

Ninth overall in this Renault Clio were Joris and Christophe Decou.

Tenth overall was this Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 of Aurélien and Julie Brillaud.

Tenth overall and winner of the FRC5 group were Noelic Solnais and Paul Beneteaud in this Peugeot 106 XSI. 

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.

Always good to see this Simca Rallye 3 which finished an excellent 24th driven by Michael Etie and Nicolas Brugier.

Peugeot 106 XSI.

Peugeot 106 XSI

Citroën Saxo Kit Car.

Citroën AX.

Peugeot 106 XSI.

Skoda Fabia R5.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8.

Citroën Saxo VTS.

Peugeot 205 Rallye.

Peugeot 106 XSI.

Citroën Saxo.

Peugeot 306.

For the VHC / Classic rally cars in this year's Rallye Val de Boutonne VHC - click here.

I love seeing modern Porsches competing in rallys.

5ème Rallye Bordeaux Aquitaine Classic Moderne - 2024

 

Although it only finished in 42nd place, it was a real pleasure to see the Hommell Berlinette driven by Philippe and Quentin Costeseque.  A really beautiful French car.

This was the fifth instance that the Bordeaux Aquitaine Classic has had a plateau for modern cars and it gives us local to the region a chance, early in the year, to see some fast rally cars compete over the up and down tortuous vineyard roads of the Appelation Bordeaux.   Held over 2 days near the end of February, the rally promised three different special stages, each held four times, and thus a toal of 130km of timed rallying.  The weather for the weekend was not forecast to be good but it looked as though the Saturday stages might have a chance of being head in good weather.  I thus chose to spectate on Saturday on the 10.53km ES3 Doulezon-Pujols stage near Béros.  Accompanying me on his first French rally was Michael who enjoyed seeing some French cars he was not familiar with such as the Hommell. We had a pleasant afternoon and stayed dry even if it was a little cold.

The rally was a National Rally and counted towards La Coupe de France des Rallyes (coef 3) and the local league of Nouvelle Aquitaine Sud.  59 cars started and 43 ended up being classified as finishers.

The very fast Porsche 991 GT3 of Anthony Cosson and Kevin Millet.   It was very entertaining to watch them really attack the thirtd special stage.

Pre-rally favourite was Anthony Cosson in his Porsche who had won this rally when last held in 2022.  He won stages 2 and 3 and was amazingly fast as he passed us on ES3.  He thus held the lead fairly easily after three special stages.  Unfortunately, his car hit mechanical issues and he retired on ES4.

The Volkswagen Polo R5 of Cédric de Sousa and Emmanuel Brissaud.

After the demise of Cosson's Porsche, Cédric de Sousa took control of the rally and won the next three stages to lead comfortably at the end of day one.  Unfortunately, he also hit mechanical issues and retired on ES7 the first stage of day two.

The rally winners, Loïc Costes and Christelle Perrin, in their Peugeot 208 GR LINE.  

Winner of the first two Sunday stages, the new leader of the rally was young 24 year old Loïc Costes.  Although young he has already Fbeen rench Champion of all terrain rallies (Rallye Tout Terrain)  in 2021.  Due to very inclement weather conditions, the organisers decided to cacnel the last four special stages and thus Loic had his first overall win in a tarmac rally.  He was also winner of Group FRC4 and the Rally 4 class.

Second overall and winner of FRC2 and R5/Rally2 were Romain Buran and Nicolas Gilet in this Ford Fiesta.  They missed the win by just over 10 seconds.

Final position on the overall podium went to this Peugeot 208 driven by Benjamin Rico and Timothée Dinet. 

Fourth place and winner of class R3 went to Aurelien Pion and Maeva Perrinaud in this Renault Clio.

Fifth overall and winner of the important French National group was this Mitsubishi Lacer Evo X driven by Jérôme Clarety and Philippe Courtine.

Sixth overall and R2 class winner were Laurent Zambon and Carine Chaumeau.

Others taking part:

This BMW Z3 finished 17th.

This Porsche 996 GT3 RS 3.5 finished tenth and won the French GT group.

This BMW 318 Compact didn't finish.

This Mercedes-Benz C180 finished 35th.

This Renault Clio finished a good eighth.

This Subaru Impreza WRX STI finished a good ninth.

This Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X didn't finish.

This Renault Clio Williams finished 31st.

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 Citroën Saxo VTS finished 34th.

This Peugeot 106 16S finished 26th.

Rallye Régional du Médoc, 2023 - Moderne

 

The winners of all four special stages were Julien Marty and Michaël Dussillos in this fast Citroën DS3 R5.  However, they were later excluded from the results because they had removed their car from Parc Fermé too early.  Here they are on the last stage ES4 Civrac.

For me it is always good to end my motor sport year on a high note with a visit to the Rallye du Médoc.  It is my nearest motor sport event as the crow flies but as I live on the other side of the Gironde estuary, getting there is another matter!   This year it had just two stages, each run twice, making 4 stages in all.

This year the rally was rather wet but it didn't stop quite a few spectators enjoying the event.  117 cars started the main rally and 78 finished.   This asphalt event was centered in Lesparre-Médoc with stages in Civrac and Ordonnac.  I watched ES2 and ES4 at Civrac.  The eventual top three were rather a surprise and different from previous years.

This post cover the modern rally cars.  Posts on the older VHC and VHRS cars will follow.

A couple of the top contenders in the Parc Fermé in Lesparre-Médoc on the afternoon before the rally.

As I waited for dawn and the first rally cars to appear, the sky was very red behind the church in Civrac.  We were obviously in for some bad weather later in the day.

The winners of the rally, Stéphane and Léa Pustelnik, in their Skoda Fabia R5 on ES2.

  They are a father and daughter team and this was their first win in this car and their first win since 2021.

Second place went to another Skoda Fabia R5 driven by Patrice and Valérie Robert.  This is them in the rain on ES4.

Here they are earlier in the day on ES2 trying very hard and getting a little wide on a tight corner.

It was getting very dark during ES2 and here the third placed Renault Clio R3 cuts through the gloom as it approaches a tight corner.  It was driven by Aurélien Pion and Maëva Perrinaud.

Fourth overall and winner of class R4 was Johann Hayet and Kevin Boisson in this Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

A relatively rare French rally car from the nineties, this Hommell Berlinette Echappement finished the event but some way off the pace.  However as the only GT10 car to finish, it won its group and class.  it was driven by Philippe and Quentin Costeseque.

The Porsche 996 GT3 leaves the road on ES2 but continues before eventual retirement.

Another car to end up in the ditch but continue was this Renault Clio Rally 5 of Sylvain and Ludovic Pina. 

A Honda Integra Type-R driven by Sébastien Paille and Mickaël Gemon.

A Peugeot 106 S16 has a moment.

An Opel Kadett GT/E driven by Thierry Padilla and Aurélie Furlano did well to finish 43rd amongst the more modern cars.

Another car, a Peugeot 106 Rallye, visits the ditch!

The Renault Clio Rally 3 of Fabien and Antoine Senamaud that finished sixteenth.

BMW 318 Ti Compact.

This Peugeot 207 RC finished twentieth in the hands of Hervé Brouilliaud and Philippe Courtine.

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.

A Peugeot 206 S16.

A Renault 5 GT Turbo.

An opposite locking BMW 318 Ti Compact that finished twelfth driven by Philippe Novotny and Michael Lafagne. 

The Citroen DS3 R5 of Julien Marty in the rain on ES4.