Rallye de France Tour de Corse
FIA World Rally Championship, round 13/15 Ajaccio, Corsica
One of the founding rounds of the World Rally Championship, the Tour de Corse has been a classic event since 1973. The event has changed greatly down the years, switching from an enormous round-island race to today's smaller and more focused event centred in and around the town of Ajaccio, on the island's west coast. The roads and the challenge, however, are still just the same as ever.
The Tour de Corse is the classic asphalt rally, the one everybody wants to win. It's also an event which polarises opinion. Some feel the high-speed curves combined with the fresh-air drops from the Alpine passes are unsafe. Others feel the risk is part of the challenge. Reigning FIA African Rally Champion Conrad Rautenbach falls into the latter category.
The Zimbabwean loves this event and, after a successful asphalt test (when he finished second on the Corte Rally, a round of the Corsican Rally Championship) ahead of last week's Rally Catalunya, the 23-year-old is excited about his fourth start on what remains one of the toughest and most arduous rallies in the calendar.
The route includes eight stages all run twice. Days one and two include six stages and four more on an unusually long final day.
Conrad's column
"Just like last time in Catalunya, the car feels great after shakedown this morning. We have done a small amount of work to the car during testing this morning's three runs at shakedown. We've had a look at the particularly on the brakes.
We're now running different pads in the rear brakes – I really think this will help us in the stages. After the event I did here in Corsica last month, the test before Catalunya and then Rally Catalunya itself, I've been in the car for quite a bit of time. That's just the kind of preparation I wanted ahead of the Tour de Corse.
"I really like this event. And it's not just the event that I like, it's the island, the food, the culture and, of course, the stages. This is one of the absolute classic rallies – how can you come to this place and not fall in love with these corners and these roads? You can't.
As you go through every bend and down every kilometre, you know the best of the best of world rally have been down that road before you, going as fast as they dare and braking as late as the car will let them. It's awesome.
"The final day of the event is going to be a real tough one. It's a proper sting in the tail with two long and really technical stages. This event is really not going to be over until we are safely ensconced back in the port in Ajaccio on Sunday night."
Last time out: Rally Catalunya (02.10.08-05.10.08)
Just four days before the start of Rally Catalunya, Conrad and the rest of the World Rally Championship contested Spain's round of the WRC near Salou on the Cost Daurada.
After setting times regularly inside the top 10, Rautenbach retired after an enormous scrap for 10th position overall. His Citroen C4 WRC suffered suspension failure after Rautenbach clipped a wall on the first stage of the final morning.
The full facts: Conrad Rautenbach
Age: 23
Nationality: Zimbabwean
Car: Citroen C4 WRC
WRC debut: Monte Carlo 2004
WRC starts: 41
Tour de Corse starts: 3
FIA championships won: 1 (2007 FIA African Rally Championship)
Best WRC finish: 4th (Rally Argentina, 2008)
Co-driver: David Senior
The full facts: Tour de Corse
Start: Place Foch, Ajaccio 1800* Thursday October 9
Day one: 6 stages 119.92km
Day two: 6 stages 122.84km
Day three: 4 stages 116.26km
Finish: Place Foch, Ajaccio 1448* Sunday October 12
*All times local
- CR Media -
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