Rally Silesia: Franceschi wins qualification, Bonato 7th

Decisive for the 2024 ERC title, the Rally Silesia which takes place in Poland began today with the shakedown and the qualification. Initially discreet, Mathieu Franceschi then won the qualifying special. For his part, Yoann Bonato finished 7th. The event will start this evening with a superspecial.

Published 11/10/2024 à 15:25

Loïc ROCCI

  Comment on this article! 0

Rally Silesia: Franceschi wins qualification, Bonato 7th

Mathieu Franceschi made a strong start to his final ERC rally of the season by winning qualifying (Photo: Red Bull)

The event appearing for the first time on the calendar of theERC, there were some questions about the level of local competition that the regulars of this competition have to face. The Polish crews ultimately remained behind since only Mikolaj Marczyk (Skoda Fabia) ranked in the top 5 by taking 3e place. The latter was overtaken by Andrea Mabellini (Skoda Fabia) who has continued to assert himself at the end of the year. Second, the Italian was also beaten by another strong man of this season, the Frenchman Mathieu Franceschi.

Having decided not to focus on the title since the conditions to obtain it require circumstances that are beyond his control, the Varois wants to finish his 2024 campaign well. After finding his marks during two runs, Mathieu Franceschi, perfectly navigated by Andy Malfoy, set the best time of this qualification. In doing so, he will start in the lead on Saturday. Depending on the weather, this may prevent him from finding himself with a road covered in mud from the ropes during the morning loop. A victory would not be enough for the Skoda driver to prevent Hayden Paddon from taking his 2e European champion title. The New Zealander is in an ideal situation and he took no risks today. 4e from the qualification, he is probably preparing to lead a wise race.

Absent from the ERC since the Canaries where they won, Yoann Bonato and Benjamin Boulloud placed their Citroën C3 Rally2 in 7the rank.

After a 1,85 km superspecial this evening, the competitors will have 6 special stages to compete in tomorrow through a loop of 3 sections (a little over 47 km timed) taken twice. The stage will end with a new 1,5 km superspecial.

Loïc ROCCI

Journalist specializing in rallying past, present and future... and with a southern accent

Comment on this article! 0

Read also

Comments

0 Comment (s)

To write a comment