Touquet Rally – SS8: Bonato finishes strong

What a second loop on this first stage of the Rally Le Touquet – Pas-de-Calais! After the show of force of PorscheRain arrived late in the day, making the terrain very tricky for the two-wheel-drive cars, especially the German ones. Unsurprisingly, Raphaël Astier and Denis Giraudet relinquished their overall lead to Stéphane Lefebvre and Andy Malfoy in these extreme conditions, but the two men, aboard their Toyota The GR Yaris Rally2 team made a mistake in SS7 due to aquaplaning and retired. As a result, Yoann Bonato and Benjamin Boulloud took advantage to regain the lead, extending their advantage to 30,6 seconds over their new closest rivals, Hugo Margaillan and Mathieu Coppa. Hyundai i20N Rally2 from the CHL Sport Auto team.

The regulars at the CFR are regaining power

The crew of the CHL Sport Auto Porsche 992 GT+, who led at midday, have dropped to third place and are now 22,5 seconds behind their teammates. The top five at the end of this first leg is completed by Quentin Gilbert and Christopher Guieu (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) and by Eric Brunson and Cédric Mondon (Citroën C3 Rally2), the record holder for victories at Le Touquet having recovered well at the end of the day. Behind them, tomorrow we will have to watch the winner of the 2025 Michelin Amateur Trophy Julien Casale, co-driven by Pierre Delorme on their Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, who are now ahead in order of Pierre Ragues – Julien Pesenti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2), Benjamin and Florence Stirling (Citroën C3 Rally2), the Belgians Maxime Potty – Renaud Herman (Citroën C3 Rally2) and Lucas Darmezin – Charlyne Quartini (Hyundai i20N Rally2).

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Another big program this Saturday

Four special stages are on the program tomorrow, including a new timed section to kick off the day's two loops. Then, all the crews will have to tackle the toughest challenge of this rally, the Hucqueliers stage and its 29,98 kilometers, well-known to the competitors, a true test of this first round of the 2026 French Rally Championship. As for the weather, the forecast is currently more favorable than today: sunny spells are predicted with rain expected in the late afternoon. However, as we know, the weather can change quite rapidly in this region, so it will be necessary to closely monitor the evolving conditions. Also of note is the retirement of local star Adrien Van Beveren, who was driving a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 and unfortunately went off the road in the 6th special stage.

CFR – Le Touquet Rally – Pas-de-Calais
The Top 10 of SS8:

CFR – Le Touquet Rally – Pas-de-Calais
The Top 10 after the first stage: