Lorraine Rally: Jean-Renaud Marchal and Kévin Bronner above the rest

This season, three double-header weekends will take place as part of the French Rally Championship 2nd Division. The one that just ended was no exception to this rule, since the Rally The Lorraine Rally and the Lozère Rally, both on the calendar, took place last weekend. Unfortunately, in Baccarat, there was only one crew officially entered in the CFR "2nd Division", Laurent Jamart and Charlotte Houbin (Peugeot 208 Rally4): they finished 4th in the Rally4 class, which also corresponded to 16th overall. However, the Rallye de Lorraine remains a key event for the drivers of the Grand-Est motorsport league, and they were obviously present at the start of the 71st edition of the rally. This edition was decimated early on with the withdrawals of Antonin Mougin – Isabelle Galmiche (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo), and Quentin Gilbert – Anthony Fernandes (Alpine A110 GT+) and Steve Mourey – Madlyn Brice (Citroën C3 Rally2).

Unsurprisingly, Jean-Renaud Marchal and Kévin Bronner emerged victorious.

In this context, Jean-Renaud Marchal, co-driven by 2025 French Gravel Rally Champion Kévin Bronner (Citroën C3 Rally2), was the clear favorite on his home turf. Without faltering, the former Citroën Sport factory driver set all the fastest times on his home rally and never relinquished the lead. Alain Vauthier and Mélanie Grandjean, in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, were in second place overall last Saturday evening at the end of the first leg, but already 59,9 seconds behind. The following day, they went off the road in SS10, forcing them to retire and, unfortunately, extinguishing any remaining suspense. Two Rally4 cars ultimately completed the podium: Matthieu Hocquaux and Guillaume Duval (Peugeot 208 Rally4) take second position in the final rally, more than 1 minute 45 seconds behind the winners, and finish ahead of Damien Claudon – Jérémy Parisot (Peugeot 208 Rally4) by 5,1 seconds.

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