October 9, 2021: the Alpine A110 Rally RGT sits majestically on the podium. Nicolas Ciamin has just won the 56th Antibes – Côte d’Azur rally, almost forty-four years after the Dieppe firm’s last victory in the French Championship. That day, he was quite clearly ahead of the Citroën C3 Rally2s of Eric Camilli and Yohan Bonato.
May 10, 2024: Raphaël Astier sets off, on this same rally, at the wheel of the brand new version of the A110. A more muscular, body-built GT + version, with aerodynamic, engine and transmission developments which should allow it to once again compete at the top of the timesheets, particularly on the very rolling route of the Nice hinterland.
“The objective, when we sat behind the table with those responsible for Signatech,” explains Jérôme Galpin, of Team FJ, which distributes Alpine rally cars, “was to gain half a second per kilometer. Not so much by adding pure power, but by optimizing the overall operation to have better availability, over a wider range of use, with also better aerodynamics. »
Since the start of the season at Le Touquet, Astier, 2023 French two-wheel drive champion, has each time shown himself to be the fastest of the rear-wheel drive drivers… but a few minutes from the podiums. Will it be able to really compete with Rally2 this time? It is possible, especially on dry ground, even if the latter have also progressed and the contenders for the supreme title are numerous and of very high level this year.
Yoann Bonato comes off two victories
Thus, Yoann Bonato, crowned with his victories at Rhône-Charbonnières in mid-April and in the ERC in the Canaries last weekend, will once again start favorite with his C3 in an event which has long been refused to him before smiling on him in 2022 and 2023. Eric Camilli from Nice will compete at home, on roads he knows well, and will want to prove that the new developments of his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 allow him to finally compete with the C3.
Léo Rossel (C3), who made a mistake at the “Charbo” after his demonstration at Le Touquet, will want to redeem himself and prove that it was just an accident. He, like Camilli (out at Le Touquet) and Anthony Fotia (relegated almost half an hour after an outing with his C3 at Charbo) have already played their joker – the worst result is counted at the end of the season – and have no more room for error. In the Championship, Bonato (41 points) has a nice lead of seventeen points over Hugo Margaillan (Hyundai), with Rossel following a length behind (23 pts), just ahead of Jean-Baptiste Franceschi (Ford Fiesta) (20 pts), Astier (19 pts), Camilli (18 pts) and Fotia (16 pts).
The Col de Turini on the program
Note, on the Alpine side, the performance of the Bonneton team which managed to remount an A110 Rally RGT in time for Cédric Robert, after his big accident off the Rhône-Charbonnières road. The comparison with the GT + version of Astier will also be interesting to observe throughout the 196.36 km in 12 timed specials, in the legendary sectors of Ascros-Toudon, Col de la Couillole, Turini and the ‘Ablé, among others…
