News from France

[vino_93]

On the other hand Charles Martin has been nowhere. I doubt he would continue with Peugeot. Bonato seems to be the man, yes.

Yes, it's over for Martin. Unfortunately Peugeot didn't treat him really well (more or less no tests, from the beginning of the year you could see they weren't interesting by him), but he never shows something really good...

[vino_93]

This young man Sylvain Michel seems pretty fast with the Peugot S2000...If he hadn't lost 1 min in the night stage would be very close with everybody.....Anything about him ???

He is a high-rated young guy. One of the most promising now.
He has 24, and is from the Alps.
He started in 2011 in french cup with a C2 GT with some good results. Then he went to Switzerland and did some good drive with a C2 R2. He was the winner of R2 in Valais 2012.
In 2013 he drove the Citroën Racing Trophy Switzerland and won it.

In 2014 he did JWRC round in Portugal, but that was his first gravel event. He had some troubles, but shows some good times on some stages. He progress a lot all the week end.
He had nothing precise to do this year ... but finally Nantet helped him, and he drove his old Porsche (GT10). He was quite fast with it, but had mechanical troubles. As he did good job with yhe Porsche, he was nominated for the "Espoir Echappement", an autosport contest to elect the most promising frenchman of the year - but he wasn't elected.

This year he did a few more events with the Porsche, and then swith to a 207 S2000. He finished 5th in Antibes, but fought for the podium. He crashed in Rouergue, and so was here in Var.

I think he should focus on one-make cup ... in order to win an official drive at least for one year. Because I can't see what he is doing. Driving Porsche is fine, but that's not this way you could launch an international career.

[dimviii]

https://youtu.be/86yBYfFHgOg

[dimviii]

Sylvain
https://youtu.be/fjl7MzGH2dU

[dupanton]

Good question Also does anybody know what problem Loix had on the last stage? It was an awesome battle with Gilbert all the time until the last stage where Loix lost a lot of time.

1. Salanon (Fiesta WRC) 2:19:5,6
2. Gilbert (DS3 R5) +1:39,8
3. Roche (Mini WRC) + 1:42,0
4. Loix (Fabia R5) +2:01,0
5. Amourette (DS3 R5) +2:50,6
6. Michel (207 S2000) +3:34,9
7. Leandri (208 T16 R5) +4:51,6
8. Hirschi (208 T16 R5) +5:29,2
9. Raoux (Fabia R5) +7:26,7
10. Guigou (Clio R3T) +8:09,1

Mauffrey, Martin (both 206 T16 R5) both crashed. Bonato, the fastest R5 driver by far, retired on SS4 with engine problem. Brunson (Fiesta WRC) also retired with technical problems.

Brunson had brake problems, Loix spun.

Didn't expect such a pace from Gilbert! And Bonato, this guy really deserves a good program, although he is too old now to really get a career. Maybe he could do ERC or at least French Championship with a top car.

Suarez won 208 cup again, really curious what he will perform next year! Berfa is best Junior this year, but I don't know if he is ready to perform in jERC.

[dimviii]

https://youtu.be/_wXTz2m2q9g

[Rally Power]

I don't get why WRC are allowed in French champ. If FFSA chose R5 and RRC as main categories, it'd probably be the most competitive championship around Europe.

[Francis44]

I don't get why WRC are allowed in French champ. If FFSA chose R5 and RRC as main categories, it'd probably be the most competitive championship around Europe.

Probably because there are several WRC machines in France needing to be rented and a lot of teams not wanting to get burned with cars stuck in the shop.

[Rally Power]

Probably because there are several WRC machines in France needing to be rented and a lot of teams not wanting to get burned with cars stuck in the shop.

Ok, but 1.6WRC could be converted to RRC and the old 2.0 cars could still be allowed in french regional series. Maybe they'll change something in 2017 as WRC cars will get even more expensive.

[vino_93]

That will probably change in 2017, to focus on R5. There's a lot of talks about it.
But now that there's less and less top WRC drivers to do the whole champ, I think the WRC cars will be banned from the tarmac championship (no reason to ban it from gravel and cup).