Seven days, July 18

It’s all been happening in France this week. While much of Europe packed its bags and headed for the beach straight after Holjes, the French will wait until August for their summer break and the national championship continued into its fourth round at Lessay where Jerome Grosset-Janin maintained his unbeaten run and collected his fourth event victory for Chanoine Renault. Fabien Pailler chased Grosset-Janin throughout the final but could not halt the championship favourite who is now 38 points clear at the head of the table.

Jean Baptiste Dubourg beat David Olivier and and Adeline Sangnier to top the Super1600 order while class favourites Marc Morize (Peugeot 207) and Kevin Jacquinet (Peugeot 207) take the victories in Divisions Three and Four respectively. The new for 2013 Twingo Cup is won by Cyril Raymond who takes his second victory in the third round of the series.

Enjoying the success of his team, Philippe Chanoine announces at Lessay that he will return to the driving seat later this year. Chanoine, a successful driver in the 1980s-’90s, will wheel out his team’s Renault Clio II Supercar for the sixth round of the French championship at the new Pont de Ruan – Sache circuit south of Tours  on August 24-25. Chanoine played a key role in bringing the new venue into the French championship.

There is also better news for the future of the Faleyras-Gironde circuit which has a new owner this week. We previously reported difficulties at the scenic track, now Amoleen Racing has bought the site. Director of Amoleen Racing, Stéphane Zittoun, says that organisation of competitive events at the track will remain in the hands of ASACAF while his company will focus on renovating the venue, improving safety and developing commercial activities.

The build up to the French round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship continued with Kris Meeke testing an Albatec Racing Peugeot 208 at Loheac. The rally star will race the car at Loheac and revelled in the power of the 208 in his test.

The Dutch championship held its fourth round at Valkenswaard where Jos Kuypers took the event win in his Focus III. Ron Snoeck (Seat Leon) and Marcel Ottink (Fabia II) completed the podium, Ronny Scheveneels the only other finisher in his VW Scirocco. Marcel Snoeyers gave his new Renault Megane its first win in Super1600 and Filip Baelus gained his first TouringCar victory. Luc Maris (back in an old Volvo 240) and Marc Vandenbergh (Seat Ibiza) were the winners of the over 2000cc and up to 2000cc Supernational categories respectively.

The limelight in Finland was again dominated by Joni-Pekka Rajala who, for the third event in succession, managed to win both the Supercar and Supernational finals. In the fourth round of the championship at Honkajoki, Rajala leads home Atro Maatta (Focus) and Kari Irri (Peugeot 206) in Supercar and is then flanked on the Supernational podium by Peter Helenius (VW Scirocco) and Vesa Hirvonen (Volvo S40).

The fourth round of the NEZ series was run at the MUSA venue near Bauska in Latvia. Home drivers dominate the event, Agris Brediks beatinhg Lithuanian Supercar points leader Kazimieras Gudžiūnas to the victory. Reinis Nitiss returned home in the middle of his stellar European season and took the NEZ Super1600 victory by almost a second ahead of Ernestas Staponkus. The 2000 class delivered a one-two finish for home drivers, Juris Spikis and Toms Ziedans, the only class not won by a Latvian being the Supernational ‘Open’ category in which Ola Froshaug took the win.

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