This Sunday noon, on the podium of deliverance planted in Sainte-Maxime, Promenade Simon-Lorière, as usual, there will be no tree, no baubles, no garlands. No turkey with chestnuts or frozen logs around either… But some will still be able to celebrate Christmas early.
As it negotiates from this Friday – start at 12 p.m. – the turn of its 70th edition on a course punctuated by 12 special stages (189.03km selective), this dear old Rallye du Var has a basket full of gifts .
The biggest ones? The crown of champion of France 2024 and a winner's trophy which still arouses much desire.
Concerning the national title, the final decisive act offers a 100% Citroën duel.
The young dad against the boss
A comfortably installed leader with four successes in the bank, Léo Rossel can be satisfied with a place in the top 5 here to join his big brother Yohan crowned in 2019 on the “CFR” list.
Father of a little Paolo for a month, the Gardois, who has just celebrated his 27th birthday on Wednesday, could have completed the affair at home.
On October 25, on the wet roads of the Critérium des Cévennes, he led the dance. But the terrible weather prevailing that weekend took great pleasure in adding its two cents: the race was interrupted by prefectural decree at the dawn of the second stage. Enough to prolong the suspense until the final since only half of the points were distributed.
Léo Rossel therefore approaches the money-time with a 12.5 unit lead over the captain, Yoann Bonato. “We need to finish at the foot of the podium, so let’s first try to avoid the pitfalls”announces the driver of the C3 bearing number 1.
A young wolf who remembers his misadventure from the previous edition where a collision between Puget-Ville and Cuers had caused him to tumble (58th after SS 10, 15th the next day at the finish) while he was pointing in head.
“A new experience”
“No question of going there with a knife between your teeth. Nor of taking the blame. For me, playing for the title is a new experience. I'm happy to experience this. Frankly, I had more pressure at the start of the 2022 Rallye du Var, when I was fighting to win the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup.
Info or fake? In the opposite camp, Bonato asks no questions because he is no longer master of his destiny. Victim of a violent crash in Vosges-Grand Est having fractured three vertebrae in June, the forty-year-old from Isère (41 years old), power 5 champion, has come a long way.
After a significantly reduced immobilization-rehabilitation sequence – three months instead of six! -, he quickly got back into the swing of things: three starts, three podiums.
It now remains to find the path to victory in order to hope to turn the tide at the last minute if the rival makes a misstep. It would be the third in Var. The second in a row. And it is not a foregone conclusion.
Pulling the chestnuts from the fire in the Moors
Among the many regionals of the stage eager to shine in their garden, at least two are armed to aim for victory. Mathieu Franceschi (Skoda Fabia RS), the last minute entry, had not traveled the Massif des Maures since 2019.
Five years ago, the Fayençois whipped a Peugeot 208R2. Today, he no longer presents himself as a promising hope.
French champion on dirt 2022, European vice-champion this season, the youngest of the Franceschi brothers has only one desire: to pin the “Var” to his hunting list.
Eric Camilli too! Installed at the top of the provisional hierarchy this summer, the Niçois, winner in Antibes then in Rodez (Rouergue), is no longer in the match: 3rd, 27 points behind Rossel.
In the seat of a Hyundai i20 N, still a small notch below the C3, it is impossible to keep up with the two best enemies who have irresistibly taken off.
If he no longer believes in Santa Claus for a long time, there is no doubt that the Riviera neighbor would be happy to take the chestnuts from the fire in the Maures massif a month before enjoying the turkey under the tree.
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