2-5 – Rallye de l’Ain – 80th Rallye de l’Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! –

Posted on by admin

80th Rallye de l’Ain: Julien Toniutti still a winner !

2-5 - Rallye de l'Ain - 80th Rallye de l'Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! -

Won for the seventh time by Julien Toniutti – this year riding an Aprilia Tuono V4 – this edition of the rally, more than a century old, was just as beautiful as the previous ones, with big battles in the specials and young people on the podium.. Report.

The Rallye de l’Ain is a historic rally: since its first edition on, the event has gone through two world wars against thick and thin, but it remains relevant and has always been part of the .

2-5 - Rallye de l'Ain - 80th Rallye de l'Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! -

2-5 - Rallye de l'Ain - 80th Rallye de l'Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! -

A big bravo, therefore, once again, to UM Ain to succeed in making this superb event, organized this year again in Cerdon (01), continue..

In the same style as for the previous edition, the 2018 course consists of several Cerdon / Cerdon loops with each loop a passage through the two specials: Challes and Leymiat. In total, five loops are planned for the first stage and three for the second.

2-5 - Rallye de l'Ain - 80th Rallye de l'Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! -

The first loop of the first stage acts as a reconnaissance lap, passing through the special stages that will not be timed. We will therefore have seven timed runs in each of the two specials, for a total of 14 timed specials..

2-5 - Rallye de l'Ain - 80th Rallye de l'Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! -

2-5 - Rallye de l'Ain - 80th Rallye de l'Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! -

Julien Toniutti was not in the lace: barely where he sprayed it, he traded his still hot for one and offered himself the absolute victory of the 80th edition of the Rallye de l’Ain, the second round of the French championship. of the 2018 rallies.

"After an average of 2400 km at 200 km / h, we lose our bearings a bit"

"Everything went very well, despite a little speedy preparation", explains Julien. "I got back from just a week ago and I was only able to devote a very short time to it. Thursday I had the opportunity to go and take a look at the stages, Friday the technical controls took place and Saturday was the race. I had taken control of the Tuono during the day, I felt good before the night stage. I had already experienced this last year, it took me a while adaptation to go from the sportswoman of the Tourist Trophy to the roadster of the rally. And then during the day I had difficulty really taking my marks because I had the feeling of not moving forward. It is also one of the side effects TT! After an average of 2400 km at 200 km / h over there, we lose our bearings a little on the way home ".

The battle promised to be difficult, however: from the first special (Challes), it was Kevin Cheylan (Ducati 939 Hypermotard) who won with two hundredths ahead of Julien. The reigning French champion, Bruno Schiltz (Aprilia 1100 Tuono), gets the third time a little more than four tenths behind.

2-5 - Rallye de l'Ain - 80th Rallye de l'Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! -

2-5 - Rallye de l'Ain - 80th Rallye de l'Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! -

In the second special (Leymiat), Julien Toniutti sets the record straight and gets the best time by sticking 1.22 seconds to Kevin Cheylan and 1.49 seconds to Bruno Schiltz still third.

Same picture on the second pass at Challes: Toniutti is ahead of Cheylan and Schiltz. But at the next special, second time lap at Leymiat, the young Cheylan resisted and won the best pendulum, this time a little more than a tenth ahead of Toniutti !

The latter will not take long to react and will truster the best lap times of the third loop, taking several seconds off Kevin Cheylan in the general standings. Kevin however systematically obtains the second times.

While Bruno Schiltz stands like a metronome in third position, the various falls (fortunately not serious) of the other competitors are going well … The delays accumulate with each new neutralization and the clerk of the course must cancel the fourth and last loop in the lap times of this first stage.

"The weekend was really complicated in Ain", summarized Bruno Schiltz after the race: "we had to get back into the mix after the long hiatus from there and deal with particularly bumpy specials. terrain, even in curves, it was very difficult to adjust the Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 Factory ".

2-5 - Rallye de l'Ain - 80th Rallye de l'Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! -

2-5 - Rallye de l'Ain - 80th Rallye de l'Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! -

Julien Toniutti finishes this first stage at the top of the standings, but the man of the day is the young Kevin Cheylan, who remains for the moment the only one capable of standing up to the unbeatable Toniutti.

But the second stage is looming, the night … At night, Julien is untouchable and he proves it once again by putting on the best lap times of each passage in the special as if he were putting on pearls….

During the first loop of this night stage, we find the same players as in the first stage in the first three places: Cheylan and Schiltz follow each other behind the leader, this time with a slightly larger gap than during the stage by day.

2-5 - Rallye de l'Ain - 80th Rallye de l'Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! -

At the second loop, Cheylan seems to give up and leaves the place of runner-up in the stages to Bruno Schiltz. The third fastest time of this loop will go to Romain Cauquil (KTM 690 Duke CTM83), who until then remained in ambush in 4th or 5th places. Kevin Cheylan, still first in the Rallye 1 category (less than 950 cc), will have to be satisfied with the fourth lap of this second night loop.

Last loop in Challes: Kevin Cheylan wakes up and signs the second fastest time, a hair over a tenth ahead of Bruno Schiltz but this time more than 2.5 seconds behind Julien Toniutti !

Unfortunately for him, Kevin will not be on any podium of this Rallye de l’Ain 2018: he fell in the last special, in Leymiat, without seriousness but he lost more than a minute and a half and saw the scratch podium move away. as well as that of its category…

The misfortune of some making the happiness of others, the young Romain Cauquil thus reached the third step of the scratch podium for the first time in his rally career. He also won the crown in the Rally 2 category.

2-5 - Rallye de l'Ain - 80th Rallye de l'Ain: Julien Toniutti still vAinqueur! -

Bruno Schiltz finished second and the victory of this edition goes once again to Julien Toniutti. The two pilots take pride of place in the first two places in the "fat" category (over 950 cc), the Maxi rally category sponsored by .

The Rallye 1 prize goes to Pierre Bompard (): while he was leading the category, Maxime David () will have to retire shortly after the last special following an alternator failure..

In Rallye 3 (the "small ones" under 400 cc single or less than 500 twin), Fabrice Dion (KTM 390 Duke) wins ahead of Raphael Groland (Honda 500 CB). The Galvani / Bresse crew (Kawasaki ZX-12R coupling) occupy the first place in the sidecars. In Classics (motorcycles homologated after January 1, 1981), Johan Daval (Honda 600 CBR) climbs to the top step while in Oldies (homologation before 1981), Thierry Pras wins on his Kawasaki 250 S1.

See you in Villecomtal (12) for the third round of the French championship, the Rallye du Dourdou on July 13 and 14: stay tuned !

Calendar of the French road rally championship 2018

  • April 7 and 8, 2018: in La Suze (72)
  • June 16 and 17: in Cerdon (01)
  • July 13 and 14: Rallye du Dourdou in Villecomtal (12)
  • September 8 and 9: Rallye des Coteaux à Mauves (07)
  • September 29 and 30: Rallye des Ardennes in Rocroy (08)

Marcus HIMSELF – Photos Pierre DERRIEN

Related articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *