Rhône for rally drivers, Yonne for Mountaineers, ASA Morvan shareholders received a nice collection of laurels.
Ghislain Barbier 6th at the Rallye Rhône – Charbonnières.
It was the second round of the French rally championship with just 89 starters. Ghislain Barbier and his navigator Yoann Bouchet, were at the wheel of the new Porsche 992 GT, a 400 hp monster not easy to tame on the special stages in the Beaujolais Mountains. Right away in the rhythm, Ghislain easily stayed in the top 10 including all the championship regulars. By raising his driving, he managed to gain places throughout the special stages and he had the great pleasure of finishing the rally in 6th position, as well as second in the group and class.
This is obviously an excellent result that confirms that Ghislain is at the championship level and that a well-driven Porsche can now compete with R5 type cars with four-wheel drive. The scratch victory of the Ardéchois Raphaël Astier at the wheel of a Porsche 992 ahead of Yann Bonato’s Lancia Ypsilon, and Ghislain’s performance prove it.
Bravo to the Dupuy Sisters…
Margot Dupuy found herself back in the co-driver’s seat in the Peugeot 208 Racing, driven by her sister Maeva, recent winner of the FFSA Young Rally Driver Steering Wheel on the island of Reunion. For Maeva, it was somewhat of a discovery in an ultra-competitive environment. Starting cautiously, she increased the pace and managed to gain several places. The two sisters were greatly satisfied to finish 74th out of 85 classified, which is very encouraging for the rest of the season. Needless to say, in Reunion, Mom Sandrine and Dad Frédéric followed closely the feats of their daughters.
Papy Jacky had a good time
Jacky Duchaine rode in the BMW M3 driven by the Lyonnais Didier Touche in the VHC rally which had only 9 starters. Without any problems, they reached the finish line in Charbonnières, 3rd overall and 1st in the Classic category.
With the Musketeers of the Côte.
Not there to admire the bucolic landscape of the Irancy coast (89), but to drive flat out, our four Musketeers signed very good results. There were 72 classifieds.
Stéphane Martinet (Seat Cupra Super Copa MK3) 12th overall, 4th in group A, and 3rd in class A5. It didn’t take much for Stéphane to surpass the Thomasset brothers who were playing at home.
Florent Sechepine (Caterham 420R). Behind the unreachable Porsche of Thomas Chavot, Florent put on a show to finish 14th overall, 2nd in group GTTS, and 1st in class GTTS2. He couldn’t do better.
Cédric Josserand (Peugeot 106 S16). It was in the 2nd climb that Cédric set his best time in 54”58, which allowed him to be classified 25th overall, 4th in group F/2000, and 2nd in class F2/2.
Rachel Zeiler (Renault Clio Ragnotti). She finished 69th overall, with the 6th place in Group N, the first in class N3, and won the Ladies’ Cup. “I lacked performance on this more motor-oriented track than technical. Which doesn’t necessarily suit my driving and my car,” she told us via email.
Jean Moncharmont
Photos provided by Barbara Foldyna and Raphaël Diard
