Consani first leader of the Historic Tour of Corsica, Delecour struggling

The first stage of the 20th Tour de Corse historique was only a warm-up with the lowest mileage of the week (40,57 km with four ES), yet there was no shortage of events around Porto-Vecchio.

Two great animators have already thrown away their ambitions. The double winner on the island (in 2014 and 2015) Christophe Vaison (BMW) did not reach the finish line, as did the host of the 2019 edition, Pierre Vivier (Renault), unable to start SS1 due to a stubborn clutch.

A contrario, tout a fonctionné comme prévu sur la Porsche 911 of Robert Consani and Mickaël Camilli. The track rider engaged in FFSAGT (4th in the Silver Cup after three rounds) returns to his first love, the rally, on ground that he had not set foot on since 2014 (then in modern with a Peugeot 207 S2000).

Despite this hiatus, the native of Aix-en-Provence achieved three scratch times this Monday! He left only crumbs Marc Valliccioni and Marie-Josée Cardi, the fastest in SS3. The duo engaged in a BMW M3 is 20'' behind the leaders.

Behind, the indestructible Alain Oreille (Porsche), 67 years old, navigated by his wife Sylvie, climbs to third place, 46'' from the lead! “It’s still something!” We repeat the special stages from before and then it reminds us of a time when rallying was on a human scale”, rejoices the Group N winner of the 1989 Tour de Corse with a Renault R5 GT Turbo.

The other star of this year, François Delecour (Porsche), suffered a serious setback by dropping almost three minutes in the last special of the day. The winner of the 1993 edition drops to 19th place and will have to chase down lost time between now and Saturday evening and the finish of the 20th timed portion.

In the regularity category, Jean-Louis and Marie-Christine Albertini lead the way with the Lancia Fulvia ahead of Pascal Arnould and Franck Morel (Lancia Delta Integrale). The second stage is traced between Porto-Vecchio and Bastia with four special stages for the greatest total of timed kilometers on the event (94,41 km).

Program for Wednesday October 7:

– 9:43 a.m.: SS5 Ventiseri – Serra di Fiumorbo (26,56 km)

– 11:08 a.m.: SS6 Maison Pierraggi – Antisanti (28,91 km)

– 13:56 p.m.: SS7 Pianiccia – Sant’Andria di Cotone (24,06 km)

– 15:19 p.m.: SS8 Poggio Mezzana – Talasani (14,88 km)

General ranking after Stage 1: