Loeb victorious at Rallye du Var, Ranga repeats triumph at Santa Domenica
The nine-time world rally champion and current Hyundai Motorsport driver Sebastien Loeb came as a guest to 65th Rallye du Var, the last round of the French tarmac rally championship, and dominantly won the event in a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC.
It’s the fourth win for Loeb at Rallye du Var. In the previous three wins, he was driving different Citroens, once with Daniel Elena as his navigator and two times with his wife Severine next to him. This time, Loeb’s navigator was Laurene Godey.
The other two crews on the podium were Nikolay Gryazin/Yaroslav Fedorov (Škoda Fabia R5) and Yoann Bonato/Benjamin Boulloud (Citroen C3 R5). The championship title has been earlier secured by Yohan Rossel, who didn’t finish this event.
Peter Ranga at Rally Show Santa Domenica
Another great rally event in Europe this weekend was the 10th Rally Show Santa Domenica in Croatia. The biggest gravel rally in southeast Europe attracted almost a hundred crews from the region, mostly from Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia.
The Hungarian Peter Ranga took the victory in a Škoda Fabia R5 which he was sharing with navigator Viktor Ban. It’s second RSSD victory for Ranga, two years after his first triumph in 2017. The four-time former winner Beppo Harrach (Ford Fiesta R5 MkII) finished second today, sharing a car with Dominik Jahn. Another Hungarian crew, Sandor Olle and Rebeka Olle, were third in a Škoda Fabia R5.
Giandomenico Basso and Lorenzo Granai
In Italy, the 10th Tuscan Rewind was the eighth round of the Italian championship. The victory went to Giandomenico Basso/Lorenzo Granai (Škoda Fabia R5). The other two drivers on a podium were Andrea Crugnola (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) and Paolo Andreucci (Peugeot 208 T16). With this victory, Basso secured one more Italian championship title, his third in a career..
In Spain, Ivan Ares (Hyundai i20 R5) is the winner of the 10th Rally Comunidad de Madrid, 11th round of the Spanish championship. He shared a podium with Pepe Lopez (Citroen C3 R5) and Xevi Pons (Škoda Fabia R5).
Photos: FFSA Rallye, Zvonimir Kranjcec, Tuscan Rewind,
