PIERRE ROCHÉ WINS ON HIS DEBUT AT ANTIBES, MOURGUES NEW LEADER

A month after kicking off its third season, the Alpine Elf Rally Trophy demonstrated its growing popularity with a record field of 13 competitors at Antibes.

Second in the Rallye Rhône-Charbonnières, Ludovic Godard was the first to show his mettle on the wet roads with changing grip. Winner of the first two stages on Friday, he opened up a lead of 11.6s, but Pierre Roché had other ideas. Third in SS1, then second in SS2, the latter scored his first stage win on the longest timed sector to take the lead at midday.

Pierre Roché put the hammer down on the second Levens - Duranus - Saint-Jean-la-Rivière run, where Grégory Fontalba, Loïc Panagiotis and Philippe Baffoun struggled. The leader kept his foot on the gas on Puget-Théniers to increase his advantage to 40.1s over Jean-François Mourgues, who went crescendo to move ahead of Vincent Leduc whilst Ludovic Godard dropped down the order.

In drying conditions making it tricky to choose between the different Michelin tyre compounds, Pierre Roché extended his lead on Saturday with the best time in Gourdon - Cipières and the iconic Col de Bleine stage. The Team FJ driver tackled the final loop with a 1:02.7s lead and used all his experience to manage the rally, claim a sixth stage win and clinch victory ahead of the Gentlemen Jean-François Mourgues, Vincent Leduc and Éric Royère.

Romain Haut-Labourdette was in a scrap with Eric Royère but eventually retired after a mistake in the final sector. Jérémy Crétien inherited fifth place to take his second victory among the Challengers. In sixth place, David Ferraro preceded Éric Giannini and the drivers starting again after retiring on Friday: Philippe Baffoun, Grégory Fontalba and Loïc Panagiotis.

In the general classification, the gaps are narrowing. With Charbonnières winner Fabrice Bect skipping Antibes, Jean-François Mourgues take the lead with his second podium result, ahead of the former leader and Pierre Roché. Vincent Leduc trails the leader by seven points while Jérémy Crétien completes a top five covered by only nine units.

The Alpine A110 Rally cars also demonstrated again all their agility on the Antibes roads, most notably with a one-two finish on SS4 and an impressive performance from Raphaël Astier. Before taking on Pikes Peak with Alpine, the Frenchman won the SS6 and set the second fastest time on the Col de Bleine to finish fifth overall and win the 2WD category.

The Alpine Elf Rally Trophy competitors will now shift their focus on the next round, the Rallye Aveyron Rouergue Occitanie (6-8 July), which will mark the end of the first half of the season.

Pierre Roché (1st): "We had a terrific weekend. It's always nice to be on top right when you discover a new competition, especially as Antibes is far from my favourite rally because of the road profile. It was the first time I drove the Alpine in the rain. It was a bit tricky at first, but we did well and we will be even better in Rouergue and Mont-Blanc, two events I like."

Jean-François Mourgues (2nd, 1st Gentleman): "I'd say it was an almost perfect weekend as we finished second and learnt a lot from trying different Michelin compounds. It will be useful in the future as I think we still have a lot of room for improvement. I hope we will be faster in Rouergue, where we will be heading on top of the general classification. It's the icing on the cake, and I'm extremely happy for all the people who support me!"

Jérémy Crétien (5th, 1st Challenger): "This weekend started well as we were battling with the leaders on Friday morning, but we made too bold a choice in the afternoon. We prayed that it wouldn't rain, but it unfortunately did. Ludovic Godard and I dropped down the leaderboard. It was hard to get back into the fight the next day. We drove to gain experience and finished to take our second Challengers victory even though we would have preferred to be much higher in the general classification!"

Classification

1. Pierre Roché – Martine Roché 2h26:48.1s

2. Jean-François Mourgues – Michel Roissard +1:13.2s

3. Vincent Leduc – Caroline Puel +2:08.6s

4. Éric Royère – Gilbert Dini +2:46.5s

5. Jérémy Crétien – Xavier Rouchouze +4:10.2s

6. David Ferraro – Michel Corneglio +4:17.3s

7. Éric Giannini – Alexandre Denuzière +7:07.9s

8. Philippe Baffoun – Charline Quartini +29:59.0s

9. Grégory Fontalba – Stéphan Hermet +32:27.0s

10. Loïc Panagiotis – Caroline Goddi +32:45.1s

Ret. Romain Haut-Labourdette – Fabien Tardito

Ret. Ludovic Godard – Samuel Passetemps

Ret. Bertrand Fassio – Jean-François de Montredon

General classification

1. Jean-François Mourgues 27 points

2. Fabrice Bect & Pierre Roché 20 points

4. Vincent Leduc 20 points

5. Jérémy Crétien 18 points

6. Ludovic Godard 15 points

7. Éric Royère 13 points

8. Bertrand Fassio & David Ferraro 6 points

10. Éric Giannini 6 points

11. Romain Haut-Labourdette 4 points

12. Philippe Baffoun 3 points

13. Grégory Fontalba 2 points

14. Élodie Gines & Loïc Panagiotis 1 point