Cardabelles: Bonnefis in the lead ahead of Gascou

Emmanuel Gascou was the first to stand out at the Rally Terre des Cardabelles, penultimate event of the French Terrestrial Rally Championship. However, the pilot of the Peugeot 207 S2000 was caught in SS5 by his rival Germain Bonnefis, also on 207 S2000, who was nevertheless penalized by his position as opener on the road but who took advantage of a poor choice of tires from his opponent. The new leader finished the first stage with a lead of 11” while four stages remain to be contested before the finish of the rally. “The results are positive, we were wise this morning in paying attention to the pitfalls of scanning”, comments the leader. “We did what we had to do and this afternoon, we rode at a good pace without exceeding the limits. The objective is to score as many points as possible and I find myself ahead of Gascou, it's the icing on the cake. I’m delighted to fight against Manu who makes me progress…”

Paul Chieusse completes the provisional podium almost a minute behind at the wheel of his 307 WRC. The Championship leader took advantage of the retirement of Jean-Marc Falco who retired in SS3 following a broken wheel stud while he was in third place at the wheel of his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo fourth place with his Citroën C4 WRC which is still more than a minute behind the top three. Gilles Ségales completes the provisional top five with his Lancer Evo IX but only has a short lead over the first DS3 R3 of Stéphane Consani who leads the Citroën Racing Trophy. The gaps are very tight in the category since Thomas Privé follows the leader by less than eight seconds. Jérémi Ancian is getting closer to the final victory of the Volant 207 by signing the scratches in the last two special stages of the stage and taking advantage of the retirements of his direct rivals Rémi Jouines and François-Xavier Blanc.