Road rallies – 11th Dourdou rally: 1st victory for Filleton, 3rd title for Toniutti! – The rally upside down!

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11th Dourdou rally: 1st victory for Filleton, 3rd title for Toniutti !

Road rallies - 11th Dourdou rally: 1st victory for Filleton, 3rd title for Toniutti! - The rally upside down!

After a fight from another world in which Laurent Filleton (Aprilia 1000 Tuono) emerged victorious, the Yamaha official site rider Julien Toniutti (Yamaha MT09 Team 2B / Deletang) finished second and was crowned champion of France 2014. Report.

The rally in reverse !

The Dourdou rally is particular for its reverse pattern compared to other championship rallies: the race begins with the night stage on Friday evening, the day stage being done the next day..

On the program, a road trip of about 180 km is planned for Friday evening and 370 km for the day on Saturday..

Two different specials are located on the course: the usual Mouret special (2.2 km) and the Limon special (2.4 km), already taken during the first edition of the Dourdou rally..

The stages are as always made up of loops:

  • one large and one small for the night stage, each taking the two stages

  • Three passages on a large loop of more than 120 km, with the two specials at each passage for the day stage

For a total of 10 specials: 4 by night and 6 by day.

Here, the reconnaissance of the specials is authorized from the Monday before the race, but only from 7 to 11 p.m. This does not prevent you from spotting the road route during the day and appreciating the beauty of the landscapes..

This principle makes it possible to concentrate the pilots on reconnaissance on the stages, which is more acceptable for residents who do not have to endure a permanent hubbub in front of their homes for a week and encourages the pilots to discipline themselves … but nevertheless causes a certain crowd on the specials which does not always allow you to calmly take your bearings.

In short, this 11th Dourdou rally promises to be a great event. Can not wait for Friday !

Day departure for the night…

In the same way as for the rally of the Ain last month, the departure initially planned at 8:30 p.m. then delayed at 9 p.m. will cause the competitors to leave before dark night..

For greater fairness and to allow everyone to go through the first stages while it is still daylight, the night stage starts are given every 30 seconds..

It will be just for the last competitors, the half hour late at the start following small last minute problems forcing the last competitors to go through the first special during a somewhat late twilight….

At Limon, first special, Laurent Filleton announced the color on the handlebars of his Aprilia 1000 Tuono and set the fastest time in 2’14.83, more than a second ahead of Luc Deiana‘s Honda 450 CRM HM (2’15 , 87) and 2.19 seconds ahead of Maxime Delorme’s KTM 690 SM.

On the night loops, the second special (Mouret) is very close to the first and we go on very quickly.

It is starting to get dark … Laurent Filleton and his Aprillia 1000 Tuono do it again, winning the best pendulum (1’57.41) but the first three are in the same second! The young prodigy Maxime Delorme on the handlebars of his KTM 690 SM () followed suit two tenths further in 1’57.62, followed by Julien Toniutti on Yamaha MT-09 Team 2B / Deletang in 1’57.92.

Now it is almost night … The course is technical and rather gravely over a lot of sectors. You must not be trapped by a sly strip of gravel, in a light between dog and wolf…

After the big loop (about 120 km), 15 minutes of assistance are granted. Time to top up the fuel, a little coffee and off we go !

We start again directly with the two specials separated by a short link. The scenario is different for this second round: Luc Deiana, pilot of the Honda 450 CRM HM, slams the best time at Limon (2’17.35) ahead of Julien Toniutti’s Yamaha MT-09 (2’18.87), the latter having the best time at Mouret ahead of Laurent Filleton’s Aprilia 1000 Tuono (1’58.50 for the first, 1’58.98 for the second).

Bad plan for Maxime Delorme who takes off with his KTM 690 SM on the second night pass at the Limon special … No sore for the pilot, but the katoche has suffered and Maxime throws in the towel.

Too bad for this very nice young rallyman in rapid progress, but "it is the job which returns"! We wish him to come back to tease the scratch podiums in 2015 because he is a future client for the title, certainly !

It’s also a tough battle in the categories: in Sport, the fight is severe between Maxence Sonilhac (Suzuki 650 SV) and Denis Jover (KTM 400 EXC).

As for the sidecars, the Laur / Ferrieu crew at the controls of their Choda KTM RC8 team battle with Christophe Bourdier’s Choda VX10 Voxan side, the Choda 1130 Benelli Marlin / Rauch crew cautiously ensuring the final title.

The second loop is shorter, the night race will take place without too much delay and it will be possible to sleep a few hours (5 or 6 …) before the start of the daytime stage tomorrow – well, from everything to what time! – scheduled at 9:00 a.m….

In the classification of this night stage, Julien Toniutti finished second behind Laurent Filleton, the latter therefore only taking back 5 points out of the 43 ahead of Julien. The count is good: Julien Toniutti is French road rally champion 2014 !

For my part, everything is square: I honor my 2014 number, the 14th, in the 14th scratch place of this night stage! It reassures me, I’m not yet completely on the streets … Thanks to Yamaha, Team Deletang, Bridgestone, Scorpion, Ixon and all those thanks to whom I can still rally without being "too" dumped !

Note also that during this Dourdou rally, our team was the victim of a rebellion on the part of our assistants! They have filed a strike notice, criticizing their drivers for never talking about them as they bend over backwards to ensure they ride in the best conditions and can achieve the best results….

So thank you to all our dear assistants, in particular Alphonse Poletti, usually a driver in 125 this year (KTM 125 Duke) but temporarily deprived of a driving license (for a story of speeding in real life …) and reconverted by assisting (super efficient!) from the Corsica rally. Thanks also to Nathalie Pourrière, always on top between the photos for MNC, the supplies, the stewardship and even sometimes some repairs … In short, thank you all !

Marcus HIMSELF

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