French race ace Pierre Ragues is hoping to continue his fine run of competitive performances as he takes part in his second French Rally Championship event, Rally Limousin, next weekend, which includes the highly competitive Michelin Trophy.

 

Ragues has made a stunning transition from endurance racing into the competitive world of rallying this year and, despite running into some bad luck in his first French Rally event last month, he made an impressive debut. 

 

Setting the pace in the first stage of Rally Lyon-Charbonnières in his Skoda Fabia S2000 alongside his co-driver and father Marcel Ragues, Pierre made an immediately positive impression against more experienced competition.  Despite running in a podium position for much of the rally, he was cruelly denied a maiden podium finish following a technical issue.  

 

Driving for the professional Deslandes Sport team, Pierre will be aiming to put the experience of that debut event to good use at Rallye Limousin next weekend, and secure a strong event finish. He will once again have the support of his partners at Group Auto, as well as technical partners Sparco and Michelin. Pierre will derive benefit from Sparco’s latest state-of-the-art EXTREMA RS-10 which give him additional comfort in the expected warm weather conditions.

 

The 48th running of Rallye Limousin will take place over the weekend of 8-10 May with a total of 11 stages over two days. The opening day will see competitors take part in a repeat of Tarnac (14.98km) and Mont Gargan stages (25.03km) followed by a special 2.34km stage Ville de Limoges. The final day will take in a trio of repeated stages – St. Julien (16.76km), Auriat (15.79km), St. Moreil (26.30km).

 

Pierre Ragues commented: “I am looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the fantastic Skoda Fabia S2000. My father and I had a really good event at Lyon-Charbonnières last month and I felt we were definitely capable of a class podium with the excellent Deslandes Sport team. The whole crew worked very professionally and made me feel right at home in my first French Rally Championship event. The transition from endurance to rally has been a fascinating experience and one which I thoroughly enjoy. Rallye Limousin is another classic event and will test our abilities fully. I will do all I can to secure a strong finish but we have 11 stages to master along the way. Thankfully, I have the valued support of Group Auto, the team, and partners Sparco and Michelin.”