French rally ace Pierre Ragues has battled hard in this weekend’s Rallye du Rouergue to finish just off the podium in the competitive R5 class after ten stages run over two days.

 

In warm and pleasant weather conditions, Ragues had a strong event and was in the hunt for another class podium in his return to rallying with the Racing Service squad.

 

Driving a Michelin-equipped Citroën DS3 R5 car alongside his co-driver Tibo Gorczyca, Ragues got off a positive start, despite his recent break in rally action. The rally conditions made life difficult for tyres, but the Michelin hard compounds worked well and enabled Ragues to pick up confidence quickly. 

 

There were a few issues on the opening day, however, with some dashboard gremlins affecting progress in SS2. Overall, though, it was an encouraging opening day and he finished the day fourth and second in class.

 

On Saturday morning, he set out strongly and despite a spin in the long SS7, he was able to find good rhythm and pace throughout the final day. Just 12 seconds separated Ragues from second in class at lunchtime. 

 

Unfortunately, he was unable to translate his performance into the desired result as he was forced to settle for fourth in class and sixth place on the overall classification. The result saw him take third place in the Michelin Trophy.

 

Pierre Ragues commented: “It was great to get back to rally action this weekend at Rouergue. I was pleased to be back behind the wheel of the Citroën DS3 R5 and to drive alongside Tibo. It has been generally a strong weekend for me, although I was disappointed not to score a podium in class. I felt that my stage times were competitive and the only issues we faced were a dashboard fault on Friday, which disrupted me, and a spin this morning. I was confident to push for the podium and I felt good on the final stage, so to lose the podium on that stage is hard, but I have to accept it. Nonetheless, it’s been a really valuable opportunity for me to reacquaint myself with rally and thanks to the support of Group Auto, Top Garage, Ellip6 and Sparco.”