Road rallies – 78th Rallye de l’Ain: Velardi on velvet! – Night and wet stage …

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78th Rallye de l’Ain: Velardi on velvet !

Road rallies - 78th Rallye de l'Ain: Velardi on velvet! - Night and wet stage ...

Winner of the two stages day and night with 8 specials won out of 14, Ajaccian Christophe Velardi (Ducati 1200 Multistrada) emerges victorious from this edition of the 2016 Ain rally and takes the lead of the championship. Report.

Night and wet stage…

The start of the second stage is given at 9 p.m. It is not yet really night for the first ones starting from Cerdon, but when arriving at Challes for the first stop, the light is not really better than in the middle of a dark night….

It is again Christophe Velardi who wins the pompom with a stopwatch of 1’22.65. Then, as if to show that he is still there – even if it is occasionally on this event of the championship, a bit like he had done at the beginning of the championship -, the reigning French champion Julien Toniutti s’ gives the second time in 1’23.98. Bruno Schiltz is third in 1’24.69.

In the Leymiat special, Schiltz sets the record straight and sets the fastest time (2’01.11). He sticks more than 2 seconds to Christophe Velardi who obtains the second fastest time (2’03.38).

The KTM 1290 Superduke R of Laurent Filleton’s KTM Team France CTM 83 reappears in the top three by posting a time of 2’04.58, 16 hundredths faster than the outgoing French champion Julien Toniutti (2’04 , 74).

Behind, the battles are going well: Maxime Mettra (first Sport 2) on the handlebars of his Kawasaki 650 Versys obtains a time identical to the nearest hundredth to that of Florent Derrien who is competing for second place at the controls of his old KTM 690 SMR (2 ‘ 07.90)…

For the stages of the second night loop, Julien Toniutti has the best time at Challes in 1’36.20 (times will be irregular throughout the rally due to passing showers). He stuck nearly 1.3 seconds to Christophe Velardi who obtained 1’37.49 here. Third time once again for a "non-championship", still the same Alexandre Poulios riding his Triumph 675 Daytona, hunting for the Challenge Central Team…

The first four of this special come from four different categories: Toniutti first Mono, Velardi first SW Motech Roadster, Poulios outside the championship but first Topsports and fourth time for the Kawasaki 650 Versys Helit motos / Challenge 24 of Maxime Mettra, first Sport 2 !

The first sidecar, the Alain Amblard / Christophe Robin team, at the controls of their Suzuki 1300 Hayabusa team, takes eleventh place in the scratch, less than two tenths ahead of its direct competitor in the category, the Norbert Jacob team. / Franck Bacon riding their Choda 1340 GSXR.

The next special, Leymiat, sees Christophe Velardi take control of the situation by setting the best time (2’07.64) ahead of Bruno Schiltz (2’10.52) and Julien Tonutti (2’10.84).

The "new kid" Nicolas Sassolas progresses further and finishes in fourth position (2’13.16).

The 15 minutes of assistance at Cerdon granted between each loop pass very quickly this time … and it starts again for the last lap !

Last passage through Challes, 13th special of the rally: Julien Toniutti reminds that he was the boss (until this year …) and slams a better time in 1’28.85. Christophe Velardi is second in 1 ‘ 30.48 and Laurent Filleton third (1’32.35). Less than 5 tenths behind, we find Maxime Mettra (1’32.72) and Bruno Schiltz (1’32.81) … You said tight ?

The final special of this 78th Rallye de l’Ain will be won by the Ducati 1200 Multistrada n ° 3 of Christophe Velardi, ahead of the Aprilia 1100 Tuono of Bruno Schiltz at 2.74 seconds (2’07.72) and the KTM 1290 Superdumke R by Laurent Filleton in 2’08.56.

In connection, at the end of the stage, a bad plan for Fabien Assemat on the handlebars of his T-Max scooter: the leader of the category in the provisional of the French championship is the victim of a "solitary" exit from the road following the lack of ‘wet road grip at this location…

Scooter stuck in a ditch, it tries to be helped by the following competitors but will take too long to get out of this hole and will show up more than half an hour late at the finish. However, the half hour is fateful in rallying and the sentence is final: out of the race … Fabien thus loses precious points and leaves almost the field open to Mathieu Bruno on his Honda 750 Integra "scooter" to take the lead of the championship !

Marcus HIMSELF

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