28e Course de Côte régionale de Marquay, 2024

 

Fabrice Galla in his Osella JRB 21 speeds up the D6 towards Marquay to win again as he did last year.

The Course de Côte de Marquay is a French regional Hillclimb coumting towards the Coupe de France de la Montagne 2024 and is located not far from the tourist attraction of Sarlat la Caneda.  This was the second time i had attended this hillclimb as it is one of four reasonably accessible from where I now live.  It is the only hillclimb in the Dordogne department of France.  It was free to attend and the crowds seemed high this year with most of them locals and a few mad hillclimb enthusiasts like myself.  This year it was held on French National Day, July 14th in fine weather.

This year 46 cars were classified compared to 35 last year.  Although there were more cars, the extra cars were at the less interesting end of the field.

I have been watching French hillclimbs since 2013 and this was the first I have been to one without a Norma competing.  At least the top end sports cars were represented by Osella.

The top 17 classified cars and a few others are shown below in the order that they finished.

1st. No.1 Fabrice Gallo, Osella JRB 21.  

Preparing the Osella

The Osella on its first run of the day as a family watch from the "safety" of their garden.

2nd. No.3 Nicolas Filiatre, Dallara F398 Evo 301.  Only D/E car present.

The only Dallara F3 car present came second overall.

The Dallara at speed.

3rd.  No.5 Gabriel Baillou, TracKing. Winner of the CM Group and Class.

Gabriel Baillou in the TracKing.

The "BMW DTM" style TracKing.

TracKing in the usual grassy paddock during the usual long French lunchbreak.

4th. No.9 Frédéric Rousseau, Speedcar GTR. Second of the CM cars.

The Speedcar GTR.

The Speedcar at speed!

Paddock scene.

5th. No.6 Didier Giminez, Fior.  CNF class winner.

The unusual Fior.

Fior at speed in one of the wooded sections.

Fior entering the final corner.

6th. No.40 Kévin Jarousse, Renault Megane 3 RS.  First of the production cars.

How nice to watch from your garden as the hillclimb races past!

The Renault at speed.  This was the only production car to dip below the 1 minute mark.

7th. No.4 Françis Segond, Merlin MP23. 

Merlin MP23.

Accelerating out of a corner in the wooded section.

Merlin at speed.

8th. No.25 Eric Sauteur, Renault Clio.  First in the FA Group.

Passing the house just before the finish line.

Renault 25.

9th. No.31 Jean-Louis Trayaud, Talbot Rallye 3.  First in Class FC.

The officials have a nice view of the Talbot racing up the hill towards them.

Tranquil paddock scene.

10th. No.39 Cédric Bouffeteau, Honda Civic. First in Group F2000.

Honda Civic exiting the final bend.

11th. No.15 Yves Dubrana, BMW M3 E36. 

BMW in the final turn.

BMW M3 at speed.

12th. No.42 Jean-Michel Douche, Renault Clio Ragnotti.

The Renault Clio climbs the course past the little house.

The others:

Christophe Mazet working on his 13th placed Renault Clio near the winning Osella.

The 14th placed Lotus Exige of Christophe Carrere.

The 15th placed Simca Rallye 2 of Philippe Quioc.

The 16th placed Renault Clio 5 RS Line crosses the finishing line on one of its runs.

This unusual Talex M3 was placed 17th.

Ford Sierra Cosworth races up the hill.

José-Marie Lara works on his Ford.  The village church provides the backdrop.

Nissan 3650Z

Sadly the second Osella didn't complete a run.  Here it comes up the hill very slowly.

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 Renault Super 5 GT Turbo locks up under breaking.

A Peugeot 106.

For photos of the 2023 Course de Côte de Marquay click here.

27ème Course de Côte Régional de Marquay, 2023.

 

A Peugeot 205 wends its way up the hill past one of a number of buildings.

Drivers running to get to their cars for their fourth run.

The Course de Côte de Marquay is, nowadays, the only hillclimb in the Dordogne, so although it was three hours drive away, I had to get there for its 27th running in July 2023.   It wends its way 1.5kms up the D6 road towards the village of Marquay.  This one of a number of hillclimbs that has free admission, but even then there were not a huge number of spectators.  It was good that they had 37 drivers turn up, which is not bad for this area.  Long may it continue.

I got there in time for the timed practice runs in the morning and stayed for the first three of four official runs up the hill in the afternoon.  It was a reasonable hill for taking photographs and a good commentary to keep you informed of what was going on.  Good parking not too far from the finish and good directions from the closed  part of the A6 plus a couple of "buvettes" added to the day out.  Added to that there were not too many delays in the proceedings.   

All of the cars that took part in the afternoon are shown below.

Fabrice Gallo was overall winner in his Norma M20 FC in a time of 48.329 seconds for the 1,500 metres.

The only single seater taking part came second overall, a Tatuus Formula Master driven by Rémi Bechadergue.

The third place on the podium went to Romain Patacconi in this Norma M20 FC.

Fourth overall and winner of the CM motor cycle engined sports car class was Gabriel Baillou in this
 TracKing RC01.

Fifth overall and second in the CM class was this SpeedCar GTR of Frédéric Rousseau.

Sixth overall was this Fior F05 driven by Didier Gimenez.

First of the Production cars and winner of the FN Group was Kêvin Jarousse in this Renault Mégane 3 RS.

Eighth overall and winner of the F2000 Group was Aurélien Boyer in this Renault Clio.

On opposite lock through the last corner is the Lotus Exige Cup of Christophe Carrere.  He was ninth and the only GT car present.

Tenth overall and the only FC car present was this Talbot Rallye 3 of Jean-Louis Trayaud.

Eleventh was this Talex M3 Motorsport of Laurent Beaussart.

Twelfth and winner of the FA group was Yves Dubrana in this BMW M3 E36.

Thirteenth and second of the F2000 cars was this Renault Clio 2 of William Abba.

Fourteenth and winner of his class was Eric Sauteur in this Renault Clio Ragnotti.

Fifteenth was Laurent Borderie in this Renault Clio RS Line and he also won his class.

Sixteenth in the same car was Julien Borderie.

Seventeenth was Nicolas Buguellou in a Renault Twingo RS.

Eighteenth was this Peugeot 205 driven by Jonathan Massou.

Nineteenth was Gérard Giminez in this Funyo B4.

Twentieth was Nicolas Laval in a Renault Clio 2 RS.

Pierre Ramos was 21st in this Peugeot 309 and won his class.

Laurent Meillet in this Peugeot 106 Rallye was 22nd.

23rd was Citroën ZX of Sébastien Dumas.

Christophe Bernard was 24th in this Peugeot 206 RC.

Gaétan Parade was 25th in this Peugeot 309.

26th was Dimitri Meillet in a Peugeot 106 Rallye.

Francis Lagarrue came 27th in this Renault R5 GT Turbo.

This Citroën Saxo VTS of Alexandre Dupin came 28th.

In 29th place was this Peugeot 205 of Sébastien Labrousse.

In 30th place was this Renault Clio Cup 3 of Jacques Lesaulnier.

This Alfa Romeo 75 driven by Bruno Guillon finished 31st.

In 32nd position was Philippe Quioc in this Peugeot 205 Rallye.

This Citroën Saxo was classified 33rd driven by Franck Chaulet.

Charles Rodrigues Gaspar finished 34th in this Renault Twingo.

The final driver classified was Patrick Leveque in this Opel Astra OPC.

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 fuel leaking out of the filler may be the reason this Renault 11 Turbo went home early and wasn't classified.

The last corner.

The house just before the finish line.

Fabrice Gallo, the winner, on his was from the paddock for his final run.