French motorsport star Pierre Ragues has today secured a competitive podium finish in the 5th Ronde Citta’ del Palladio following a thrilling finale to the rally, held near Vicenza. 

 

For Pierre, today’s rally action was the first acquaintance with the Munaretto team and the Michelin-shod Peugeot 208 R5 in preparation for the Rally du Var event later this month.

 

The rally – composed of a 12km stage repeated four times – started in heavy rain conditions so it required a measured approach from Ragues. He set the fourth quickest time in the first loop despite losing ten seconds as a result of a spin.

 

He maintained his confidence for the second loop and set the second fastest time in the wet conditions, positioning himself at the front of the classification. The second half of the rally remained equally close and his third place in the stage kept the top three within touching distance of each other.

 

The nailbiting finale in the last stage was still held on damp conditions and unfortunately Pierre made a mistake while pushing hard for victory - which lost him around 30s of time. He may have missed out on the overall win but he claimed a second rally podium of the season – in just his sixth rally – and a class win: a great result for the French ace.