Ceredigion: The Paddon-Franceschi duel refereed by locals?

For the penultimate meeting of the 2024 ERC calendar, the competitors will travel to the county of Ceredigion in Wales. If the players in the European Championship are fewer and fewer at the start, the event can count on those from the BRC to liven up the debates.

Published on 28/08/2024 à 13:45

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Ceredigion: The Paddon-Franceschi duel refereed by locals?

For its penultimate meeting the ERC championship travels to Wales (Photo: Red Bull)

Since the start of the season, it has become a habit. During the first 6 rounds of theERC 2024 (which has 8), so far it is always a local crew or one who is not aiming for the title which has won. Will it be the same in England? Competing for the crown, Hayden Paddon (i20) and Mathieu Franceschi (Fabia RS) will resume their clash. Before the start, the New Zealander is leader with a 14-point lead.

In Aberystwyth, the host city whose name is easier to sneeze at, the Kiwi will have the advantage, because he has already competed in this event. He won there in 2022 when it counted for the TER. The Frenchman will have to find solutions to compensate for his lack of knowledge of the terrain if he wants to catch up before the final meeting in Poland (Rally Silesia October 11-13). To referee this duel, you shouldn't rely too much on the ERC regulars. For three races, their number has continued to decrease, due to budgets, but also in the face of low stakes in the championship. Mads Ostberg, Martins Sesks, Efren Llarena and Filip Mares are all absent. We will still have to watch Mikolaj Marczyk (Fabia RS) who is only 10 lengths behind Franceschi. The Pole is in a good dynamic and he could play spoilsport. Once again, the threat will come from the contingent of locals for whom Ceredigion will be the 5^e appointment. All the BRC players responded and the match between William Creighton (Fiesta) and Chris Ingram (Yaris) will be one of the attractions since they are only separated by a unit with two races remaining. Double winner (2019 and 2023) and 2^e in 2022, Osian Pryce (Fiesta) will also be a serious customer.

Ceredigion will also mark the penultimate round of ERC Junior. With 102 points, Mille Johansson leads the competition. The Swede precedes his compatriot Calle Carlberg (72) and Max McRae (63). In front of his audience, the latter will seek to shine to maintain his chances of the title.

At the end of the shakedown and qualifying on Friday (from 10:00 a.m. in France), the competitors will compete in two superspecials on Friday evening (twice 1,34 km). On Saturday, 8 ES are scheduled (a little over 124 km) before a final stage of 57,16 km including the rest of the 14 timed sections.