Jean-Marie Cuoq wins at the Causses

A succession of violent downpours, during the night and day of Sunday, completely soaked the playing field of the competitors in the rally Land of the Causses. The numerous changes of direction on the paths and forest tracks were conducive to small errors, with almost no driver escaping going “all-straight” during heavy braking in muddy areas. If no retirement was to be deplored for this reason, some lost big, especially after stalling their engine?

This was particularly the case of Laurent Carbonaro. Victim of more than one puncture in SS 5, the driver of the Ford Focus WRC dropped from third to fourth place. In the penultimate special, Paul Chieusse, who already saw himself as runner-up to Jean-Marie Cuoq, in turn lost 45 seconds in a hairpin, engine stalled, and he had to leave second place to Yoann Bonato.

« We are super happy », explained the young Yoann Bonato, who was co-driven by the veteran Denis Giraudet. “ Despite our differential problem, which sent all the power to the rear, we managed a good performance. Now we hope to be at Auxerrois, but first we will have to thoroughly service the car and find the origin of the breakdown. »

Confirming a rapid handling of its Peugeot 207 Super 2000, Richard Doux finished in fifth place, regretting for his part two "straights". But the Avignon resident could also be satisfied with the best scratch time achieved in SS 7, at the height of a heavy hailstorm.

In Group N, Arnaud Morel did not miss his return, after two years of absence. With a Subaru N12 B, he made a good comeback on Sunday on the Mitsubishi of Varois Hervé Guignard, who had also not raced on gravel for several seasons.

Finally, victory in group R, and in the 2-wheel drive category, for Marc Amourette, who still handles his Citroën C2 R2 efficiently. “Manu” Gascou completes the success of the “chevrons” in group R, while the always fiery “Jeff” Bérenguer, after losing 9 minutes coming out of a field of mud, fell down the rankings?