Road rallies – 2013 Beaujolais Rally: the Florent Derrien cuvee! – Prologue and start of the day

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2013 Beaujolais Rally: the Florent Derrien cuvee !

Road rallies - 2013 Beaujolais Rally: the Florent Derrien cuvee! - Prologue and start of the day

After a race strewn with pitfalls, with crashes at the head of the race and the merciless disqualification of rally leader Mickael Porcu, Florent Derrien pulls out of the game and wins this 46th Beaujolais rally.

Prologue and start of the day

It is 9:30 am this Saturday June 29 when the first departure from the closed park of Blace is given. The great radiant sun of the previous days did not deign to stay a little longer since it is in the rain that this 46th Beaujolais rally is launched.

Formerly, a maxim said "never a rally without the night", today we say "never a rally without the rain", joke some pilots while waiting for the start…

It is therefore in a "wet" version that the number 1 rider, official KTM of the Journal moto du Net and leader of the 2013 French championship, Julien Toniutti, sets off on the handlebars this time in a KTM 990 Superduke. Julien is still in his succession of the seven deadly sins with his different KTM models in each of the seven events of the 2013 championship. This time, this model illustrates laziness to reach the start of the first day loop in Villefranche-sur-Saône.

He is followed by the 127 other "valiant" competitors of this 46th Beaujolais cuvee, under a fine rain but still present to make us every time the same thing since the rally of Sarthe at the start of the championship !

The small layout of this prologue is nice and serves as a warm-up for reading the road-book before attacking the rally route itself..

When we arrived in Villefranche-sur-Saône, the rain stopped. A regrouping park forms the time of a neutralization of about thirty minutes to take this time the real start of the rally.

The 20-minute connection to reach the start of the first special is not too much. Crossing Villefranche in a "street legal attitude" – including red lights – does not allow you to linger too long on the way to the first special: Croix du Ban / Col de St Bonnet.

This special, a good number of pilots already know it by heart. Very often borrowed in previous editions, it should no longer have secrets for many. Except that there is a small problem this year: the recent "repair" of the road has left a good layer of gravel on the surface on almost all of the special … Thank you DDE !

The exercise becomes perilous, especially for big cubes typed hypersport … And it is Mickaël Porcu on his Husaberg 570 FS who stands out by slamming the best time, 39 hundredths ahead of Florent Derrien on the handlebars of his KTM 690 SM (2’39.05 against 2’39.44).

Franck Coudert completed the leading trio by leading his Ducati 1200 Multistrada with a masterful hand and posted the third time in 2’41.07, a big second ahead of the "lazy" pilot Site: Julien Toniutti reserves himself for the rest by surfing on the gravel on the handlebars of his KTM 990 Superduke, especially since he almost missed out on this event following a road accident the day before when he left his Acrobike store in Civrieux d’Azergues (69).

The falls festival begins with the excellent Bernard Thibaut (second scratch in the previous event, the Rallye du Sud Morvan), who errs on the handlebars of his Honda 900 CBR R. He escaped unscathed but could not not leave: the motorcycle is almost destroyed !

Behind him, it’s Pierre Coulon at the controls of his Honda CB 1000 R who sticks one in a big right at the start of the special. The bike undoubtedly bounced off the left bank during the fall to finish its course across the road … Everything happens very quickly, the marshals rush to free the bike while the next start is given: mine !

A few tens of seconds later, I tumble down to the place of the fall, the road is very narrow and congested by the motorcycle on the ground and the marshals who try to clear it !

The official regulations of the French rally championship stipulate that in no case will a second start be given to a driver for a special but it is necessary to pass at all costs, the clock is running. !

In short, these are the vagaries of the rally … I wasted a few seconds making my way between Pierre’s motorcycle and the panicked marshals waving their yellow flags, and I finished the special with the 22nd fastest time (3’00.31 ). Some things should be reviewed in the regulations…

Pierre Coulon on the other hand pays a little more for this fall and comes out with a fractured arm !

The course that follows is rather pleasant and does not pose any particular problem. We go down and up in the Beaujolais mountains, the landscape is certainly magnificent but the more we go up and the more the rain starts again … Too bad for the walk !

A winding and gravel road for the last few kilometers leads us to CH 3 (third time control), located near a sawmill in the middle of the forest. There, we have the impression of being in a cloud! The drizzle is intense and it is almost cold. Normal for a month of November … except that it is still June 29 !

The following link is short: a dozen kilometers to do in 13 minutes, quite achievable without taking ill-considered risks or exceedingly exceeding the regulatory speeds, but still … Beware of PSR, they are two and everywhere at the same time !

We are now at the Biconne / Croix Montmain special. The road is partially wet and there is a little fog at the end of the special.

This does not prevent Mickael Porcu from making the powder talk on the handlebars of his Husaberg 570 FS to hit the best time again: 2’46.99! Franck Coudert followed suit and obtained the second fastest time at the controls of his Ducati 1200 Multistrada in 2’47.38, ahead of the official KTM rider Julien Toniutti who seemed to be gradually recovering from his accident the day before and posted 2 ’50, 15 (going over a car hood the day before a race, it leaves traces)…

The return to Blace is quiet and apart from a PSR ambushed here and there in the crossings of villages, nothing transcendent. Here, it’s not raining anymore !

Arrived at Blace at the stroke of noon, 15 minutes of assistance: you have to quickly put in an SNCF sandwich and three dried fruits in the mouth, a coffee, refueling, a stroke of grease on the chain. .. Oh no, I don’t have a chain, it’s true! Cool this gimbal on the Yamaha 1200 XTZ, I even happen to forget it !

Marcus HIMSELF

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