The Piallat family from PH-Sport in search of bears in Romania

Since the creation of PH-Sport in 1990, Bernard Piallat has repeatedly demonstrated that he is a man of challenges. He happened to bet on cars, disciplines or drivers and it very often worked. However, there is a difference between doing everything you can to help a crew win and finding yourself at the controls of a racing car at the start of an event. Despite the accumulation of victories and titles, being a trainer does not mean knowing how to drive. This does not prevent him from being at the start of the Raliul Sibiului which is on the 5th^e meeting of the Romanian championship.

While he has spent almost his entire adult life in a service park, Bernard Piallat's only background behind a wheel is participation in the Bandama. In 2019, with his son Tom they ranked 3^es in Ivory Coast on a Can-Am Maverick X3. For this Romanian attempt, he will be accompanied by his daughter Enola who knows the world of rally, but is completely new to the role of co-pilot.

To prepare for their trip, the new tandem carried out a test session… which ended on the roof. When the Clio Rally3 was restored, it took the road to Sibiu where the event is held (in central Romania, 270 north-west of Bucharest). Two other crews are also on the trip, Christophe Rocard-Romain Beylouni (Clio Rally3) and Alexandre Laurent Villiod-Benjamin Mondière (Clio Rally5).

The great adventure could have ended prematurely… (Photo: Enola Piallat)

Once the journey to Romania was completed, the Piallat family followed a program that he knows well, but which he was used to observing from the outside. A short test session took place on site, then the father/daughter duo tried to build up usable notes during the reconnaissance. “ I think we're going to get lost in the first few turns, the pilot predicted, hilariously. We didn't do 2^e pass everywhere. We will see. » A storm having appeared during the checking of the notes, it is not certain that the notebook will be of much use. Having decided not to participate in the shakedown, “To avoid finding ourselves on the roof again,” laughs Enola, Bernard Piallat and his teammate then had the honors of the departure ceremony in front of a large audience.

The three cars lined up in Romania wait for departure time (Photo: Enola Piallat)

Saturday morning the serious things will begin with 6 special stages for a little over 74 km timed.

If there does not seem to be a result objective behind this project, the smiles and positive comments coming from Romania testify that the atmosphere is excellent. Sharing this adventure already seems like a great reward. All that remains is to see one of the many bears in the region for the weekend to be fully successful.

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