Course de Côte du Mont-Dore / Chambon-sur-Lac, 2021, HTCC

Almost as though it were a circuit race, a Honda Civic chases a Peugeot 505 up the hill.

There were three things that made this year's Course de Côte du Mont-Dore different to last year's edition.  The first was the weather which on Saturday was very changeable and very challenging unlike the fine weather that had greeted me last year,  However, looking on the bright side, it did make for some interesting photographs.  Secondly, this year all the competitors and spectators needed a 'Pass Sanitaire' to show they had been vaccinated or negatively tested against Covid 19.  For me this was a good thing in these difficult times.  Lastly, this year a class was run for HTCC cars, which for me was a great addition to the event.

The French HTCC or Historique Tourisme Champion Car, as it is known in full, is an affordable Circuit Championship that has been integrated into La Coupe de France des Circuits since 2019.   It was really great to see them on the mountain.  The cars are Touring Cars from 1960 to 1992 and contain Groups 1, 2, N and A amongst others.  Recently, famous 80 year old Rally Champion Jean-Claude Andruet drove a BMW in the HTCC race at Charade and was down in the program to return to Mont Dore, but alas it was not to be. 

All the photos in this post were in the practice runs on Saturday when conditions were rather adverse. i have included photos of all the eleven runners.   I really enjoyed some of the cars being driven quite aggressively considering the weather.

It was really quite dark when the HTCC made there first runs before 9.00am on Saturday but there was worse to come!     This is the fastest runner, Steve Compain in his BMW M3.

Second fastest was, Steve's son, Thomas Compain in this Honda Civic VTEC.  He is seen here driving through the early afternoon rain shower.

The President of the ASA Mont Dore, Patrick Bourguignon, was third in this 
BMW 530 WS.

Fourth was this BMW 2002 Ti of Bernard Frugier.  The marshalls shelter under their umbrellas from the rain.

The Alfa Romeo 75T of Philippe Tournardre came fifth.

Sixth was the Peugeot 505 Production of Jean-Louis D'Esparbes. 

Jean-Louis Seveau was seventh in this BMW 323i.

The Peugeot 505 V6 of 'Levla'.

Jacques Cisotto and his BMW 635M.

The BMW E30 of Dominique Guillaume 

Stéphane Ruiz and his Peugeot 505.

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.

HTCC Peugeot 505 at Mont Dore.

The BMW 2002 Ti returning down the mountain with the mist rising in the background.

32ème Rallye national de Saintonge, 2021.

 

The winner of the rally was this Citroën C4 WRC of Jean-Marie Cuoq and Eric Vallon.  Jean-Marie was Champion de France des Rallyes Asphalte in 2015 and has many times won the championship on the dirt.  It was his first time entering this particular rally.   I believe he drives a car that used to be rallied by Sébastien Loeb.

Following the VHC cars and a 90 minute wait whilst some mess on the route was sorted, came the main event of the day for modern rally cars.   Some of these were very new whilst others were cars that have been rallied for a number of decades.   The 32nd National Rally of Saintonge counts for a number of championships including "la coupe de France des rallyes 2021".     Certainly the field had some well known names in French rallying taking part.    An asphalt (tarmac) rally it consisted of two special stages, which were each taken a number of times.    I was at the Bussac special stage during ES3 which ran through the Cognac and Pineau de Charente vineyards.

Thirty of the 101 cars that started are shown below including the complete top ten and many of the other faster cars and group and class winners.   I particularly liked seeing the pair of Renault Alpine A110s and the winning car of previous French rally champion Jean-Marie Cuoq.   As you can see below, quite a variety of different cars.

Second overall and winner of its Group was this Volkswagen Polo driven by Denis Millet and Manon Verger.   He ended up less than 12 seconds behind the winner and won the third stage where he is pictured here.

This Citroën C3 came third overall driven by Mathias De Souza and Marie Corbineau.  They were the previous winners of the rally when it was last held in 2019 and are local favourites as Mathias was born locally in the Charente Maritime.

Another Citroën C3 driven by Bruno Longépé and Sandra Raffin came fourth.  Bruno is now fifty years old but has many victories since he started rallying in 1993 and won this rally back in 2016.

