The 12th round of the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique, La Cime du Mas – Col de Gaudissart, was supposed to be the day’s judge, with the Col de l’écharasson as the highlight. In the end, this special stage saw the passage of only the first 33 competitors, 16 of whom unfortunately had to turn back because of the heavy snowfall at midday.

As a result, a SR cancelled to finish this day of the first part of the common stage! Activation of the Alternative route back to Valence.

At the finish of the SR 10, the No 38 crew, without doubt the most successful of this Historic Monte Carlo Rally (Bruno SABY / Denis GIRAUDET) did not fail to honor the local curd. Here 36 years ago, the Peugeot Sport team replaced the damaged turbo of Bruno Saby’s 205 T16, the year of the Iserois’ victory in 86 with the late Jeff Fauchille as navigator. Laborel is definitely anchored in the legend of the Monte-Carlo.

For dessert, they chose a nice slice of Cîme du Mas mounted in snow! Louis Chabran and Lucas Roland on their BMW did the SR12, which was later cancelled due to the terrible weather conditions with snowfall and gusts of wind. The novices could have gone all the way if some less experienced drivers had not got in the way. Congratulations to them all the same!

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This Monday brought the 230 competitors who took the departure of Valence from 7:00 am in the magnificent regional natural park of the Baronnies provençales.
On the menu of this sunny morning, 2 SR, La Charce-Rosans (SR9) 10Km long and Saint André de Rosans-Laborel, 28Km of which a part covered with frost.
The CH of Laragne, at the lunch break, allowed to recharge the batteries thanks to the famous “Soupe d’Épautre”, a local specialty offered to the crews by the Auto Sport du Laragnais.

To digest all this, the SR11 first: Ventavon-Chabestan, 21 km with still some icy parts but still a spring weather.
It is for the last SR, the 12, located in the Vercors massif, La Cîme du Mas – Col Gaudissart run from 13:55, that the snow decided to come and play the troublemaker !
The abundance of flakes quickly made the road conditions difficult, the Race Direction took the wise decision to cancel this last SR.

The classification of the first part of the Common Stage is therefore based on the 3 SR fully contested.
The winners of SR 9 are De Luca / Moinier on Peugeot 104ZS.
In the SR10, it is the couple Lydia and Olivier Campana on their Golf GTI, which makes the colors of the Principality shine.
As for the SR11, it is won by the Italian female crew, Giugni Alexia / Pietropaolo Ornella on a beautiful Alpine A110 1300 G.

The ranking after the Common Leg Part 1 Valence – Valence :
1.Aiolfi / Merenda on Lancia Beta Coupé 1800
2.Cornet de Ways Ruart / Cornet de Ways Ruart on Porsche 911
3.Perroud / Allais on Porsche 911

Find the complete general classification

The Ardéchois Sunday kept all its promises with its gastronomic menu of 4 Regularity Specials, including the famous Burzet and Saint Bonnet le Froid.

At the end of the day there were 4 winners and 4 different brands that shone at the top of the time sheets:
• In the SR5: La Croze / Saint-Andéol-de-Vals (41,03km) : Keller Ermanno / Verini Maurizio impose their Audi Quattro.
• In the SR6: Burzet / Saint-Martial (30,49Km), it is the Gapençais Durand Raymond / Cholesterols Sébastien on Opel Kadett GTE who take the first step of the podium.
• In the loop Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid / Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid (26,88km) of the SR7, the Renault crew Prevot Florent / Prevot Gregory on Renault 17 TS makes the brand shine!
• Last race of the day, the SR8: Lalouvesc / Labatie-Labatie-d’Andaure (18,59Km), the Monegasque crew Sbaratto Jean-Philippe / Verda Nicolas on Volkswagen Golf GTI concludes the day by illustrating itself.

In the evening of this day, at the end of the stage of classification Valence – Valence, the podium is the following one:
1st Aiolfi Maurizio / Merenda Carlo on Lancia Beta 1800
2nd Cornet de Ways Ruart Antoine / Cornet de Ways Ruart Philippe on Porsche 911
3rd Ochagavias Alvaro / Macho Gomez Manuel on Porsche 911.

With 4 new SRs, tomorrow looks like being another difficult day between the weather conditions and the level of fatigue that will not fail to increase, nothing will be played … until Monaco!

At 7:00 am, the 239 crews still in the race set off from the Champ de Mars in Valence in the direction of the Ardéchois lands.

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As an appetizer, the SR5, the Croze-Saint Andéol de Vals, 42 km of which a good ten covered with ice that is as tricky as one could wish. Some crews will have visited the low sides like the Fiat 124 spider number 19 of the Italian Sticchi.

After this big hors d’oeuvre, the stop to get back into shape (coffee, apple pie and water from Vals) at the home of our friend Yves Jouanny was more than welcome before tackling the SR6 of more than 30km!

The crew of the Autobianchi 36, Christian Van Hecke and Michel Lorente, with 10
participations in the Monte Carlo Historic Rallye, has seen many others! After the first SR of the day, the beautiful Italian car decided to make a caprice and thus deprive its crew of the saving stop at the Remise. A carburetor change and they were off again.

False airs of Bernard Darniche, but the hair is real, from the top of his 80 years Georges Besson and his Renault Frégate of 1958 are undoubtedly not the youngest of the set! Whatever, Georges still likes driving as much as ever, he who has just finished 3rd in the last Tour de France Auto on a factory Alpine A310 takes the same pleasure at the wheel of his old Frégate. With it, he still has 3 Paris – Beijing Rallies to his credit! For the anecdote, Georges drives without assistance and will make the return from Monaco to his native Angouleme at the wheel of his valiant Grandmother, Respect!

The 250 crews still in the run for the 24th Monte Carlo Historic Rally took the start of the RS1, in the iconic Col de Bleine. The first competitor started at 7.50 a.m.  The inaugural 15.39km stage took place in a spring sunshine but with temperatures of almost -10 degrees, which did not dampen the spirits of the passionate spectators who had come in large numbers to enjoy the royal line-up for this edition. The first day of racing promises to be busy with 4 RS on the menu, bringing the competitors to Valencia from 4:50 pm. 

After the CH of Buis les Baronnies where the spectators had once again responded present, the crews followed for the SR3 Eygalayes – Montauban sur l’Ouvèze. 30km long, this penultimate event of the day had a sequence of 2 passes, Saint -Jean and Perty via the Dromoise capital of the Rally, Laborel.

Some of the competitors had put on the studded tyres but the almost 15 degrees of this afternoon Dromois had been right of the last traces of ice.

The CH of Crest signs the (almost) end of a hard and long day with 4 SR. This 4th timed section, Sainte Jalle – Rémuzat, passed by the Soubeyrand pass, also free of snow but with a breathtaking view. Only 30 small kilometers remained to join Valence and its famous Champ de Mars, from 16h50 for the first car…