Rhône-Charbonnières Rally – Giordano in the lead before the last loop

Author of four best times out of the five possible this morning, Quentin Giordano took the lead of the Rallye Rhône-Charbonnières ahead of Nicolas Ciamin.

Published on 30/04/2022 à 14:05

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Rhône-Charbonnières Rally – Giordano in the lead before the last loop

Quentin Giordano one loop away from happiness © Bastien Roux / DPPI

Five special stages were on the program for the first loop of this second stage of the Rally Rhône-Charbonnières. 0,8 seconds behind this morning when leaving the podium at Charbonnières, Quentin Giordano (Polo GTI R5-Sarrazin Motorsport) took the lead of the rally after his best time in SS7. The Nancéian “assures in the tricky sections”. Visibly confident at the wheel of his VW, he took advantage of SS 8 to increase his lead over Nicolas Ciamin (i20 N Rally2) who was complaining of understeer.

Nicolas Ciamin © Bastien Roux / DPPI

The two drivers were separated by 7,2 seconds before the start of a final loop of the Rhône-Charbonnières Rally which already promises to be decisive.

Alone in third place, Cédric Robert (A110 Rally-Bonneton HDG Yacco) set a scratch time in SS 12 by relying in particular on a choice of tire different from the other R-GTs. THE Alpine are comfortable in Beaujolais and Julien Saunier confirmed this with his provisional fourth place despite an ABS alert in SS 9.

Cédric Robert © Photo Bastien Roux / DPPI

Forget the abandonment of Le Touquet for William Wagner (Polo GTI R5) who entered the Top 5 after this loop of five special stages of more than 60 kilometers. Engaged in a substantial program on the asphalt of the CFR, Florian Bernardi (Fiesta Rally2-Sarrazin Motorsport) continued to get the measure of a car that he is discovering after having distinguished himself for a long time in two-wheel drive.

The only branded Cup present this weekend at “Charbo”, the Trophy Alpine Elf Rally is an opportunity to see the rise in power of Cyril Raymond (A110 Rally-Chazel) who discovered driving the Normande on the CFR roads. The driver had a large lead over his pursuers in addition to a promising Top 10 on roads he was discovering.

This sequence of five stages was particularly uncompromising for the mechanics since, among the leaders, Hugo Margaillan, David Salanon and Sébastien Dommerdich declared their retirement.