Fourmaux, Chatillon, Delecour, Royère…: France (still) well represented at the Swedish Rally

If you Rally Monte Carlo gave pride of place to French drivers and crews, and the Rally Sweden, scheduled for February 12-15 as the second round of the World Rally Championship, will also welcome several French drivers to watch with great interest. In the absence of Sébastien Ogier and of Vincent Landais, all eyes will obviously be on Adrien fourmaux and Alexandre Coria. The crew Hyundai They unfortunately made a mistake last year, stopping their i20N Rally1 in a snowbank. But in 2024, they seized the opportunity to secure their first-ever career podium finish in the Ford Puma Rally1, still equipped with its then-current hybrid system. Adrien Fourmaux has never hidden the fact that snow is one of his favorite surfaces, and with a Hyundai that should perform better in these conditions than on asphalt, the event could help #AF16 achieve a strong result.

In WRC2, the French are back on the offensive.

Unlucky at Monte Carlo, Mattéo Chatillon and Eliott Delecour will have the opportunity to redeem themselves at Umeå. Chatillon didn't have an ideal start to the season in his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. Going off the road on Thursday and damaging his car's radiator, he was forced to restart the following day. Although he racked up valuable kilometers without further incident until the finish in Monaco, he could have been a pleasant surprise of the rally alongside his co-driver Maxence Corunau. The Canary Islands winner last year in WRC3 will therefore be keen to perform well. For Eliott Delecour, who will once again be co-driven by the experienced Sabrina de Castelli, this will be a completely new experience: the young man just had his first WRC2 rally at Monte Carlo and will be back at the start with the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 of the Italian Delta team. The son of François and Priscille had set some promising times at Monte Carlo before going off the road. He nevertheless managed to reach the finish the following day.

ALSO READ > The entry list for the Rally Sweden is available.

A great field in Rally3

France will also be well represented in WRC3. Eric Royère, winner of the season's opening round, is returning for another round and has committed to driving the Ford Fiesta Rally3 prepared by Chazel Technologie Course. As in Monte Carlo, he will be co-driven by Alexis Grenier. Another Frenchman, this time as co-driver, will be competing in WRC3 with a Fiesta, and also in the first round of the JWRC season: Corentin Silvestre from Vaucluse, navigator for Turkish driver Kerem Kazaz. Finally, we should also note the presence of Tony Ribaudo in the RC3 class in a Renault Clio Rally3. He will not participate in the WRC3 round, but will still be present and will be able to compare his times with the 13 other cars entered in this class.