This beautiful Renault Alpine A110 came fifth and won its Group and Class driven by Jérôme and Anne Galpin.  Lovely to see these GT cars rallying again just like their predecessor 50 years ago.

Kicking-up dust in sixth place is the Skoda Fabia of Paul Paille and Christophe Gaudin.

Seventh overall and winner of their class were Aurélien Lafont and Mathieu Favreau in this Renault Clio.

Also in a class winning Renault Clio, in eighth place were Antoine Hommeau and Jean-Baptiste Riffaud.

In ninth was another Renault Clio crewed by Thierry Landais and Arnault Cairault.

Rounding out the top ten was Citroën Saxo driven by Lionel Mesnager and Amélie Lopes.  They won their class.

This Renault Clio S1600 won its class driven by Johann Hayet and Kévin Boisson.

Another class winner was this Peugeot 208 crewed by Kévin Millet and Alexia Desnoyer.

Winner of its group and class was this Renault Clio of Anthony Ulbert and Loïc Brunaud.

Another class winner was this Citroën Saxo VTS driven by Romain Galin and Jonathan Baron.

Loïc Boudaud and Pauline Boyer won their class in this Renault Clio.

This Peugeot 106 S16 driven by Florian Guillon and Clément Chaille won  its class.

Another class winner was this Subaru Impreza of Gary Guerin and Jordan Lecomte.   Amazing to think that the Impreza has been rallying since 1993, so nearly three decades!

All of the above finished in the top 30.

Another Subaru Impreza checking in at the end of the morning section.

A Fiat Punto S16 about to check in.

A fast Ford Fiesta RS WRC that didn't finish.

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.

A Renault Clio kicking up dust on exiting the corner.

A fast Citroën DS3

Peugeot 205 Maxi.

Renault Alpine A110.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8.   

Citroën Saxo kit car.

Renault Mégane Maxi.

Peugeot 206

Peugeot 106.

Honda Civic.

12ème Rallye de Saintonge VHC, 2021

Overall winner was this Peugeot 205 Rallye driven by Bruno Cadillion and Julien Bichon.

It was with great pleasure that I attended my first motor sport event of the year on July 17th.  The occasion was the twelfth running of the Rallye de Saintonge for Vehicule Historique Competition.  Saintonge is now the area where I live in France and thus to have a great rally less than an hour away was even better!  The VHC rally was a national event counting for the Coupe de France des Rallyes.   I took all the photos on the third special stage at Bussac during the early afternoon at one of the first corners where the Chemin du Grand Fief met the Route de Beauchail.   A nice position to be sure of getting a good photo of each car that passed.  Sixteen cars took part in the third stage and thirteen of these finished the rally.   They put on a nice display for roughly one hundred spectators present at this location.  I particularly enjoyed seeing the Lancias, Opels and BMWs on this special stage.  Well done to the organisers and marshalls who made it possible.

This lovely Lancia Delta came second in the hands of Yannick Legloinec and Vincent Micheau.  On this stage he was the fastest.

Third overall and first of the Groupes 1/2/3/4/5 was  Jean-Philippe Le Cam and Sébastien Sullam in this Opel Kadett.

 

Forth overall was this Opel Ascona B of Michel and Sébastien Porcher.

Fifth overall was Dominique Tolmais and David Delabriere in this Porsche 911 Carrera 2.

Sixth overall was this Porsche 911 SC of Pierrick and Natalie Chauvel.

Seventh overall were Bruno and Karine Chaudet in this Porsche 911 SC.

Eighth overall was this Lancia Delta Integrale of Henri Couillaud and Jean-Francois Palissier.

Ninth overall and winner of the Classic Groupe were Christophe Monnetreau and Bertrand Tourneux in this VW Golf GTi.

Tenth overall was this Peugeot 205 GTi of Nicolas and Jean-Claude Berard.

Eleventh were Thierry and Mickaël Bled in this Talbot Samba.

Twelfth was this BMW 323i of Christian and Céline Longe.

Final finisher were Christophe and Margaux Augeral in this Peugeot 309 GTi 8S.

This BMW 2002 did not finish.

This Audi 80 GTE did not finish.

This BMW 1600 Ti did not finish.

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.

Another picture of the BMW 323i.