Pierre Ragues has this afternoon finished tenth overall in a closely contested Rallye Lyon-Charbonnières, completing the 13-stage rally sixth in the prestigious Michelin trophy. 

 

Just 35 seconds separated sixth from tenth as crews battled against extremely high temperatures on the French roads, which put a focus on tyres. 

 

Pierre, who was ably assisted once again by co-driver Julien Pesenti, claimed a string of top-ten stage times in his Skoda Fabia R5 in the 70th edition of the classic event. A competitive line-up consisting of numerous manufacturers and experienced rally drivers made for a thrilling event, in which Pierre gave an excellent account of himself.

 

The French ace’s strong performance came despite not taking part in the hugely popular Lyon rally, part of the Coupe de France des Rallyes, since 2016.

 

The opening stage of the event on Friday was affected by a crash for one of the earlier running cars, which meant most cars had to complete the stage in convoy as a road section. 

 

The only issue of note for Pierre was a double spin in the tricky hot conditions in SS8 on Saturday morning, which lost him valuable time as he reversed back onto the stage. As a result of the time loss he was unable to mount a stronger fight for the top-six, but otherwise, the Caen born driver was able to get into a rhythm and enjoy himself against tough opposition. 

 

Pierre commented: “Rallye Lyon-Charbonnières is a great event for all rally drivers and it is one where I gain a huge amount of valuable experience. I haven’t competed here since 2016 so it was great to be back. Overall, I am pleased with a top-ten finish and to be sixth in the Michelin trophy. The competition is very intense, as we could see from how close the stage times have been. Julien and I have enjoyed ourselves, despite some challenges along the way. The main factor today was a double spin in SS8, which lost us the chance to fight for the top-six, but we put that quickly behind us and concentrated on just having fun. There was room for improvement but generally speaking I am happy and got the most out of the Skoda Fabia and the Michelin tyres. I have to say thanks to my partners GroupAuto, Sparco, Ellip6 and Yacco for their support; it’s been a positive weekend.”