Auxerrois: an ideal Saturday for Bonnefis

While the reconnaissance lap, Saturday morning at dawn, had gone well, on soft but rolling tracks, a very heavy downpour fell around noon, just as the three special stages on the loop program were taking place. “ It was undrivable", "it was black ice ", these were the first reactions? If the first SS could take place in its entirety, the second was interrupted when several “two-wheel drives” could not overcome two steep climbs. The roads becoming more and more impassable, the Race Direction then decided not to have the competitors complete the second loop, and the classification of the stage was ratified after the first three special stages.

Leader with exactly 2?56?? ahead of the Mitsubishi Lancer Group N of Noël Tron, Germain Bonnefis did not hide his satisfaction: “Of course, the results can only be positive, with such a lead. Several reasons explain this gap: firstly, we made no driving errors, secondly, our car is very agile in these conditions, with efficient suspensions which allow us to drive well. We were also quite lucky, because we were the first to pass, just before the rain became intense. And finally, our direct competitors had problems which relegated them far in the ranking? »

Indeed, the unlucky one of the day is Paul Chieusse. With a power steering failure from the 2nd special, he lost almost six minutes? “ Tomorrow, we will just manage our lead. The objective being the championship, we will aim for consistency », concludes the pilot Peugeot -Sport.