Road rallies – 78th Rallye de l’Ain: Velardi on velvet! – Saturday 10:30 am: action!

Posted on by admin

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

Road rallies - 78th Rallye de l'Ain: Velardi on velvet! - Saturday 10:30 am: action!

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.

Saturday 10:30 am: action !

The day begins quietly with the prologue loop. An excellent process that allows you to get started, this principle of the first "blank" passage in the specials, adopted for two years, has been greatly appreciated since the strict ban on preliminary reconnaissance on motorcycles. And even more with the road closed to traffic during this "recce" passage !

After a first break of about fifteen minutes, it starts again for the real race. A first link leads us to the start of the Challes special. Christophe Velardi immediately announced the color on the handlebars of his Ducati 1200 Multistrada: the Ducati Moto Prestige Ajaccio rider took the best time in 1’27.73. Julien Toniutti, as a tourist, slams the second stopwatch at the controls of his Yamaha 450 YZF in 1’28.09 ahead of Benoit Nimis’ Yamaha MT-09 (1’28.56).

The route of this first racing loop then leads us to the Leymiat special: a special special for a rally, TT style, it crosses the village of Breignes between houses and low walls … Bruno Schiltz (Aprilia 1100 Tuono Kiwi helmets) then hangs up the lead wagon and offers the best pendulum in 2’02.78. Supercharged Benoit Nimis (Yamaha MT-09) took second time, 55 hundredths behind Bruno in 2’03.33. Julien Toniutti is here third in 2’04.37.

Back in Cerdon, 15 minutes included in the road time are allocated for assistance before leaving for a second passage through the specials.

On this second passage through Challes, Christophe Velardi regained the upper hand and obtained the best time (improved by more than 4 seconds compared to the first lap in 1’23.55). Julien Toniutti also improves in 1’24.46 and Benoit Nimis takes third time in 1’25.55.

The second "semi-loop" of the course, already a little different from that of the first passage, leads us once again to Leymiat.

The weather has become variable and the sky is partially cloudy, resulting in short, more or less heavy showers scattered over the route of the rally. The times of the specials may well be affected for some because it is a bit like the lottery of the rally: we won if we do the special in the dry, lost if it is wet when we pass over it !

This second time lap at Leymiat was won by Christophe Velardi (2’00.05). The Aprilia 1100 Tuono of Bruno Schiltz was in the same second in 2’00.86, and the KTM 1290 Superduke R of Laurent Filleton, pilot of the KTM Team France CTM 83, third in (2’03.08). Julien Toniutti is fourth and Benoit Nimis no longer plays here in the leading trio: started with a fault without apparent seriousness, he loses more than 25 seconds before leaving.

Nice service, however, from Nicolas Sassolas: at the controls of his BMW S 1000 R, this "ex" endurance rider, "newbie" in rallying – who had already stood out during his very first rally, the -, gets here the 6th scratch time! If he continues in the discipline, he will soon play in front !

In the following loop, that of the third passage on the specials, Christophe Velardi gives the cover to Challes and takes first time. Julien Toniutti is in his wheel just 13 hundredths (1’24.06 against 1’24.19) and Bruno Schiltz completes the trio in 1’25.47.

In Leymiat, for the third time lapse, Bruno Schiltz is ahead of Christophe Velardi (2’06.88 against 2’07.73). Benoit Nimis is then only 16 hundredths behind Christophe with the third fastest time…

Fourth loop, last passage of the day in the specials: at Challes, it is the punishment for a Benoit Nimis certainly too annoyed by his 25 seconds lost in his fall earlier … While the special is won by Christophe Velardi, Benoît, too generous on the gas handle, flies off and falls heavily. Evacuated by ambulance, the pilot of the Yamaha MT-09 n ° 7 suffers from several fractures and other internal injuries … Fresh news will reassure us a little later on his stabilized state, a priori without irremediable damage. It will only take a little time for everything to fall back into place … Courage and good recovery Benoît !

Bruno Schiltz takes second fastest time in this penultimate day special, ahead of Julien Toniutti third.

The last special of the daytime stage, Leymiat, saw the Kiwi helmets team rider Bruno Schiltz riding the Aprilia 1100 Tuono n ° 5 take the best time in 2’01.20. Christophe Velardi is second (2’01.79) ahead of Alexandre Poulios riding his Triumph 675 Daytona (2’06.15 for the Racing Mob Creusotin driver, a competitor of the Challenge Central Team organized by Thierry Boyer and disputed by around thirty of participants.

The daytime stage therefore ends on this last return to Cerdon and we start to do the accounts….

At the end of this first stage, Christophe Velardi is on pole, 4.70 seconds ahead of Bruno Schiltz. In terms of points for the provisional championship classification, the two JMP Racing drivers are tied for first place! It is only after the second stage, the night, that we can determine the provisional leader of the 2016 French rally championship….

Julien Toniutti finishes this first stage in third position: so far all has been going well for the two contenders for first place…

The "multi-loop" course was very nice and as pleasant as those of previous years. Tonight it will be a little shorter with only three big loops (still a little different from the four of the day) but with six stages to swallow…

Marcus HIMSELF

Related articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *