Salanon wins Rallye du Var, Ranga triumphed at Santa Domenica
The World Rally Championship season is over but many national and international events are still entertaining rally fans all over Europe. The biggest event this weekend, hosting 170 cars, was the 63rd Rallye du Var, the final round of the French tarmac rally championship.
Besides regular contestants of the French national championship and other competitions, the event also attracted many rally stars with a worldwide reputation, including nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb. Other stars were Gilles Panizzi, Francois Delecour, Romain Dumas or Stephane Sarrazin.
Sebastien Loeb at 2017 Rallye du Var
Sebastien Loeb was driving the #1 Peugeot 306 Maxi, sharing a cockpit with Daniel Elena. They were fighting for a victory until the penultimate special stage when engine problems stopped world’s best rally crew. After fourteen stages, Davis Salanon and Jerome Degout take the victory in the #5 Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Sylvain Michel/Fabrice Gordon (Škoda Fabia R5) and Yohan Rossel/Benoit Fulcrand (Hyundai i20 R5) completed a podium.
The French rally title was already taken by Yoann Bonato, who didn’t compete at Rallye du Var, driving a brand-new Citroen C3 R5 as a course car instead.
Peter Ranga at Rally Show Santa Domenica
Hungarians conquered 8th Rally Show Santa Domenica
The other big event was the 8th Rally Show Santa Domenica, the largest gravel rally event in Central and Eastern Europe which took place near Croatian capital Zagreb. More than 120 crews appeared at the start.
The Hungarian driver Peter Ranga, navigated by Tamas Szoke in the #1 Škoda Fabia R5, took a dominant victory after four special stages. The Austrian driver Andreas Aigner, who was Production WRC champion nine years ago, came to Croatia with his regular navigator Ilka Minor-Petrasko in the #2 Škoda Fabia. They finished in the second place, 14 seconds behind winning crew. Hungarians Antal Kovacs/Gergo Istovics (Ford Fiesta R5) completed a podium.
Photos: Sport Auto Live, Zvonimir Kranjčec,
