Fabien Ponchant, Quentin Gilbert, Thomas Bordagaray and Pierre-Paul Baltolu winners in the French Rally Cup

Four rounds counting towards the French Rally Cup were held last weekend, including one National round and three Regional rounds. In Saint-Venant (Pas-de-Calais), Adrien Van Beveren was present at the Rally of the Lys River in the company of Andy Malfoy and a Toyota The GR Yaris Rally2 was a small but significant local event. However, it was another driver from northern France who stole the show: Fabien Ponchant, co-driven by Thomas Henron. In only his third career rally behind the wheel, and despite having finished second in the Rallye Le Béthunois last September, the two-time winner of the French Hill Climb Cup Final dominated the event, setting nine fastest times out of ten in his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, and winning by more than two minutes over Laurent Bayard and Olivier Lemaire (Volkswagen Polo R5 GTi). VBA42 missed out on second place by just 1,7 seconds.

A weekend of firsts in the French Rally Cup

In Mouzon-Frézelle, Quentin Gilbert and Anthony Fernandes were competing on their home turf. Unsurprisingly, they left their rivals in the dust, dominating in their Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo ahead of Steve Mourey and Madlyn Brice in their Citroën C3 Rally2. Eric Mauffrey and Nicolas Febvre, also driving a Citroën C3 Rally2, completed the podium. On the other side of the country, Thomas Bordagaray won the Rallye des Coteaux du Layon in his Škoda Fabia R5. The younger of the brothers, alongside Antoine Loiseau, secured his first career victory on home soil. At the finish, he crossed the line 15,8 seconds ahead of Patrice and Valérie Robert (Škoda Fabia R5) and his younger brother Antoine, co-driven by Alan Autegarden. Renault Clio Rally3. Another driver finally secured his first career victory last weekend. At the Rallye des Vins du Gard, near Saint-Gervasy, Pierre-Paul Baltolu triumphed with Florian Chardon as his co-driver. Driving a Hyundai i20 R5, he overtook local drivers Dorian Nicolas – Vincent Carmille (Citroën C3 Rally2) by only 3,9 seconds and Laurent Lacomy – Jérôme Bard (Citroën C3 Rally2), who were leaders at the end of the first day, during the second day of the rally.

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