Road rallies – Sun Rally 2011: hell under the sun! – Day stage

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Sun Rally 2011: hell under the sun !

Road rallies - Sun Rally 2011: hell under the sun! - Day stage

As expected, the 2011 French road rally championship starts off with a lot of twists: Pierre Mouneu falls heavily and forfeits, the Corsicans make a sensational entry and Maxime Mettra wins the race ! Story.

Day stage

It left for two rounds! The first day loop will take us through the Canadel stage and the Col des Fourches stage (hoping that the radio problems will be resolved!). The second will first pass by the Col des Fourches, then by the last special in Gonfaron.

The road course is a little less hard than the night one: it has a little more beautiful small well-rolling roads, with all the same a few kilometers of dirt or more than secondary roads….

Here we are in Canadel, a beautiful special of a small road on the mountainside and … under the sun !

Stephane Ricciarelli does not quarter and outrageously seizes the best time with more than two seconds ahead of his pursuer, Julien Vezzuti (KTM 990 Superduke). The 2005 French rally champion Philippe Richelmi (Aprilia RSV 1000) finished third just over a second (2’31”97).

Between sea and mountains, the route is absolutely magnificent but that is no reason to let go of this damn road book which does not forgive the slightest mistake! The imposed 60 km / h are already difficult to keep in order to point to zero, you have to remain attentive at all times so as not to miss any small detour through a CP (passage control).

Second day special: the Col des Fourches! The radio works, no delay at the start, so far everything is fine !

Stephane Ricciarelli puts it back on the handlebars of his Yamaha 450 WRF and scratches the special in 2’03”85 ahead of another Corsican rider, Paul Christian Piazza (Husaberg 570 FSE) in 2’04”58. Maxime Mettra, leading the provisional after his victory of the night on his KTM 950 Supermoto, obtains the third time here in 2’06”96.

It moves a lot in front, beautiful fights in perspective! After the first round, the match is close between Stephane Ricciarelli and Maxime "Metimax" Mettra !

Second day tour: we set off again on the Col des Fourches. Rebelote for the untouchable Stephane Ricciarelli who once again sets the fastest time by improving it further: 2’01”67! Wilfried Tallone takes the second fastest time in 2’05”70 on the handlebars of the Ducati 1100 Hypermotard, ahead of Paul Christian Piazza who is third, five tenths behind Tallone.

On the road that follows, a new problem: the pilots are exhausted and the driving conditions are still just as trying … And what had to happen happened: Renaud Fanon (Honda 1000 VTR) flies off on a speed bump and falls heavily while at the same time, 1 km further, it is Cyril Charbuy (Suzuki 650 Gladius) who hits a tree…

Renaud momentarily loses consciousness and will be evacuated by ambulance, pleura and kneecap affected. Cyril seems to be hit in the head and the emergency services prefer to evacuate him by helicopter. The race was therefore stopped at the location of the accident: we had to wait until the helicopter had left to restart the rally. In the end, Cyril’s diagnosis will fortunately come down to a simple fractured rib..

An hour later, the Sun Rally resumes its course. There is only one special left to go, that of Gonfaron, but still a lot of road to reach Solliès-Pont.

The starts are resumed from the place of Renaud Fanon’s fall for a neutralized connection until the special.

Stephane Ricciarelli broke his chain during the liaison … He had beaten Metimax over time, but the victory of the first Sun Rally will not come back to him this year !

In Gonfaron, the young Paul Christian Piazza confirmed his performances by setting the best time (3’25”56) ahead of Nicolas Derrien at the controls of a BMW F 800 R (3’28”98). Patrick Curtat (KTM 990 Supermotad) follows with the third fastest time in 3’30”43. Too bad for Paul Christian who will be penalized following a few errors in the course and delays at certain CH (time checks), because the young Corsican is certainly a customer for the title this year !

To make up for the accumulated delays, the return to Solliès-Pont was simplified and around 8:00 p.m. everyone returned. The last numbers will even make Gonfaron’s special at nightfall.

Marcus HIMSELF

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