Manu Guigou, French Champion with the Alpine A110 Rally!
Unvanquished in his class this year, Manu Guigou added another title to his record with a tenth success in the two-wheel drive category of the French FFSA Tarmac Rally Championship. Undefeated on the French roads, Alpine also wins its first national title since the one scored by the Alpine A310 V6 in the hands of Guy Fréquelin 43 years ago.
Introduced this season, the French 2WD RallyChampionship was in the sights of Manu Guigou for his return to the nationalscene.
After six months of development work with the Alpine A110 Rally and theSignatech team under the direction of Lionel Chevalier, Manu scored maximumpoints on the Touquet Rally before making at Mont-Blanc his competitiondebut with the model for which he is the ambassador.
Honouring the brand's name and rich history, Manu Guigou put in a dream startby setting the best absolute time on the opening special stage versus 33four-wheel drive cars, including R5s and WRC entries. With three scratchtimes, the Team Joffroy driver won the two-wheel drive class and finished thirdoverall.
Three weeks later, Manu Guigou was back for more on the Cœur de France Rally.With a serious and diligent drive around the city of Vendôme despite thetricky conditions, he won by more than a minute from his closest rival, who wasalso behind the wheel of an Alpine A110 Rally, with more times among theleaders in the general classification.
Thanks to these wins, Manu Guigou and co-driver Alexandre Coria have officiallywon the two-wheel drive honours in the French Rally Championship. Alpine winsits first official title since its return to rally competition at the start ofthe year and its first title in France since the triumph of Guy Fréquelinin 1977.
"I am extremely proud and honoured to be part of Alpine's rich sportinghistory," said Manu Guigou after his title announced on Tuesdayevening. "Signatech has built a high-performance car that respects thebrand's DNA. To have my name associated with the Alpine brand is a childhooddream that has now come true. The Alpine brand has an impressive track recordand is still among the leaders. This is why Alpine represents anundeniable value for sports car enthusiasts.”
"We really prepared ourselves with Team Joffroy, with whom I had totalconfidence, to be up to the task for Alpine's comeback on the stages. We wentundefeated with the Alpine A110 Rally in the French Championship and thisofficial title is a reward that Alpine, Signatech, but also ETS and Pirellifully deserve for their decisive contribution to our performances. I would alsolike to acknowledge Technifap and the Centre Alpine Villefranche for theirunfailing support, as well as all of our partners. I also take my hat off toAlexandre Coria, whose skills and motivation have been extremely important inthe success of this adventure. I am delighted to share these victories and thistitle with him!”
"With the confidence of Philippe Sinault and his expertise, this title isall the more motivating as we are only at the beginning of Alpine's return torallying, and to the world of competition on a larger scale," concludesManu Guigou. "If I had to pick out one moment this year, it would be ourstage win on our Alpine A110 Rally competitive debut. It is withoutquestion the highlight of our season that has rewarded these two years of workwhile reassuring the teams and partners who put their faith in us! It is nowtime to ride this big momentum as Alpine is preparing to tackle new frontsand to get down to business on my 2021 programme, which I hope to announce verysoon! "
| 2020 2WD French Rally Championship
1. Manu Guigou, 63 points
2. Allison Viano, 47 points
3. Leo Rossel, 38 points
4. Cédric Robert, 34 points
5. Guillaume Canivenq, 30 points
6. Pauline Dalmasso, 28 points
7. Rémi Jouines, 27 points
8. François Delecour & Romain Fostier, 26 points ... | | |
| 2020 French Rally Championship
1. Yoann Bonato, 75 points
2. Quentin Gilbert, 57 points
3. Jean-Baptiste Franceschi, 38 points
4. Quentin Giordano, 37 points
5. Manu Guigou, 30 points
6. Thibault Habouzit, 28 points
7. Éric Mauffrey & Pierre Roché, 25 points
9. William Wagner, 22 points
10. Patrick Rouillard, 21 points … | | |
