Pierre Ragues is looking to end the 2018 season in competitive fashion as he returns to the wheel of a rally car at the 3rd running of Rallye de Pont-l'Évêque, part of the Coupe de France des rallyes.

 

The French ace, who has combined an endurance programme in the European Le Mans Series with occasional rally events this year, will join co-driver Julien Pesenti in an R5-specification Skoda Fabia in the Normandy based event.

 

Pierre has won the past two iterations of the rally, taking victory honours in 2016 and 2017, so he will be aiming for a hat-trick this weekend. The Caen-born driver has already celebrated rally success in 2018, having comfortably won Rallye de le Côte Fleurie in WRC machinery back in February. 

 

The 3rd Rallye Régional de Pont-l'Évêque takes place on 1 and 2 December, comprising six separate stages. An opening 4.26km stage Maneville-La Pipard gets the rally underway on Saturday evening before crews tackle the 9.6km Le Torquesne / St Hymer and 4.88km St Hymer / Pierrefitte-en-Auge stages. All three tests will be repeated.

 

Pierre commented: “After a busy season of endurance racing in ELMS, I am pleased to have the chance to return to rallying to complete the year. Pont-l'Évêque is a fun event, and one where I have had success previously. I won the event for the past two years so I will be aiming to make it three in a row this weekend at the helm of a Skoda Fabia R5, equipped with Michelin tyres. Once again, I will be able to draw on the expertise of Julien as my co-driver and with the support of my partners GroupAuto, Sparco, Ellip6 and Yacco. It promises to be another great rally!”   

 

 

SS1 18:18 Maneville-La Pipard (4.26km)

 

SS2 08:53 Le Torquesne / St Hymer (9.6km)

SS3 09:11 St Hymer / Pierrefitte-en-Auge (4.88km)

SS4 09:24 Maneville-La Pipard (4.26km)

SS5 13:23 Le Torquesne / St Hymer (9.6km)

SS6 13:41 St Hymer / Pierrefitte-en-Auge (4.88km)