Bouffier stays second in the IRC title chase

As expected, the final day of the Sata Rallye Açores, round six of the 2011 IRC, provided survivors with challenging weather conditions, as low cloud continued to blow in over the island, making visibility difficult and putting grip at a premium.

Bryan Bouffier, Xavier Panseri and their Peugeot 207 S2000 succeeded in overcoming the day’s difficulties to claim fourth spot which consolidates their second place in the 2011 IRC’s provisional drivers’ standings.

Bryan Bouffier and Xavier Panseri started the third and final leg in fifth place, with little chance of moving up the order as things stood at the end of play Friday. Their only hope of gaining a place was to keep up a reasonable pace and be ready to pounce in case one of the four crews ahead of them made a mistake.

“It wasn’t an easy mission,” said the Peugeot France driver. “It’s difficult to stay focused when your sole aim is to drive safely to reach the finish. On top of that, I was first on the road again, which didn’t simplify matters. We had to cope with fog and rain, so there was always a risk of going off. I now know that on this type of terrain, when the ground was as slippery as it was this weekend, and when you have no prior knowledge of the stages, my limited experience means that I can still improve. That’s why I can’t complain about today’s result.”

Fourth place means that Bryan is still second in the provisional Drivers’ standings.

“I am only four points behind the leader,” notes the Frenchman. “The next few rounds will take place on a type of terrain where I feel much more at home, like the Barum and the Sanremo, and the asphalt stages in Hungary will be new for everyone. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that my Peugeot 207 S2000 will allow me to keep up the fight all the way to the end.”

On Friday evening, Bruno Magalhaès and Paulo Grave were third overall at the end of the second leg in their Peugeot Portugal-entered 207 S2000. Unfortunately, the winner of the 2010 rally failed to reach the finish.

“I started to hit transmission trouble on Saturday morning’s first stage,” reported Bruno. “I was forced to slow because I was down on traction and there was a big vibration".

The Portuguese pair bravely continued to the end of the test – dropping some 20 seconds – before getting out to look underneath the car.

“The rear differential mounting had broken. I called the team and they told me to try to remove the transmission shaft in order to cover the next stage in two-wheel drive mode, and then continue to the service park for repairs. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the necessary tools for the job and I couldn’t go any further. Now Madeira has been dropped from the 2011 IRC calendar, I only have two rounds – Hungary and Sanremo – to notch up the sort of result I know I am capable of.”

Frédéric Bertrand, the manager of Peugeot Sport’s customer competition department, accepts that the Sata Rallye Açores didn’t unfold as he had been expecting.

“We knew we weren’t the favourites, but we thought we would be able to fight for a top finish. That turned out not to be the case. It’s been a frustrating weekend, because we didn’t have the means to fight our rivals on an equal footing. This year’s IRC calendar includes two more gravel rounds, so we will need to react very quickly. Towards the end of last season, we managed to recover our advantage on sealed surfaces. We have the resources, the staff, the ideas and the means to do the same on gravel.”

The stakes are important, because Bryan Bouffier is still second in the provisional IRC standings thanks to his fourth place this weekend.

“We didn’t enjoy the best of runs, but our result in the Azores is far from catastrophic,” says Frédéric Bertrand. “Bryan is still very much in the fight for the Drivers’ title, and the fact that the drivers will have to drop their least good results, and also because of the coefficient system which will come into play at the end of the season, Thierry Neuville (Peugeot Belgium-Luxemburg) and Guy Wilks (Peugeot UK) are still in with a shout. That’s why the optimisation of our performance on the loose needs to be our priority.”