Mont-Blanc Rally – Bonato widens the gap, Loeb retains his 3rd place

Arriving at the regroupment organized in Samoëns, the survivors of the 73rd rally Mont-Blanc Morzine had competed in two new special stages, i.e. 32,09 km timed. Before setting off on the Col de la Joux Verte (today called Morzine-Montriond le lac) the competitors all scanned the increasingly gray sky. 15 minutes before the start of the special, rain was forecast for the last kilometers, the road getting wet quickly... while the climb remained dry.

If the best time went to a surprising Kévin Bochatay, who had opted for good riding with softs, it was especially at the head of the race that the suspense was intense. Without being completely satisfied with his choice of tires, Quentin Giordano was ahead of Yoann Bonato by 3s5 and regained command by 1s6. Sebastian Loeb signed a new great performance by inserting its antique Kit-Car in the middle of the 4-wheel drive. The Alsatian thus consolidated his provisional 3rd place by pushing William Wagner back to 10s2.

Cautious on a road that was sometimes wet, sometimes dry, Gilles Panizzi remained in 15th position overall. During the difficult Côte d'Arbroz (SS14), Bonato hit hard and took the lead again, relegating Giordano to 8 seconds. Having decided to cross his tires for this time, Loeb conceded several seconds and found himself under threat from Quentin Gilbert who overtook Wagner and was only 4s3 behind the 306.

On the provisional podium at the start of the rally, Eric Camilli fell back yesterday in SS6 due to a puncture. Starting his comeback from 8th place, the Niçois is now 6th with two stages to go to further improve his ranking.