Road rallies – Rally of Corsica: the Corsican race! –

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Corsican Rally: the Corsican race !

Road rallies - Rally of Corsica: the Corsican race! -

Second last year, Stephane Ricciarelli won the Corsican Rally 2010 and Manoel Delaval retains the lead in the provisional ahead of Pierre Mouneu, Site driver. A physical rally with capricious weather to spice it up… Report.

The sun is not there this year in Porticcio to greet the fourth edition of the Corsican rally: gray fog, passing showers … It feels like the Rallye de la Sarthe! But the drivers of the French Rally Championship remain motivated and the island drivers do not intend to leave the victory of their rally to a vulgar "continental" … It promises !

In the provisional classification of the championship, the leader Manoel Delaval riding his Honda CB1000 R is still accessible to his pursuers, despite the absence of Julien Toniutti who broke his ankle during a stupid road accident there a fortnight … All the hopes of the Team Site now rest only on the shoulders of Pierre "Moon" Mouneu, whom the Corsican pilots suspect of having implored the Gods of the rain with a secret Grolandaise dance…

As for the island favorites, Stephane Ricciarelli has every chance: living and having grown up on the longest of the two specials on the course, this is a significant advantage over the few Elite drivers who arrived on Thursday morning..

The course

JMP Racing has concocted a great race for us: a route in three different loops with the same two specials (Coti Chiavarri with a length of almost 7 km and Pont-de-la-Pierre of about 3 km) at each loop , except the last night, very short, with only one of the two specials.

The first loop, the longest (around 125 km), is to be taken twice a day and then it is shortened by around thirty kilometers for a third passage. The route of the night stage resumes a passage of the last day loop, then a last lap with a simple passage in Coti Chiavarri.

The schedules of the race are well set: with a start of the day stage at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, regroupings neutralized in the first laps and the arrivals of the day stage from 4 p.m., the hundred or so competitors registrants should pass the stage without any problem, even in the event of a delay incurred by an incident or other event.

Departure of the day

9.15am: the first start started badly with a little delay in setting up the lap times on the specials, but nothing too restrictive. The 15 minutes will be quickly absorbed during the first neutralized regroup. Mano therefore takes to the road with the firm intention of not letting go! Moon is chasing him and … the road is wet !

20 minutes later, here we are in front of the Coti Chiavarri penitentiary to compete in this first special: 6.7 km of narrow and bumpy road! It’s long and technical, with two or three rather quick raises, blind turns, wider ones, hairpins … In short, now is not the time to take the wrong turn !

The pilots who did not recognize much, like those of the Team Site, can worry: the locals will not give us gifts! In Corsica, it’s racing within the race and we know well that we have to put big gas to hope to make a place between the island pilots who know their roads very well and whose level of piloting is excellent….

To open hostilities, it was Michel Marchini, a Corsican rider with several Dakar to his credit, who slammed the best time on the handlebars of his KTM 690 SM in 5’18”172. The second fastest time went to Jean-François Monti on a Honda 450 CRF in 5’26”075 ahead of Stephane Ricciarelli in 5’27”652 at the controls of a Yamaha 450 WR. Manoel Delaval on his Honda CB1000R saves the furniture with a fifth time in 5’33”232…

As expected, the gaps are impressive! Among the faithful of the French Championship, the following is none other than Nicolas Derrien on KTM 690 SM who slams a ninth time in 5’38”690 behind three Corsican riders: Luc Deiana on KTM 690 SMC, Vincent Benazzi on Suzuki 650 SV and Carlo Scanu riding a BMW 450.

As for Pierre Mouneu, he takes 10th fastest time on his Husaberg 650 FSE in 5’39”306: the winner of the Sarthe rally almost got it right on this first special, with a a little too late which makes him briefly visit a ditch and causes him a few seconds of delay !

The road course is undoubtedly superb, but with the rain which intensifies one does not appreciate it at its true value … The connection is long until the second special: 80 minutes! And no time to stop for sightseeing because the roads are very bendy in the area, not to mention the works and other animals on the walk … But the 60 km / h imposed average remains reasonable.

