A five-star Cœur de France rally victory in Vendôme and race-saving rain for Bonato…

Published on 5 October 2021

Yoann Bonato and Benjamin Boulloud won the Rallye Cœur de France Centre Val de Loire for the fifth consecutive time.

This weekend, a highly improbable scenario played out in Vendôme during the 2021 French Rally Championship’s 24th edition of the event.

Eleven hard-fought timed special stages were run under a bright sun that dried out the roads. The two leading teams battled to gain hundredths of a second. The rally concluded with the next-to-last timed event, the ES 12. The undisputed winners: Bonato and Boulloud.

Modern-day shaman or grand master of the weather forecast? Unlike his competitors, Yoann Bonato took a gamble. He revealed his strategy when he switched to rain tyres, giving a coup de grace to Quentin Giordano’s morale !

The victory-giving rain so hoped for by Yoann and Benjamin in their Citroën C3 R5, provided the perfect conditions to widen the gap and put them in the lead of the rally and, at the same time, at the head of the championship.

As was the case in Morzine, the last decision made during the rally’s final technical assistance made all the difference in the final special stages. The gamble on the upcoming weather and the skill of a driver who prefers wet roads, ensured a victorious arrival on the final podium.

Another partner and ally will have to be added to the sponsors already featured on the car: the rain!

Although the gap increased in Yoann Bonato’s favour this weekend in Vendôme, the 2021 championship is wide open. The winner of the championship is still anyone’s guess. In the meantime, Quentin Giordano is gaining experience with every event. His mental strength and spirit will no doubt enable him to stand on the first step of the podium in the near future. We can look forward to intense battles to come…

Among the 110 participants in the fall event, Patrick Rouillard finished on the second step of the Trophée Michelin podium and sixth in the overall rally ranking. It was another excellent performance since the start of the season by the Toulouse driver at the wheel of his Skoda Fabia R5 who carried IGOL’s colours high throughout the weekend.

Thanks to his victory at the Cœur de France this weekend, Cédric Robert, at the wheel of his Alpine A 110 RGT, still leads the general classification of the French 2-Wheel Drive Championship of which IGOL is the official partner. Together with his co-driver Kevin Parent, he received the IGOL Trophy for the victory.

There are three more events in the 2021 championship and its anyone’s to win. See you in Antibes.