A month after kicking off its third season, the Alpine Elf Rally Trophy demonstrated its growing popularity with a record field of 13 competitors at Antibes.
Second in the Rallye Rhône-Charbonnières, Ludovic Godard was the first to show his mettle on the wet roads with changing grip. Winner of the first two stages on Friday, he opened up a lead of 11.6s, but Pierre Roché had other ideas. Third in SS1, then second in SS2, the latter scored his first stage win on the longest timed sector to take the lead at midday.
Pierre Roché put the hammer down on the second Levens – Duranus – Saint-Jean-la-Rivière run, where Grégory Fontalba, Loïc Panagiotis and Philippe Baffoun struggled. The leader kept his foot on the gas on Puget-Théniers to increase his advantage to 40.1s over Jean-François Mourgues, who went crescendo to move ahead of Vincent Leduc whilst Ludovic Godard dropped down the order.
In drying conditions making it tricky to choose between the different Michelin tyre compounds, Pierre Roché extended his lead on Saturday with the best time in Gourdon – Cipières and the iconic Col de Bleine stage. The Team FJ driver tackled the final loop with a 1:02.7s lead and used all his experience to manage the rally, claim a sixth stage win and clinch victory ahead of the Gentlemen Jean-François Mourgues, Vincent Leduc and Éric Royère.
Romain Haut-Labourdette was in a scrap with Eric Royère but eventually retired after a mistake in the final sector. Jérémy Crétien inherited fifth place to take his second victory among the Challengers. In sixth place, David Ferraro preceded Éric Giannini and the drivers starting again after retiring on Friday: Philippe Baffoun, Grégory Fontalba and Loïc Panagiotis.
In the general classification, the gaps are narrowing. With Charbonnières winner Fabrice Bect skipping Antibes, Jean-François Mourgues take the lead with his second podium result, ahead of the former leader and Pierre Roché. Vincent Leduc trails the leader by seven points while Jérémy Crétien completes a top five covered by only nine units.
The Alpine A110 Rally cars also demonstrated again all their agility on the Antibes roads, most notably with a one-two finish on SS4 and an impressive performance from Raphaël Astier. Before taking on Pikes Peak with Alpine, the Frenchman won the SS6 and set the second fastest time on the Col de Bleine to finish fifth overall and win the 2WD category.
The Alpine Elf Rally Trophy competitors will now shift their focus on the next round, the Rallye Aveyron Rouergue Occitanie (6-8 July), which will mark the end of the first half of the season.
