CAMPANA ENDS FRENCH SUZUKI CUP WITH VICTORY ON CEVENNES

campana cevennes CAMPANA ENDS FRENCH SUZUKI CUP WITH VICTORY ON CEVENNES

Up-and-coming Corsican driver Pierre Campana has ended this year's French Suzuki Cup as the top performer in the one-make series, claiming his third victory of the six-round championship at the Cevennes Rally: a mainstay of the French Rally Championship.

Unfortunately, two unlucky retirements at the Alsace Vosges Rally and the Le Touquet Rally earlier this year meant that he was unable to challenge for the championship. Nonetheless he has now claimed third in the final standings, to match his result in the French Suzuki Cup last year.

The Cevennes Rally provided a spectacular finale to the Suzuki Cup, which will not continue next year. The identical Group N Swift Sport cars have provided close competition all over France in a wide variety of conditions. The Cevennes Rally, based in Montpellier, uses stages that are not dissimilar to those of the world-famous Monte Carlo Rally and uncertain weather conditions typically make the all-asphalt route even more unpredictable.

This was once more the case this year, with intermittent rain greeting the 205 competitors that started the Cevennes Rally on Thursday night. Pierre, together with his co-driver Sabrina de Castelli, began the event as they meant to go on with a win on the opening 11-kilometre stage - even though their Suzuki's spare wheel worked loose from its housing and distracted the crew throughout the stage.

Pierre and Sabrina kept up the same pace throughout the second leg, which took in six special stages. By winning four of them, Pierre extended his lead to 43 seconds heading into the final day. The only problem he encountered was an engine malfunction due to high water temperature, but this problem was soon fixed by the Rougier Sport mechanics at service.

The last day of the Cevennes Rally provided a real sting in the tail. Two 30-kilometre stages were on the itinerary and both were run in heavy rain. Pierre and Sabrina delivered a flawless performance in the most demanding conditions of the year to win both stages and repeat their Cevennes victory of 2008.

"I'm delighted to clinch my third rally in the Suzuki Cup and it's a great way to finish the season," said Pierre. "There are many people I would like to thank: my sponsor Yacco - whose help has been hugely appreciated - the Rougier Sport team, and everybody else who has supported us this year. I would also like to express my gratitude to Suzuki, for hosting a fantastic competition at a realistic cost, and to the French Motorsport Federation for getting behind the series. I think our three wins showed that we certainly had potential to win the championship, but ultimately we were penalised by our two retirements. That is just part of rallying though and close competition is what makes our sport so exciting. I've really enjoyed all the rallies this year, but most importantly I have learned a lot from them both as a driver and a person. I'm definitely driving better now than I have ever done."

The 2009 Suzuki Cup may be over but Pierre's season is not quite finished yet. The Frenchman is planning to announce his next challenge shortly, once all the arrangements are finalised.

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