Rally of Escarene. April 23-24
The difficult and changeable weather conditions (rain, fog) for this 20th edition held in the Nice hinterland gave rise to a very complicated rally. If the big favorite Puppo won the SS1 in his Skoda Fabia ahead of the three 207 S2000s of Argenti, Cortèse and Deplanche, the 2nd SS at Turini was canceled due to snow and heavy hail! The rain increased in the 3rd stage, Puppo, on slicks, let Cortèse finish the 1st stage in the lead with a 1''4 lead. The Skoda driver regained the advantage the next day but threw in the towel after SS5, which he finished on 3 cylinders. The race was finally decided in the 8th and final special when Wagner (then overall leader) lost more than 1', leaving the Italian Cortèse to snatch a deserved victory. In great shape, Yohan Rossel (1st Gr. R) and Olivier Moni (1st Gr. F2000) finished on the podium. Having come to prepare for the Antibes rally (May 20-22), a dozen 208 VTI R2s valiantly ran the event under the deluge, even winning outright scratches for some time (Solans, Toedtli, Ribaud). R. Alezra
Ranking
1. Cortese-Verbicara (Peugeot 207 S2000) 1h03'31'' (1st Gr. A), 2. Rossel-Fulcrand (Citroën DS3) at 26'' (1st Gr.R), 3. Moni-Arnaud (206 XS) at 40'' (1st Gr. F2000), 4. Solans-Ibanez (208 VTI) at 42'', 5. A. Fotia-Laurenti (208 VTI) at 43'', 6. Riberi-Toppi (208 VTI) at 50'', 7 . Wagner-Paque (208 R2) at 57'', 8. Brilli-Davarend (Clio RS) at 1'28'', 9. Toedtli-Chioso (208 VTI) at 1'29'', 10. Ribaud-Balme (208 VTI) at 1'41'', 22. Egea-Vilanova (Clio Williams) at 4'00'' (1st Gr. N), … 42. Massetti-Galli (Lotus Elise) at 7'15'' (1st Gr. GT), etc.
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