The favourites take centre stage at the Rallye Rhône-Charbonnières

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• Season four of the Alpine Elf Rally Trophy kicked off with 11 crews at the Rallye Rhône-Charbonnières.
• In the overall top ten of the event, Pierre Roché started his title defense in style, winning ahead of Ludovic Godard and Grégory Fontalba, who was victorious in the Gentlemen category.
• Raphaël Astier scored the Alpine A110 Rally's 30th victory in the French Two-Wheel Drive Rally Championship.
• Next up is the Rallye Antibes Côte d'Azur (9-11 May).

The Alpine Elf Rally Trophy opened this new campaign with one of the strongest service parks in its history, with two previous title-winners and four former winners in Charbonnières-les-Bains.

Title holder Pierre Roché hit the ground running on Friday. Starting the Rallye Rhône-Charbonnières for the first time behind the wheel of the A110 Rally, the Team FJ driver won the first special stage by 13.0s ahead of Ludovic Godard and Yann Clairay. A newcomer to the trophy, Yann Clairay scored his maiden fastest time on SS2 before going off the road on the following timed sector, where Ludovic Godard set the quickest time to pull back to within 8.8s of Pierre Roché.

Pierre Roché repeated the trick in the afternoon in Bibost - Montrottier - Brullioles, setting a time 14.2s faster than his closest rivals. The leader followed up with two fastest times on Saint-Clément - Villechenève and Montrottier - Saint-Romain-de-Popey to complete a grand slam on the second loop and finish the day with a 29.2s lead from Ludovic Godard. Grégory Fontalba remained in contention 16.1s further back. More than 90 seconds behind the leader, the battle for fourth place was on the boil between Jérémy Crétien and Jean-François Mourgues, separated by just 3.0s.

Under threatening skies on Saturday, Ludovic Godard went on the offensive. The PH Sport by Minerva driver first took 0.9s off Pierre Roché on Ternand - Saint-Just-d'Avray before excelling on a mainly damp road in the following stage, the longest of the weekend. After avoiding the pitfalls, Ludovic Godard extended his effort on a dry surface to return to the service park, reducing his deficit on his rival to 3.9s.

Pierre Roché hit back on the decisive loop, dominating SS10 and SS11 to head into the final stage with a 13.7s advantage. He then went on to more than double his lead in the last kilometres to start the defence of his title with a victory. Pierre Roché's excellent showing also resulted in ninth place in the overall classification.

Grégory Fontalba, winner of the 2022 title and pace-setter on SS9, joined them on the podium and won the Gentlemen category. Behind this trio of favourites, fourth-placed Jérémy Crétien held off the comeback of Fabrice Bect, who had passed Jean-François Mourgues on SS8. Sergio Pinto and Guy Bertrand followed after Éric Giannini retired with a mechanical issue on SS9. Matthieu Fassio and Yann Clairay set off again on Saturday morning after their shortened Friday, completing the top ten.

Meanwhile, Raphaël Astier and Denis Giraudet were victorious in the two-wheel drive category with their Alpine A110 Rally. In the lead from the first stage, the reigning French 2WD Rally Champion found himself on his own after Quentin Gilbert and Cédric Robert retired. Despite his advantage, the Pikes Peak hero kept pushing and joined the best four-wheel drive drivers to finish just off the podium. It was also the 30th two-wheel drive victory for the A110 Rally on the national scene, ahead of Pierre Roché and Ludovic Godard.

The Alpine Elf Rally Trophy competitors will be back in action in less than three weeks in round two of their campaign, the Rallye Antibes Côte d'Azur (9-11 May 2024).

Pierre Roché: "We're extremely satisfied with our performance. We ran our rally the way we wanted, except on Saturday morning when I was a bit sleepy. I did everything I could to finish with a comfortable lead. This victory is a confidence booster ahead of Antibes, where I'm hoping for the same result!"

Ludovic Godard: "It was a strong start to the season, and I'm satisfied with my rally, even if it's a shame we weren't closer to Pierre. The car ran well, we didn't have the slightest problem, and the times followed. My aim for the next rally will be to get closer to Pierre, and we'll see where that takes us!"

Grégory Fontalba: "We finished first among the Gentlemen, and I'm even more satisfied with that as we weren't far behind Ludovic. We were able to stay in contact, so we continue to improve despite our age! I hope

this will continue as the year progresses, even if the newcomers, including Yann Clairay, have quickly grasped how the Alpine works. So there should be even more competition in Antibes!"

Classification

1. Pierre Roché – Martine Roché 1h58m04.7s

2. Ludovic Godard – Damien Augustin +28.4s

3. Grégory Fontalba – Stéphan Hermet +1m34.4s

4. Jérémy Crétien – Xavier Rouchouze +2m55.2s

5. Fabrice Bect – Arnaud Michal +3m03.4s

6. Jean-François Mourgues – Michel Roissard +3m32.4s

7. Sergio Pinto – Charlène Greppin +6m15.7s

8. Guy Bertrand – Thibaut Daval +14m05.5s

9. Matthieu Fassio – Hugo Olivier +33m42.2s

10. Yann Clairay – Gilles De Turckheim +41m27.2s

Ret. Éric Giannini – Alexandre Denuzière

General classification

1. Pierre Roché 20 points

2. Ludovic Godard 15 points

3. Grégory Fontalba 12 points

4. Jérémy Crétien 10 points

5. Fabrice Bect 8 points

6. Jean-François Mourgues 6 points

7. Sergio Pinto 4 points

8. Guy Bertrand 3 points

9. Matthieu Fassio 2 points

10. Yann Clairay 1 point

11. Éric Giannini 0 point