Fontalba wins the Trophy season finale, the Alpine A110 Rally french two-wheel drive Rally Champion

For the fourth year running, the Rallye du Var hosted the Alpine ELF Rally Trophy at the French Rally Championship season finale. Although all the titles had already been decided, the places of honour were still up for grabs in Sainte-Maxime.

Fontalba back to winning

2022 Alpine ELF Rally Trophy title-winner Grégory Fontalba got off to the best possible start on Friday, setting the fastest times on the Collobrières, Bormes-les-Mimosas and Roquebrune-sur-Argens stages. The V.I.P. - Enjolras RACE driver continued to pull away, monopolising the fastest times on Saturday to head into the season's final leg in a strong position. His closest rival, Fabrice Bect, suffered a puncture on Sunday's first test. Grégory Fontalba then controlled his pace to beat Fabrice Bect, who denied him the clean sweep in the rain at the very end of the rally. The winner thus secured his fourth victory in the trophy, his first since the Rallye Cœur de France 2022, and runner-up in the general classification.

A successful promotion to GT+ for Roché

After successfully defending his title on home soil in late September, Pierre Roché swapped his Alpine A110 Rally for the A110 Rallye GT+ in the Var. Initially engaged in a thrilling duel with Yann Clairay, the Team FJ driver took advantage of his rival's off on Saturday morning to take the lead for good. With his wife Martine at his right-hand side, he continued his learning process, scoring ten fastest times out of 12 stages to win the GT+ class by more than seven minutes. He also finished third in the Michelin Premium Trophy.

Another national title for Alpine

Alpine also starred in the French Two-Wheel Drive Rally Championship. Cédric Robert and Matthieu Duval immediately took command of the category in the Team Bonneton HDG - 2C Compétition A110 Rally. Despite Ludovic Godard's fightback on Saturday morning, the driver from Saint-Étienne regained the lead on SS8 before extending his lead in the fog and rain on Sunday. Cédric Robert won by over a minute and completed another 1-2-3 for the A-arrow brand. His performance earned a fourth national title for the A110 Rally, following those won by Manu Guigou (2020), Cédric Robert (2022) and Raphaël Astier (2023).

Rendezvous in 2025

The Alpine ELF Rally Trophy now turns its attention to the 2025 season. The competitors will begin their campaign on the Rallye Rhône-Charbonnières for the fourth successive year before moving on to the Rallye Antibes Côte d'Azur. For the first time on the calendar, the Rallye Vosges Grand-Est will offer a new challenge before the traditional return to action at the Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine. The final sprint will then take the crews to the Rallye Cœur de France, followed by the Rallye du Var to round off an edition whose many new features will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Quotes

Grégory Fontalba: I am delighted to have finished and won after our big incident at the Coeur de France. The conditions were tricky on Sunday, but we avoided the many hazards to stay on the road. I look forward to discovering the new trophy features planned for 2025!

Fabrice Bect: It was a tough rally because we didn't drive much after my knee operation. We started to pick up the pace on Saturday afternoon, but unfortunately, we suffered a puncture on Sunday. Overall, it is a mixed weekend, but the main thing was to finish the rally and enjoy behind the wheel.

Pierre Roché: It was a good opportunity to progress and gain experience with the Alpine A110 Rallye GT+. We realised towards the end that the set-up wasn't that much different from that of the A110 Rally. From then on, I enjoyed myself despite having nothing to compete for anymore. All that's left now is to put in a good test session to prepare for the start of next season!

Cédric Robert: I truly owe this title to the team as we had to give it our all until the end. Everyone believed in us, so offering them this honour is fantastic. After our incident on the Rhône-Charbonnières, we dealt with extremely fast drivers like Raphaël Astier and Quentin Gilbert. They then moved up to GT+, but at the end of the day, it was worth going all the way!

Alpine ELF Rally Trophy – Rallye du Var

1. Grégory Fontalba – Stéphan Hermet 2h09m51.1s

2. Fabrice Bect – Arnaud Michal +6m35.9s

General classification

1. Pierre Roché 85 points

2. Grégory Fontalba 67 points

3. Ludovic Godard 59 points

4. Yann Clairay 41 points

5. Jérémy Crétien 38 points

6. Fabrice Bect 23 points

7. Matthieu Fassio 20 points

8. Sergio Pinto 14 points

9. Jérémy Bordagaray 10 points

10. Frédéric Perriat 8 points

11. Jean-François Mourgues 6 points

12. Loïc Pautou 4 points

13. Guy Bertrand 3 points

14. Éric Giannini 0 point

15. Sébastien Maurel 0 point

2025 Alpine ELF Rally Trophy Calendar

24-26 April: Rallye Rhône-Charbonnières

16-18 May: Rallye Antibes Côte d’Azur

13-15 June: Rallye Vosges Grand-Est

4-6 September: Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine

26-28 September: Rallye Cœur de France

27-30 November: Rallye du Var