Throughout the weekend, the Juniors battled with mud and dirt on the slippery Alsace roads, but it was the Suzuki Swift Super 1600 of French guest driver pairing Jérémi Ancian and Damien Mezy which took eventual victory at Rallye de France – Alsace on the penultimate round of the 2010 FIA Junior World Rally Championship.
On his World Rally début, the 20-year old didn’t only overcome difficult road conditions to take the victory. He had to contend with championship contender Hans Weijs Jnr (NLD, Citroën), the unfailingly quick Thierry Neuville (BEL, Citroën) and countryman and early leader Mathieu Arzeno (Citroën). Young Frenchman Ancian wasn’t about to concede the Citroën whitewash the opening stages of the rally seemed to offer however. Committed to the task in hand, he expertly negotiated the tough stages to finish over three and half minutes ahead of Weijs in second, his only trouble being when he went off briefly on SS15. Aided by spectators he quickly rejoined the road, having lost only 20 seconds.
Weijs himself did not have an easy rally. After briefly leading on Day One, he struggled with a fever for the remainder of the first two days and the recurring brake problems which have plagued him all season. Never one to give up though, after retaking the lead from Neuville on SS11, the Dutchman powered on through all adversity. His disappointment when he got a puncture on SS15, costing him over two minutes and lost the lead to Ancian was however mitigated by the 18 J-WRC points he earned, allowing him to close the gap with leader Aaron Burkart (DEU) in the Championship standings to only seven points in anticipation of the final round of the Junior season in Catalunya later this month.
Neuville claimed third, refusing to be defeated by the loss of his power steering on SS8 or two slow punctures on Day Two, which cost him nearly five minutes in total, the Belgian frequently putting in times a second a kilometre quicker than the other J-WRC competitors. Only his second finish of the season, he was pleased to find himself on the podium again on his last nominated round, realising some of the potential which has wowed spectators throughout the season.
Arzeno finished fourth on his home event, pleased to put in a strong performance after an early lead had descended into a troublesome weekend. Championship leader Burkart rounded off the top five, disappointed to be so far off the pace – finishing nearly sixteen minutes behind Ancian, despite not having any serious problems, but ready to go head-to-head with Weijs for the Championship title in Spain.
Photo: Flickr/ jmd67650
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