Meslier mates Laboulle in Lohéac

David Meslier (Renault Clio III RS « WRC ), with a new engine at Lohéac, was the strongest, from the start to the end of the weekend. During the qualifying heats, he set the best time twice, in three heats. During the D1 final, David Meslier had Marc Laboulle (Citroën C4 WRC) at his side, on the first row. Reigning French champion, the latter chose this year to compete in the European Championship, coming to France piecemeal. In Lohéac, national capital of Rallycross, Picard came as title holder, having won there for the last three years.

At the start, David Meslier placed himself perfectly in the lead, with Samuel Peu (Peugeot 207 “WRC”) and Jérôme Grosset-Janin (Citroën C4 “WRC”) in his wake. Fourth after the first turn, Marc Laboulle decided to take the slow lap on the first pass. The strategy paid off since in the end, Marc Laboulle found himself second! On the other hand, David Meslier, who took the joker lap during his penultimate pass, was able to accumulate enough of a lead to emerge in front of Marc Laboulle and win.

David Meslier did a good job by moving up to third place in the general D1 rankings. On the other hand, Davy Jeanney (Citroën C4 “WRC”) did not have the same success since, starting on the third and last row of the final, he was unable to start! This power outage cost him valuable points, even if Jérôme Grosset-Janin did not take full advantage of it by finishing fourth, behind Samuel Peu and ahead of Gaëtan Serazin (Peugeot 207 “WRC”). Still second in the championship, Grosset-Janin is eleven points behind Jeanney. Knowing that victory is twenty points away, the gap is only very slim.

In D1A, it was the incredible Steven Bossard (Citroën C2 Super 1600) who won. This is the young driver?s seventh victory, in seven rounds! With a 46-point lead over Eric Guillemette, he should be able to secure his title of French Champion from the next round, in Mayenne, in two weeks.

Find the photos of the Lohéac meeting by clicking here, and the full report in your AUTOhebdo magazine, on newsstands from Wednesday.