"To ensure Bonato doesn't run away with the championship": Hugo Margaillan announces his objectives for Rhône-Charbonnières

Second on the Rally At Le Touquet – Pas-de-Calais, the crew of Hugo Margaillan and Mathieu Coppa from CHL Sport Auto made a strong impression. Aboard the Hyundai The i20N Rally2, the former French Junior Rally Champion, has certainly had his best start to a season in his career, having not always been able to extract the full potential from his cars on this rally with its atypical profile. Obviously, he will be expected to perform strongly in the Rhône this weekend for the second round of the French Rally Championship season: The goal for the weekend is to prevent Yoann Bonato from running away with the championship: we have everything we need to do well, we want to attack, have a great rally and why not try for the win.”, announces the Var-based driver, still seeking his first CFR victory.

For Hugo Margaillan, Raphaël Astier will be the man to beat at Rhône-Charbonnières.

At CHL Sport Auto, Hugo Margaillan and Mathieu Coppa will have their work cut out for them. On the one hand, Réhane Gany and Franck Le Floch will of course be present with the same car as them, and although the Réunionnais driver doesn't yet have much experience with his new car, Hugo Margaillan isn't under any illusions about the top speed that Sabir Gany's son will be able to achieve: For the moment, he still has to put the Citroën C3 Rally2 out of his mind, but it's clear he'll quickly find his rhythm, perhaps even this weekend, and that by mid-season he'll be fully adapted to the Hyundai."Margaillan indicates. On the other hand, Raphaël Astier and Denis Giraudet, with the Porsche The 992 GT+ will be a bogeyman: Given the rally profile and what we saw in testing with them, there's not much to discuss and it might be difficult to catch them if the weather remains favorable… »Hugo Margaillan clearly states.

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Hugo Margaillan needs to optimize his second place in the championship

Hugo Margaillan will be at the starting line tomorrow morning for a rally in which he has already had success, having twice reached the podium near Charbonnières-les-Bains. "It's a rally I really like, which demands a lot of precision in driving and a keen sense of racing lines, and which requires a rather circuit-style driving style where you have to be quite technical.""That's what the 2021 208 Rally Cup winner explained. Having joined the Hyundai camp at the start of the 2024 season, Margaillan secured his first podium finish with the i20N Rally2 there that same year and finished fourth in last year's rally, missing the podium by 12,4 seconds to Pablo Sarrazin and Yannick Roche. Currently second in the championship, the Margaillan-Coppa duo will certainly be a force to be reckoned with this weekend."