Seven days, September 12

The French Rallycross Championship will go through the final swing of late season events at Essay and Dreux with a new champion-elect after Jerome Grosset-Janin lifted the victory in round seven of the nine-event series at Mayenne. The winner of the first four events of the year, Grosset-Janin was beaten in rounds five (where his Renault Clio had technical problems) and round six by Fabien Pailler. By round six, the points leader was in championship mode, and did not need to push for the victory, but in Mayenne everything wet smoothly for Grosset-Janin who dominated the event, winning the final from pole. Pailler (Peugeot 208) placed second with Knapick (Citroen DS3) climbing through the order to take third place as front row starter Christophe Jouet (207) slipped to fifth behind Jean Claude Lemoine (Xsara). Super1600 was dominated by Laurent Chartrain (Citroen C2) but a false start in the final brought the black flag for favourite. At the restart Jean Baptiste Dubourg (Renault Clio) led before going off and handing the lead to David Olivier (Renault Twingo) who took the win ahead of Adeline Sangnier (C2). Marc Morize (Peugeot 207) took yet another Division Three victory while Emannuel Anne returned to Division Four and posted a victory in his C2. The Twingo Trophy victory was taken by Cyril Raymond who looks increasingly like the champion.

The Belgian championship continued at Maasmechelen where the German championship was also on the bill, although there were few visiting drivers present. The Supercar class was without Jos Kuypers who withdrew after suffering turbocharger and engine problems in a test session before the event. That left Patrick Van Mechelen to duke it out with Jochen Coox who at last seems to have found some pace and reliability in his VW Scirocco. Van Mechelen led the final from start to finish, Coox close enough to keep him on his toes. Super1600 and TouringCar both produced champions in this penultimate round, Denis Remans (Fiesta) winning the day and the series while veteran Jos Sterkens (Volvo C30) put his name to the TouringCar title. Luc Maris borrowed son Steven’s Volvo 242 and won the over 2000cc Supernational split while Pedro Cokelaere (Honda Civic) won the closely contested up to 2000cc bracket.

With the dust just about settled at Loheac, there was some more action on the rallycross track there as Davy Jeanney joined Albatec Racing to test one of its Peugeot 208s. Jeanney, who drives his own Citroen C4 in the European championship, tested the 208 used by Kris Meeke in the French round of the European championship. “It was a great pleasure to drive a new generation RallycrossRX Supercar with such a professional team. It was particularly good to drive at Lohéac so soon after the race, where I still have a good feeling and the memory of the track is with me. I’d like to thank Albatec Racing very much for the opportunity to drive a recent car, complete with all the latest technology. The Peugeot 208 has I believe huge potential, it is very responsive, and is a very easy and comfortable car to drive,” said Jeanney.

Meanwhile in Austria the build-up to the penultimate round of the European championship continued with a media event involving home drivers and event sponsor Remus.

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