Then in the pretty little village of Eccica-Suarella it is the regrouping park. Twenty minutes of neutralization to delay the rally. Discussions are rife about Coti’s times. The rain has given way (temporarily) to the sun, it’s vacation !

We are now at Pont-de-la-Pierre for the second special, much shorter than Coti Chiavarri but no less technical! The coating, very irregular, remains however quite catchy. But the lack of recognition is expensive here too with a lot of series of blind turns and a few rows that pass very quickly … You should know them by heart !

Stephane Ricciarelli sets the best time in 2’27”538 ahead of three other island riders: Luc Deiana on KTM 690 SMC (2’29”117), Jean-François Monti on Honda 450 CRF (2’29”928) and J. Compocasso on KTM 690 SMC in 2’30”833. Pierre Mouneu makes up for his mistake from Coti with the fifth fastest time in 2’31”414, almost a full second in Mano.

However, it was a hard blow for Michel Marchini, the pilot of the KTM 690 SM, winner of the first special, who made a mistake and retired.

Second and third rounds of the day

After thirty minutes of assistance at the Porticcio runners’ park, it starts again: Coti Chiavarri, volume 2 !

Stephane Ricciarelli did it again and signed the scratch in 5’27”395, followed by J. Compocasso almost five seconds later in 5’32”302 and Luc Deiana on KTM 690 SMC, Carlo Scanu on BMW 450 then Pierre Mouneu, three tenths ahead of Manoel Delaval. The biggest difficulty of this special was the fog which gradually descended from the finish … It took a big heart to slip through the last turns without any visibility !

Then it is the connection, the same as in the first pass, not spared by the fog, which brings us back to Eccica-Suarella for the buffer neutralization. This time, it is reduced to five minutes to make up for the delays, so not too much time to discuss … And we set off again towards the Pont-de-la-Pierre.

Another Scratch for Ricciarelli in 2’23”679: the road has almost completely dried up and it shows! This time, it’s Manoel Delaval who leads his Honda CB1000R to second place in the special with a time of 2’26”098. The championship leader begins to take his marks !

We then return to the assistance park for another thirty minutes of rest, then we go for the last lap of this daytime stage.

In the Coti special, Manoel Delaval refused to start until the race management noticed the evolution of the fog encountered during the second passage … It is true that it would not have been reasonable to blindly tease the stopwatch! The race management therefore went to the scene and luckily for the rally, the fog has cleared! The race resumes, delayed by about twenty minutes.

Corsicans are warriors! Jean-François Monti on the handlebars of his Honda 450 CRF has the best times, only less than two hundredths ahead of Stephane Ricciarelli’s Yamaha 450 WR (5’20”479 against 5’20”495)! Mano continues to make his mark and slams a fifth time in 5’26”418 behind Compocasso in 5’21”771 and Luc Deiana in 5’25”715.

At Pont-de-la-Pierre, the special got partially wet again following a downpour, but Stephane Ricciarelli responded and again took the best time in 2’26”384 ahead of another Corsican driver, Carulu Biancucci on KTM 690 SM in 2’28”520. Behind the islanders, Pierre Mouneu passed back in front of Mano: 2’32”301 for Moon (6th time) and 2’35”704 for Manoel Delaval (9th time). Thierry Canazzi even stepped in by signing the eighth fastest time in 2’35”443 on the handlebars of his Husaberg 570 FS.

Night stage

The usual 90 minutes of assistance are granted before returning the machines to the parc ferme: fitting additional headlights and reconditioning the motorcycles. A big thank you to Gilles for his invaluable assistance to the assistance! The start of the second stage is scheduled for 9:00 p.m.: a little well-deserved rest for the drivers who were not spared during this stage of nearly eight hours. !

