Rally France – A boulevard for Sarrazin in the Cévennes?

The 2014 calendar will not have helped the 57th Critérium des Cévennes, seventh round of the French Rally Championship. With the same weekend on Rally of Spain, penultimate round of the WRC, many drivers turned to the Iberian Peninsula, including the reigning French Champion Julien Maurin. As a result, Stéphane Sarrazin, who is making his return to rallying on this occasion, will find himself quite alone at the wheel of the only World Rally Car in the field. The main opposition will be led by the Citroën DS3 R5 of Pascal Enjolras, and the Peugeot 207 S2000 de Romain Martel, ainsi que les Porsche 997 de Gilles Nantet et Patrick Rouillard. “In the absence of some of my rivals in the Drivers' Championship, my goal will be to score as many points as possible to end the season more peacefully in the Var. » admits Nantet, second in the championship behind Maurin. The R3 category will be well represented with Manu Guigou at the head of the bridge. However, the entry list is far from negligible with 133 crews, most of them regional pilots.

The event will take place after the difficult period experienced by the region, recently subject to several cycles of flooding. “I hope that the Critérium will be, this year even more than usual, a moment of celebration for everyone! Whether for the competitors, the spectators and the volunteers who give their time to ensure that their passion continues and who have worked tirelessly to ensure that the event can take place this year. It was far from easy to achieve this but we managed to do it, even if faced with the exceptional conditions, we had to adopt exceptional measures, in particular by reorganizing the course numerous times. We ask pilots to be lenient and kind towards us. We too would have liked to offer everyone the full range of scheduled specials? As everyone knows, the last few weeks have been particularly difficult for the population, and more particularly for the many people affected by the series of floods that the region has suffered. With the entire Organizing Committee, we have decided to contribute modestly to a rapid return to “normal” for them, by donating a percentage of the revenue generated by the sale of rally programs. May the Criterium, which so many Cévenols appreciate, help to restore their morale! » explains the President of the Organizing Committee José-Luis Bordonado.

The rally will start on Friday morning, the shakedown having taken place the day before in the morning.