Rally Sweden – French people attack the Great North

Do not be fooled by appearances. It is not because their structure is undoubtedly the most modest in the service park located in Umeå that Tony Ribaudo (33 years old) and his co-driver Julien Degrange (40 years old) are lost 600 km north of Stockholm. In fact, the small tribe that made the journey to the province of Västerbotten is around fifteen people strong. Friends and family members have indeed decided to follow the crew on their adventure. Some will go see the rally, while others will take the opportunity to take a few days in a truly exotic setting… and others will return to work.

« Two years ago, I came to attend this rally as a spectator, explains Tony. I then told myself that I would like to participate in this round. In France, it is really difficult to find events for riding on snow. Here we have the opportunity to do so. Time to put everything in place and buy a car… and here we are at the start. » Although he has been racing since 2010, the driver from Villaz in Haute-Savoie, near Annecy, has mainly competed in Regionals, a few meetings in the French championship and only Monte-Carlo in WRC. " This is only our second experience at this level, he confirms. There is often more stress during technical checks, but in the end we did well. The language barrier is sometimes a bit annoying, but we always manage to find solutions. Our main concern was not having many spare parts. So I thank everyone who lent us elements for the Skoda. The goal was to be able to start again each time in the event of a problem. It will take me a week or two to get everything back! »

The French crew did not neglect to bring a strap and two shovels in case of a bad encounter with a wall of snow (Photo: Loïc Rocci)

Smiling at the end of the reconnaissance, the Tricolore crew was eager to get started. “ The course met our expectations, he says. I think the conditions are ideal and we are going to have a great time. Our goal is to have fun and see the final podium. » The face of the Haut-Savoyard at the arrival of the very first special stage run at night attested that everything was in place to make this weekend spent discovering the snowy Swedish roads a success.