Hunsbedt wins European round

With 33 drivers at the start, European and French combined, Division 1 looked great. As in previous years, this event counted for both the European and French Championships. The European D1 drivers gave no quarter. Notably the Norwegian Sverre Isachsen, who took pole position after the first two qualifying heats. Always fast in the Orne, the other Norwegian Ludvig Hunsbedt (Volvo S40) twice set the second fastest time. Unlike Isachsen, he took part in the third round, which was beneficial for him to keep warmer tires for the start of the A final.

At the start of this final, Ludvig Hunsbedt was more lively in the first meters than Sverre Isachsen. From the first corner, Hunsbedt kept a few centimeters ahead before inexorably increasing his lead. The podium is completed by the Swede Michaël Jernberg (Skoda Fabia). Sverre Isachsen, weaned from victories since the start of the season, is leading the D1 European Championship.

The first Frenchman, Jean-Luc Pailler (Peugeot 207) finished second in the B final. He lost his provisional third place in the European Championship in the process. You have to go to the C final to find the second Frenchman, David Meslier (Renault Clio) who unfortunately hit hard from the first meters of this C final, seriously damaging his car. His only satisfaction is to take 17 points. The creation of a D final allowed Kervé Knapick (Peugeot 207) to recover 15 points and Marc Laboulle (Citroën Xsara) 13 points. The latter, struggling with a choice of tires that were too soft, saw his lead in the French Championship go from 9 to 5 points compared to David Meslier;

In D1A, all the spectators were waiting for a feat from Olivier Bossard (Citroën C2) who participates exclusively in the European Championship. Unfortunately, he was never able to play the leading roles. He saw all his hopes dashed when he took three seconds of penalties during the third qualifying heat, which only qualified him for the B final. But another French driver can hide another. Samuel Peu shone during the first two qualifying rounds. In a category which included 39 drivers, he flew over everyone by achieving the absolute best time twice!

He had to finish by making a great start from pole in the A final. That's what he did. Certainly at the start, the Russian Timur Timerzyanov (Renault Clio) put pressure on him, but from the third of the six laps of this A final, he let slip. Unbelievably easy! Another Frenchman shone, Eric Guillemette (Renault Clio). A brilliant third in the A final for a long time, he succumbed to pressure from the young Norwegian Mats Lysen (Renault Clio)!



With two victories in two races, Samuel Peu took a considerable lead in the French Championship. Only seventh French driver classified, Roman Ferrero (Dacia Logan) loses his provisional second place to Eric Guillemette.