At the Rallye du Var, Julien Casale experienced "the longest kilometers" of his career.

After a hard-fought season, you have just won the Michelin Amateur Trophy. Was this your objective from the start in Le Touquet or did it come about as the season progressed?

Before the season started, we gave it a lot of thought because I was going to become a father near Mont Blanc… and since Mont Blanc was a round of the SMRC4, it seemed difficult to compete for the Expert title while missing an event. Therefore, we decided to focus on the Michelin Amateur Trophy, but certainly not with the expectation of winning it! As it happened, after our victory at Le Touquet and at the start of the Rouergue Rally, we were tied with Quentin Ribaud and Eliott Delecour. So, we thought we might have a chance…

This season, the level of competition in the Michelin Amateur Trophy was higher than ever with Quentin Ribaud and all the other excellent competitors who came to participate. Did you find the spirit of SMRC4 there?

Yes, at certain times, because the Michelin Amateur Trophy this year attracted a lot of very good drivers, starting with Quentin Ribaud, Eliott Delecour, but also Arthur Pelamourgues and Romain Di-Fante in the final round. But the big difference was that we didn't all necessarily have the same cars. Some are more powerful, others less so, or newer and others older. In the Trophy, you can be at an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the rallies you do and your car. It has a lot of charm, but it's a bit different compared to the SMRC4. Compared to the SMRC4, I sometimes missed that little "something extra" where, from the first kilometer of the race to the last, you have to push hard. The level of competition in a one-make series is so high that you can go from P1 to P6 in the space of a missed hairpin turn; that hasn't always been the case this season in the Trophy. This difference allows you to approach the race in a different way.

In the Var region, your rally The situation changed as soon as Quentin Ribaud retired in SS4. Were the remaining kilometers the longest of your career?

The longest and toughest rally I've ever had! From the moment Quentin unfortunately retired, it was a completely different rally. Initially, we planned to push hard while remaining aware that we needed to finish. Suddenly, everything changed because we "just" had to finish, and that's easier said than done. It was very difficult to judge when to attack or not, especially since we were still looking at the times in the SMRC4 to compare ourselves, because we had to stay focused and listen carefully to the pace notes. Especially on a Rallye du Var where mistakes happen so easily! We tried not to let ourselves get too caught up in it.

Have you already chosen the rally you will do in Rally2 next year, or even the car and the team?

Thanks to this victory in the Michelin Amateur Trophy, we have indeed secured a rally in the French Rally Championship (CFR) in Rally2 for next year. And the rally is already chosen: it will be Le Touquet, a rally I love and where I've always achieved good results in the 208 Rally4. Let's not kid ourselves, it will be difficult to keep up with the top drivers in the premier category, but that won't stop us from trying to put on a good show so that people don't forget us. Regarding the car, discussions are still underway, although logically it would be within the Stellantis fold after these three seasons driving the... Peugeot 208. As for the team, things are still under discussion, but I would very much like to be able to do it under the Meca Fontanilles banner: they provided me with a very high-performing car this season, which allowed me to win this Trophy, so I would like to be able to return the favor and give them a nice boost in the French Rally Championship. I thank them, as well as my partners, for their work and loyalty this season.

Do you plan to supplement this funding with a program of several Rally2 rallies or will you focus on another championship, such as the SMRC4 for example?

To date, the objective is clear: to use this funding to find partners and set up a Rally2 program in the French Rally Championship (CFR) next year. We hope to be able to start smoothly at Le Touquet and then continue with the Rallye Rhône-Charbonnières and throughout the rest of the season if we can find the partners that will allow us to do so under the right conditions. If that's not possible, I'll look elsewhere, but for the moment, my project is 100% focused on the top category.

What would you say to a driver who is thinking of entering the Michelin Amateur Trophy?

If he has a very reliable car and knows how to drive it properly, he shouldn't hesitate for a second! The advantage of the Michelin Amateur Trophy is that it's relatively easy to score points at each rally. We saw that this season, for example, with Patrick Benne, who was very consistent and, before the Var Rally, was still in contention for the title. The prize money per round and at the end of the championship is really very attractive, and since there's often a very strong field, it makes for some real competition. In my opinion, it remains the easiest way to get into a Rally2 car in the French Rally Championship, so thank you to Michelin Motorsport for setting this up.

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