François Delecour winner in Sicily

Age does not seem to have any effect on François Delecour's passion for his favorite discipline. While he will soon be 62 years old (on August 30), he is always ready to compete in events, regardless of the country or the horse. His last experience took him to Messina in Sicily. “ I love this place, He explains. The welcome is very warm and there is a real fervor of the Sicilians around the rally. There were a lot of people on the side of the roads and at the assistance. With Romain (Roche) and my son, we went to climb Etna at night. We climbed to more than 3000 m. It was superb. There were still fumaroles from the last eruption. I think it's a country where I could live, because I like its atmosphere. » In addition to the tourist aspect, there was also a race to compete.

The originality of the Tirreno-Messina Rally is that it takes place almost entirely at night (Photo: Elliot Delecour)

First^e edition of the Tirreno-Messina Rally consisted of 69 timed kilometers divided into 9 special stages. One of the main particularities of this round of the Nazionale Zona 9 is that it is mainly nighttime. “ The start of the first section was given at 23:42 p.m., smiled Delec. It is no longer so common to do night tests. There, we mostly progressed in the dark with a last special at 9:20 a.m. and the podium at 10:00 a.m. » Faced with local champions, the Frenchman was initially beaten by the winners of previous editions, but in the early morning the first two competitors made mistakes which allowed the crew of the pink Fabia to find themselves in the lead. “ The local pilots knew the roads perfectly, explained the one who ran for Peugeot Sport or Ford. I was amazed by their performance. Our Skoda Fabia Evo performed well, but it was not easy to keep up with the fastest. However, they made mistakes and Romain and I won by elimination. » For their 3^e released together, this is the first success for this duo. Romain Roche once again demonstrated the range of his talent, having won the Gap Racing rally the previous week behind the wheel this time.

François Delecour and Romain Roche celebrate their success at the end of the night (Photo: Elliot Delecour)

This tandem will perhaps be back on the Sicilian roads in some time. “ For this event we had a partnership with Marcolino which is a Sicilian pasta manufacturer with locally produced flour., details the pilot. It is not impossible that this will happen again soon. » Always displaying sparkling form and never refusing new adventures, it would not be surprising to see François Delecour again soon at the start of a rally.