Rallye des Vins Mâcon – Julien Maurin held on

We were impatiently awaiting the continuation of the duel between Julien Maurin and Jean-Marie Cuoq, who had revealed themselves inseparable, Friday, during the 1st stage. It will have ended short. From SS 7, the first special of this last stage of the Rally des Vins Mâcon, the Citroën C4 WRC of the reigning French champion encountered mechanical problems and was unable to start the following timed sector. Julien Maurin then found himself free from his main rival, with a comfortable lead of around thirty seconds over his closest pursuer Eric Brunson. In very tricky conditions, the latter was not going to give him an easy game. Completely unleashed, the Subzaru Impreza driver won 5 of the 6 special stages of the day and gradually reduced the gap with the future winner. He finally finished 11??8 seconds behind Julien Maurin. Without the error made the day before during the first special stage of the event, the situation could have been very different this Saturday.

Derrière ces deux hommes, on retrouve Gilles Nantet. Auteur d?un rallye très solide à bord de sa véloce Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, il a su garder suffisamment d?air entre lui et Pierre Roché (Mini John Cooper Workd WRC) pour compléter le podium. Il s?offre par ailleurs la victoire en catégorie GT+.

With this new victory, the second this year after the one won at Lyon-Charbonnières, Julien Maurin moves ahead of his Ardèche counterpart at the top of the Drivers' ranking.