Campana in the midst of the greats

Full of confidence following a highly respectable opening day, Pierre Campana has attained a remarkable level at Rally de France-Alsace today. Having set the fifth best time overall in SS13 and consistently in the top ten in the stages, the FFSA Rally Team France driver has been able to compete against the best drivers in the World Rally Championship and tonight has firmly placed himself in the top ten overall.

Morning

With four times (including one equal time) out of four stages in the top ten of the Rallye de France-Alsace, Pierre Campana this morning began to offer a full glimpse of his potential to those keen observers of the rally. Focussed completely on his own programme, particularly having realised the possible impact of the perimeter poles around the stages, the Corte-born Corsican seriously raised his pace at the wheel of the impeccable MINI John Cooper Works WRC car, run by Team Drive-Pro, all the while refining his pace notes with a view to the second loop of the day.

Performance SS9 to SS12 : 10th equal / 10th / 10th / 9th
Progression in Overall Classification from SS9 to SS12 : 14th / 13th / 11th / 12th

Afternoon

Just as promised, in the Hohlandsbourg 2 stage, not only improving his time compared to the morning run, Pierre Campana created one of the surprises of the day by registering the fifth best performance overall. The subsequent stages resulted in the same level of performance with particularly remarkable times. With the sole exception of the 15th stage, where lack of time prevented Pierre from reversing his tyres, Pierre was always hot on the tail of Mikko Hirvonen, the official Ford driver, who Pierre even beat in SS13 ! Focussed on retaining his place in the overall top ten, Pierre took part in the Mulhouse special stage before returning to Strasbourg.

Performance SS13 to SS17 : 5th / 8th / 11th / 7th / 11th
Progression in Overall Classification from SS13 to SS17 : 9th / 9th / 10th / 10th / 10th

SUMMARY

Pierre Campana has undoubtedly taken the bull by the horns on the second day of Rallye de France-Alsace today. This second run of special stages was truly a remarkable performance. In 14th place on Friday evening, the FFSA Rally Team France driver now seems well established among the top ten in this French leg of the World Rally Championship. As for the MINI John Cooper Works WRC car of Team Drive-Pro, it has been an exemplary performance from the very start of the event. Bring on Sunday!

Pierre Campana said: "I am satisfied with my performance on the the extremely wonderful stages on this second day. I am above all happy to have been able to unlock my potential after a first day in which I definitely relied too much on the guidance poles in the stages. Today, with the Drive-Pro MINI, which was again running perfectly, I really enjoyed driving the car a lot and I was much more concentrated on my driving. Except in the Vallée de Munster (SS15) where I lost confidence because I felt that i had ‘lost’ my tyres and in the Mulhouse stage (SS17), I adopted a rhythm that allowed me to maintain contact with the leaders. I hope to keep the same pace tomorrow and I even hope to do a little better, if possible."