Mâcon Wine Rally: Snobeck in the lead

«It was not a type of terrain where you could make big gaps », said a very happy Dany Snobeck at the end of the first stage. “Tomorrow, there will be more differences in pace, with sometimes narrower roads and descents. I hope Saturday will be as perfect as today. I just had a little oversteer problem, but nothing serious. If we continue at this pace, without making mistakes, it will be good. »

Second at 9??8 from Snobeck, Julien Maurin was also very satisfied with his day. “After working a lot on the settings, particularly the shock absorber curves, I am finally confident with the car. We also fitted slightly stiffer steering, which is more effective on bumps and small bumps. When you feel comfortable with the car, it?s easier to set times?, estimated the Fiesta driver WRC who indeed has never seemed so serene or in harmony with his mount.

As for Gilles Nantet, he was on cloud nine, with this third place 21 seconds behind the leader. “I got off to a great start, with a great fight with my teammate Hervé Véricel, who is very fast here and motivated me to attack " The Porsche 997 Cup entered in Group GT + took advantage of their big cavalry, on these ultra-fast specials contested at more than 120 km/h on average, to titillate the WRC…

The two big losers of this day are Jean-Marie Cuoq and Freddy Loix. While he led the rally At the end of the first loop of three specials, Cuoq failed to brake in the village of Solutré, hit an embankment and finished the fourth special with a flat wheel: the result was a loss of 50?? seconds, and a tumble from first to eighth place. As for the Belgian Loix, it was the mechanics which acted up: a leak in a small injector seal caused him to lose more than a minute and a half in the first lap. Once the breakdown was repaired, the Belgian drove at the same pace as the others, but he could not catch up, occupying 12th place this evening.