We do the accounts: everything is still possible with this night stopover! Stephane Ricciarelli is in the lead with 18 seconds ahead of J. Compocasso, himself 13 seconds ahead of Jean-François Monti. Luc Deiana follows in the same second as Monti and Mano is in fifth position, 12 seconds behind. Pierre Mouneu is sixth with a gap of 10 seconds over Manoel Delaval. But the night is another day…

Departure for three specials twice Coti and once Pont-de-la-Pierre. But at Coti Chiavarri, change of program: Mano puts everyone in agreement on the handlebars of his Honda CB1000R by slamming a space time: 5’18”514! Second time for Stephane Ricciarelli in 5’24”466 while the chances are reduced for Moon, who snatches a fifth time in 5’36”917…

No more neutralization this evening: the link will take us directly to Pont-de-la-Pierre where Stephane Ricciarelli pulls out all the stops and takes the best time in 2’32”035. Third time for Carulu Biancucci at the controls of his KTM 690 SM in 2’34”860 while Moon saves the furniture with the fourth time in 2’37”749.

With the assistance of 30 minutes between two laps, we re-motivate ourselves for the last straight line … with a few turns anyway! In the Team Site stand, Pierre Mouneu enjoys a cranial massage to relax his neuron, carefully applied by our assistant-cook-mechanic-masseuse, the famous "Zezette" (Sylvette for others) !

Finally comes the last special: Coti Chivarri, the last one! And there … Nobody noticed where he had parked his flying saucer, but now we know: Manoel Delaval is an alien! 5’14”437 !!! Yes yes, 5’14, it’s not a typo! That is 4 seconds faster than the best day time set by Michel Marchini this morning, but also 8 seconds faster than his best day time! Unheard of, Marcus faith, from the top of my 17 years of rallying !

Behind, Stephane Ricciarelli lost with a remarkable time of 2’20”789, ie 10 seconds ahead of the third, Carulu Biancucci and his KTM 690 SM. As for Moon, the "rising" star of the Team Site, he had really put a lot of gas on his old Husaberg 650 FSE … before putting one in a rather delicate "pif-paf" … He loses heavy seconds which relegate him to 28th time in 6’01”077…

Prize giving and rankings

Sunday morning, the clouds go away and give way to a bright sun! We would have liked during the rally, but hey, we had a great event so let’s not ask too much at the same time !

In addition to the classic prizes, a "typical Corsican" Trophy is awarded in memory to Jean-Jacques Poggoli, organizer of Corsican rallies in the 90s, to the best island driver who must win it three times in a row to be able to keep it. ! This year, Stephane Ricciarelli wins.

Stephane Ricciarelli therefore won the fourth Corsican rally riding his Yamaha 450 WRF ahead of Manoel Delaval on Honda CB 1000 R and Jean-François Monti on Honda 450 CRF.

Topsport podium

  • 1st: Manoel Delaval

  • 2nd: Marc Antoine Bozzi (Honda 600 Hornet)

  • 3rd: Maxime Mettra (KTM 950 Supermoto)

Sport podium

  • 1st: Nicolas Champay (Suzuki 650 SV)

  • 2nd: Laurent Corchia (Suzuki Gladius)

  • 3rd: Vincent Benazzi (Suzuki 650 SV)

Old Podium

  • 1st: Gerard Spagli (Yamaha 350 RDX)

  • 2nd: Guy Marchand (Honda 750 Four)

  • 3rd: Gerald Bernier (Honda 125 CB)

Classics Podium

  • 1st: Dominique Wils (Honda 600 XLR)

  • 2nd: Nick Ayrton (Suzuki 1100 GSXR)

  • 3rd: Laurent Lejeune (Suzuki 750 GSXR)

Side-cars podium

  • 1st: Lebert / Jeandemange (Yamaha 1100 FJ)

  • 2nd: Laforest / Moreau (Suzuki Choda)

  • 3rd: Cottin / Meunier (Suzuki 1100 GSXR)

And there you have it, another great rally! Manoel Delaval flies to the title with now a comfortable lead over Pierre Mouneu … We just have to wait for the final, the Rallye du Ventoux on May 15 and 16 in Malaucène, to know the French champion Rally 2010 … Stay tuned !

Marcus HIMSELF

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