The 54th national rally of Lozère, which counts for the French 2nd division championship, saw its first day of specials end with the domination of Jordan Berfa and Chloë Thomas.
Former French gravel rally champion Jordan Berfa and his co-driver Chloë Thomas (Hyundai I20) dominated the first stage of the Lozère Rally head and shoulders during the first stage yesterday. They took the lead with 34 seconds ahead of Yannick Vivens (DS3). 3rd, Norman Eddie Lemaitre (Skoda Rally2), reigning French champion, is already 2 minutes and 32 seconds behind! The weather is always an essential parameter in Lozère, especially when the south wind brings a squadron of clouds to the Cevennes foothills. And this Saturday it rained intermittently, with some stages completely wet, others partially dry.
Primordial, here, read the weather
In this coin toss game for tire choices, Berfa was effective. Having left in the “rain” on Saturday morning, near Les Bondons, he immediately took the scratch ahead of Vivens (DS3 Rally2) and Constanty (C3 Rally20). One is at 1 second per kilometer, the other at 2! And the Mazamétain drives the point home, irremediably taking off. “I discovered rallying. I didn’t think I would be in front of Vivens. I started on rain tyres, then I mixed it by crossing rain and soft and then I just did the ES on soft” Jordan says. He raced the Monte Carlo at the start of the season and quickly assimilated this type of operation.
The Pompidou, the Vivens grounds
Behind, Vivens admits to having made the mistake of staying in “the rain”, particularly in SS4. “It was dry!” At the end the tires were very hot, the car was moving more” specifies the Suménois who will make up for it in the final SS of the day, the long Pompidou time trial where he excels. “It was sometimes wet, sometimes dry but it was very slippery. Some say there was gasoline on the road…” He achieves the scratch here, but only takes two seconds. However, he is the only one who could benefit from the slightest mistake from the leader. Kévin Constanty, who had chosen to run on wet tires, remained on the 3rd step of the podium for 4 times but suffered a puncture in Le Pompidou, losing 2 minutes in the process! Which suited Lemaître’s business, who doubts he will win a rally he loves, making the long journey from Normandy every year. Delayed by a red water temperature sensor (SS1 then 2), Dorian Nicolas (C3 Rally2) pulled himself together at the end of the stage.
Jérémie Sérieys, first of the 2-wheel drive
In the Lozérien clan, Jérémie Sérieys (Clio), native of Pont-de-Montvert, 5th for a moment, finds himself 8th, first of the 2-wheel drive but less effective against Rally2, when the road dried up. On his home turf, Jonathan Gout (Clio R3), momentarily 6th, came out for the count in Le Pompidou. As for Gérard André and Cédric Valentin, after a slump, they moved up to 9th place overall. Sunday will be another day!
