Road rallies – Rally of Corsica: the raid of Corsican pilots! – Night stage

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Rally of Corsica: the raid of Corsican pilots !

Road rallies - Rally of Corsica: the raid of the Corsican pilots! - Night stage

Unbeatable on their land, the Corsican pilots have once again proven that they are masters at home. Michel Marchini (Honda 450 HM) wins the 5th Corsica Rally ahead of two other island drivers for a podium with the heads of the Moors !

Night stage

The day stage ends. After 1h30 of assistance to prepare for the night stage, the motorcycles are returned to the parc ferme after a technical control of the lighting: we are in a road rally, not in endurance! The roads taken during the connections are open to traffic and rally motorcycles must therefore comply with road regulations.

The additional headlights, for the majority of powerful xenon projectors, must be coupled to the main beam headlights (full headlights) and go out, in accordance with French road regulations, with a single command to switch to low beam (code). And there, the problem: no less than ten island pilots, including Maxime Olivieri, do not comply with this rule … The yoke of the FFM technical commission falls: they will be refused at the start of the night stage !

Side additional lighting, some are better armed than others. Good lighting matters a lot in a night special and after having tested and validated it during the last rally (read), Nicolas Pautet is completely satisfied with his climb on his Yamaha FZ8 !

The night stage is much shorter than the day one ("small" loop of 85 km) but still rainy..

At Coti penitentiary, the special is shortened to 5 km due to persistent fog over the last two kilometers. Michel Marchini sets the fastest time once again, nearly eight seconds ahead of Carlo Scanu and 10”94 ahead of the third fastest time, which goes to Paul Laurent Casamarta aka "Paulo" on Triumph 955 Speed ​​Triple! Julien Toniutti and his KTM 990 Superduke finally wake up: 4th time, more than 21 seconds behind the best time !

Pont de la Pierre night version. Michel Marchini’s Honda 450 HM won again in 2’26”56 ahead of Carlo Scanu (BMW 450 GX) in 2’35”11 and Carulu Biancucci (KTM 990 SMR) in 2’37”21. Nico Derrien also begins to take back the first place on the handlebars of his BMW F 800 R by securing the fourth time of the special in 2’39”78.

On the way back to Porticcio, half an hour of assistance and it starts again for the last lap! In Coti’s last pass, Michel Marchini once again took the best time ahead of Carlo Scanu and Paulo Casamarta on his Triumph 955 Speed ​​Triple. Our continental "stars" of the French rally championship, Julien Toniutti and Nicolas Derrien, painfully offer themselves the seventh and eighth fastest times, more than 15 seconds behind the best.

Finally at the Pont de la Pierre, Michel Marchini still outrageously took first place in 2’32”32, more than three seconds ahead of Carulu Biancucci’s KTM 990 SMR and Carlo Scanu’s BMW 450 GX just a few hundredths away..

Arrived at Porticcio, we already know that the podium will be 100% Corsican with even "non-championship" drivers ahead of the leaders of the French rally championship..

Marcus HIMSELF

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