Rally Portugal – Four French people motivated at the start in WRC3

Among these four novices in Portugal, the one who will start first in the order of numbers on the difficult paths near Amarante will be Mattéo Chatillon. The young man (22 years old) from Châtellerault was smiling at the end of the reconnaissance. “ It's unrivaled, he said. What a playground! The special stages are superb with a wide variety of profiles, fast, slow, rough, sandy… We know we are going to have a lot of fun with every kilometer. » Behind the wheel of their Clio, anyone who finds themselves on their favorite surface only has one objective in mind. “ With the field assembled here, I think it's going to be a great fight, he predicts. As I'm tired of finishing 2^e, our goal is to win. » Among the French, Chatillon is the only one to express his intentions so clearly, but it would not be surprising if Tom Pieri also had this ambition somewhere in the back of his mind, even if he claims the opposite.

Ghjuvani Rosssi (l) and Kylian Sarmezan started their first rally from Portugal

« We have no pretensions, he said after the shakedown. We really want to enjoy ourselves. The recognitions were not easy. I took notes on the videos and ultimately it changes a lot. I found it very long, difficult and with complicated timing to respect… but we enjoyed it. Fafe… I love it! It's impressive, but it's pleasant. » For the 25-year-old driver, the discoveries will be numerous, since he has never driven a 4-wheel drive on dirt and he is racing for the very first time in WRC.

In this regard, Tristan Charpentier is a little better off since he already participated in Croatia a few days ago. During this round, the 23-year-old former track rider had experienced many problems which continued during the shakedown in Portugal, when he found himself on the roof. “ I have only competed in two gravel races in France and that changes a lot, details the one who is the only one to ride a Fiesta Rally3. I was surprised by the narrowness of the road after the Fafe bump. I wasn't expecting that so much that I asked Florian (Barral his co-pilot) if we were not mistaken. I think we're going to have to be a little careful to try to preserve the car. After all the adventures we've had, I hope we've had our fill for the full season. Our goal is difficult to define, because I have not yet driven a 4×4 on dirt. In the Croatian stages where we had no problems, we were in the running and we want to do the same thing here. »

Seen particularly in ERC, Ghjuvanni Red (23 years old) also begins his campaign in Portugal. Not having a reference in WRC, he enjoyed his first laps of the wheel. “It looks like Corsica,” he assures. It turns out quite well, but I prefer it to very quick portions. It's absolutely magnificent and we're amazed. We will try to run an intelligent race while preserving the equipment. I think if we go all the way we will be ranked well. »

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The 4 French crews all finished the asphalt superspecial held by the sea on Thursday evening. They will be there this Friday to face the gravel with 8 special stages and a little over 125 km timed.

WRC3 classification in SS1