Antibes Côte d'Azur Rally – SS1: Astier and Giraudet already in the lead

The winners of Rally Rhône-Charbonnières wasted no time in showing their intentions on the roads of the French Riviera. Raphaël Astier and Denis Giraudet completed this first special stage in 2:22.0, immediately taking the scratch time and the lead in the overall standings.

Behind them, Hugo Margaillan and Mathieu Coppa, already on the podium at Rhône-Charbonnières, are in second place, just one second behind with their Hyundai i20N Rally2. Yoann Bonato and Benjamin Boulloud, runners-up to Astier at the last CFR event, complete the provisional podium 1.2 seconds behind, in their Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF.

Of note is the impressive fourth place finish of Côme Ledogar and Meryl Giraldo on Porsche 911 GT+, tied on time with Bonato-Boulloud, confirming the competitiveness of the GT+ category at the start of the rally. In F-RC2, Jean-Baptiste Franceschi and Jules Escartefigue (Škoda Fabia RS) slotted into fifth position, ahead of Nikolay Gryazin and Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroën C3 Rally 2), Lucas Darmezin and Charlyne Quartini (Hyundai i20N), Jonathan Hirschi and Mélanie Tendille (Lancia Ypsilon), Benjamin and Florence Stirling (Citroën C3), and Steve Fernandes and Florian Volvert (Citroën C3 Rally 2) who rounded out the Top 10, 8.1 seconds behind the leader.

CFR – Antibes Rally – Côte d’Azur
The ES1 ranking and the general ranking