Rally du Chablais: Joe Michellod takes the lead 🎥
DONE The second round of the Swiss Rally Championship, the Rallye du Chablais, was hard to beat in terms of excitement. In the modern with premiere winner Joe Michellod as well as with old champion Florian Gonon.
Varied stages and changeable conditions ensured a neck-and-neck race - in the modern as well as in the historic class. The fact that there was a new winner in the end, Jonathan Michellod on Skoda Fabia Rally2, was the icing on the cake.
13th rally on a Skoda Fabia Rally2
For 28-year-old Joe Michellod and his co-driver Stéphane Fellay, it was their 13th rally in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 (or R5) - the seventh in the Swiss Rally Championship. And the young man from the Valais, who is sponsored by Olivier Burri, got off to a flying start.
Joe Michellod: "I am overjoyed. It went very well for us right from the start. And we didn't make any mistakes even in the changeable weather conditions on the first day. The fact that I am the third Valais native after Florian Gonon and Sébastien Carron to win the Rallye du Chablais makes me particularly happy."
New leader of the Swiss championship
Michellod has taken the lead in the championship. The man from Verbier leads with 67 points ahead of Hirschi (64) and Jura winner Mike Coppens (52). Last year's champion already lost 2:49 minutes to the leader on the first day. In SS11, he added another three minutes. It was not until the end of the rally that Coppens achieved two best SS times.
Ivan Ballinari, champion of 2018 and 2019, was also unable to intervene in the fight for victory, but defended 4th place in his VW Polo in a commanding manner against Cédric Althaus (Skoda Fabia).
Florian Gonon won on Ford Escort MKI
The rally in the VHC was similarly exciting as in the modern class. Florian Gonon, Swiss Rally Champion of 2009, prevailed over Eddy Bérard on his Ford Escort MKI with a narrow lead of 13.3 seconds. Third place went to Marc Valliccioni (both on BMW M3 E30s), 25.1 seconds behind. The latter secured victory in the European Historic Rally Championship (EHRC). Second place went to Sweden's Mats Myrsell, with Britain's Marty McCormack third.
And so it goes on:
- June 24 and 25 Rally di Alba (I)
- September 8 - 10 Rally Mont-Blanc (F)
- September 30 - October 1 Rally del Ticino
- October 13 to 15 Rally International du Valais
Photo: Franck Budel
rdch.ch
