22nd Rallye des Princesses

The elegant Place Vendôme was the starting point on June 3 for the 22nd edition of the Rallye des Princesses Richard Mille on a beautiful day under the Parisian sun with a large crowd of onlookers to wave away the all-female crews.  At 8:30am sharp, the first of 164 drivers and co-drivers took to the road to the applause and encouragement of the morning spectators, a habit for those amongst them that have participated several times,  such as Elisa Laurent, co-driver and winner in 2022 for the sixth time, in a Chevrolet Corvette C2.  Their destination was the Côte d’Azur, some 1700kms distant, via Beaune, Megève, Alpe d’Huez and Les Baux-de-Provence before arriving on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. 

Winners Ambre Boucherie and Stéphanie Wante  Photos Nicolas Bremaud

While concentration and precision on the regularity tests are required to win this event, in usual Peter Auto style, the Princesses saw some of the most beautiful, little-known and out-of-the-way places in France, lunched and dined in national monuments and castles, and even had a picnic on the lakeshore, stayed in grand hotels and enjoyed French culture and gastronomy along the way.

At Nice it was the team of Ambre Boucherie and Stéphanie Wante, driving a Corvette C3 Stingray that took top honours, with Laëticia Guarinos and Isabelle Godin taking second place in their Opel 1900 GT and Marina Orlandi Contucci and Stéphane Heymans (Lancia Beta Monte Carlo) completing the overall podium.