The Ellip6 Junior Rallye Team will embark on its second high profile event of the season with both drivers Kevin Coste and Dorian Nicolas taking part in Rally Lyon-Charbonnières this weekend.

Although not part of the French Junior Championship, the event will give both of the Ellip6 young drivers, and their respective co-drivers, a great opportunity to develop their skills further racing against some of the most competitive drivers in Europe.

The Ellip6 team, which is managed and overseen by experienced hands Fabrice Morel and Renaud Chazel, enjoyed a solid debut event at Le Touquet last month and will be hoping to gain even more valuable experience at “Charbo”. Kevin and Dorian visited the PPAC driving school last week for a day of intensive training and preparatory work specifically focussed on this weekend’s event.

The Lyon-Charbonnières rally is also something of a ‘home’ event for Ellip6, whose inaugural simulation centre opened in Pierrelatte just over one year ago. Both drivers have been working closely with the team, and also with Ellip6, using the state-of-the-art rally simulators at Pierrelatte to give them accurate and representative practice in preparation for each rally.

Ellip6 will be present in the ‘Stade de Gerland’ on Friday with its dynamic six-axis simulator. Ellip6 is also developing a close collaboration at this event with Lyon-based Société ACTUA, which runs the automobile circuit St Laurent de Mure. Guests from Ellip6 and ACTUA will be invited to Lyon for a special advance experience of its six-axis simulator before the rally gets underway.

The Lyon-Charbonnières rally will be an entirely different challenge for Kevin and Dorian compared to Le Touquet. Run over two days, the event uses demanding asphalt stages that are frequently affected by rain and other adverse weather conditions that will demand a focussed and concentrated approach.

Both drivers will again have at their disposal a Renault Twingo R1, equipped with Pirelli tyres.

Ellip6 President Pierre Tantot: “I think both our drivers did a very satisfactory job for us at Le Touquet last month and we should not forget that our team is still in its infancy. This weekend’s rally at Lyon-Charbonnières is about as close as we at Ellip6 get to a home event during the season, so it will definitely be an enjoyable weekend for us. Kevin and Dorian have spent some time on our simulators to keep their driving skills fresh but we know it will be a new challenge for them both. Nevertheless, we have realistic expectations and have set out a targeted plan for the weekend that will focus on giving the drivers specific goals to improve their skills on each stage. This will be just the second event for the Ellip6 Junior Team, so we have to continue small steps on our ambitious journey.”

Kevin Coste: “Lyon-Charbonnières will be an exciting challenge for us after the enjoyment and satisfaction of the last rally. Le Touquet was our first event together as the Ellip6 Junior Team and we learned a lot. Sure, it was tough at times, but we came out of it with a lot of knowledge. I hope we can put all of that accumulated experience to good use this weekend and to make another step forward in all areas. Thanks to Ellip6 and the team for their continued faith in my abilities; I hope to deliver them a strong performance this weekend.”

Dorian Nicolas: “This weekend is going to be one of the highlights of my career so far, participating in such a well known event like the Lyon Charbonnieres Rally. We have two days of stages in potentially difficult conditions on asphalt, so our first objective has to be to get more experience in the car, with the tyres and to finish the rally as solidly as possible. As a team, we have benefitted a lot from the support of Ellip6 in the last few months, so we will do our best to reward them with some good results at Lyon this weekend.
 
The Lyon Charbonnieres Rally gets underway on Friday and takes in 15 special stages totalling 227 competitive kilometres.

For more information, please contact:
www.ellip6.com 
contact@ellip6.com