While an initial pecking order emerged in the Causses, the thirty-four crews entered in the Castine round aimed to confirm or reverse the trends seen at the start of the season. Round one winner Jean-Sébastien Vigion took the lead on Saturday’s opening stage. Despite Laurent Reuche’s reply in the longest-timed sector of the rally and Baptiste Panissié’s on SS3, Jean-Sébastien Vigion returned to the service park at midday with a 4.9s lead over Laurent Reuche. Consistent over the first loop, John Laroche was third ahead of Mika Rasoamaromaka and Julien Deslauriers.
On increasingly rough and degraded roads in the afternoon, Jean-Sébastien Vigion did it again in Cauvaldor, whereas Julien Deslauriers was among the drivers who got caught out. While Mika Rasoamaromaka and Tom Pieri were the fastest in the day’s final two stages, the Vigion Promo Sport leader used all his experience to increase his lead to 15.3 seconds. Behind him, Laurent Reuche and John Laroche were separated by only three seconds, while Mika Rasoamaromaka remained in contention, nearly 20 seconds ahead of Patrick Magnou and Tom Pieri.
My approach to this event was to build up my race. As in the Causses, we found good pace by pushing when we had to, but the second loop on Saturday was super complicated with the rough roads that put Clio Rally5 to the test. The car suffered quite a bit, and we had a big scare with a shock absorber. My ‘small team’ did everything they could to find a solution before the Sunday morning recce run. It was a long day, but it worked out, and I want to say a big thank you to them because, at one point, If I am honest, I thought it was over. See you in Aléria!
Jean-Sébastien VigionOn Sunday, the action began with the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage, with Tom Pieri posting the best time to pick up ten bonus points, while John Laroche lost more than three minutes and any hope of a podium result due to a puncture. Jean-Sébastien Vigion extended his advantage to 26.9 seconds before looking after his car on the final loop to take a comfortable win, 24.2 seconds ahead of Gentlemen category winner Laurent Reuche. Third-place finisher Mika Rasoamaromaka won in the Junior category ahead of Tom Pieri and Florian Condamines. Julien Deslauriers battled back to finish sixth, followed by Jean-Paul Monnin, Tom Pellerey and Baptiste Panissié while Patrick Magnou dropped to tenth place in the final kilometres.
With his second win in two starts, Jean-Sébastien Vigion extends his lead in the Clio Trophy France Terre. In the teams’ category, Vigion Promo Sport stays on top, just like Garage Delettre in the Renault Network Challenge. With the second fastest time in the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage, Mattéo Chatillon still leads the classification, just two points ahead of Tom Pieri.
Clio Trophy France Terre title-holder and category winner last month in the Causses, Florian Bouchonneau experienced a tough rally in his Clio Rally4 due to a time-consuming puncture on SS6. Meanwhile, Clio Rally3 monopolised the best stage times in its category with Quentin Ribaud and Emmanuel Gascou, respectively seventh and ninth overall at the finish. Quentin Ribaud even managed to place Clio Rally3 among the best Rally2 cars in France by finishing in the top five on SS5, proving the huge potential of the new car on some of the most challenging stages.
The next event on the calendar will take Clio Trophy France Terre crews to a new round of the French Gravel Rally Championship, the Rallye Terre d’Aléria (1-3 June).
