Tour De Corse Historique

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A Perfect Rally for Julien Saunier

For 24 years the Tour de Corse Historique has been one of the unmissable events in historic rallying.  Many drivers, some with illustrious track records, like to come and drive on the mythical Corsican stages.  As proof, this year the organisers received more than 500 entry requests in just 12 hours and in the end, they accepted 366 cars, which included 35 makes and drivers of 14 different nationalities.  Despite a few withdrawals, 203 cars in competition, 152 in regularity and 11 in the Legend category, were found in the starting park on Tuesday morning, 8 October.  This year there was a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the last world victory of the Lancia 037 and there were four 037s in the starting line-up, not to mention the presentation of the modern tribute version of this legendary Group B with the Kimera.  As last year, the weather conditions were perfect with omnipresent sunshine except on Tuesday, and a mild autumn that was highly appreciated by the competitors.  Frédéric Lombard reports…

In his first time competing in the Tour de Corse Julien Suanier led the rally from the second stage

As every year, the rally starts in Porto-Vecchio, a city that also hosts the technical and administrative verifications, as well as the start and finish podium.  This year, the VHC and VHRS left on Tuesday morning for two different loops of 117kms before returning to Porto Vecchio.

Pieri described the experience as a dream come true, particularly driving the BMW M3, a car he had idolized as a child. He vowed to return next year to try to win.

Bruno Saby, entered in VHC in a Subaru Legacy, was out before the start when his car was not ready in time, and both 2023 winner Romain Dumas and Patrick Bernardini were absent.  The fight for overall victory promised to be very open with a superb line-up of drivers.  Alain and Sylvie Oreille, winners in 2020 and 2022, were out for another win in their Porshe 911, as was winner in 2014 and 2015, Christophe Vaison, driving a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4×4, without forgetting the young (25 years old) 2022 Trophée Clio Junior winner and now WRC rally driver, Tom Pieri, who has aspirations of competing at the highest levels of modern rallying.  There were also plenty of locals out for a challenge, drivers of the calibre of Olivier Capanaccia (BMW M3), unlucky leader in 2022, out for revenge.  Of note on the entry list were also former F1 driver and father of the famous Max, Dutch driver Jos Verstappen and the Lyonnais driver Julien Saunier both in Porsche 911 RS.  In the VHRS (regularity) section, the 81 year-old American John Buffum was out in a Ford Escort RS 2000 making his Corsican debut.

Photos Julien Hergault and Jean-Marie Biadatti Courtesy Tour de Corse

On the programme for this 24th edition, a 993km route with 17 special stages totalling 383 stage kilometres spread over five days.

To read Frédéric’s report, see our November 2024 issue….

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