Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website A C3 R5 one-two finish with Bonato-Boulloud and Rossel-Fulcrand!
april 23, 2019 - Citroen Racing

A C3 R5 one-two finish with Bonato-Boulloud and Rossel-Fulcrand!

Yoann Bonato – #benjaminboulloud and #yohanrossel#benoitfulcrand finished as winners and runners-up respectively at the Rallye Lyon-Charbonnières-Rhône in their C3 R5s, once again illustrating the competitiveness of Citroën Racing’s flagship customer #racing product.

Bonato-Boulloud and Rossel-Fulcrand dominated the #event in the #c3r5, the French crews winning thirteen of the fifteen stages and leaving their rivals to fight over the crumbs at this year’s Rallye Lyon-Charbonnières-Rhône. #yoannbonato and #benjaminboulloud lived up to their status as reigning two-time French #rally champions (2017 and 2018), the pre-event favourites immediately grabbing the overall lead by winning the opening stage. It was a lead that they would hold onto until the end of the #rally, whilst also picking up the honour of “best performers” with eight other stage wins. It was a dominant, controlled performance from start to finish. This was their first win of the year, a second consecutive victory at this #event after prevailing here in 2018, and the result moved them to the top of the French championship standings. Still learning about the #c3r5, #yohanrossel and #benoitfulcrand, winners of the 2018 Peugeot 208 #rally Cup, picked up where they had left off at the Rallye Terre des Causses (2nd), gradually upping their pace as they finished the #event on a high. Having taken one stage win during the first leg on the wide, circuit-style roads, they ended day one fourth overall, just 1.5s adrift of second place. However, another three stage wins on Saturday’s afternoon loop enabled them to grab second place by eight tenths of a second. A narrowly secured runners-up spot that shows not only how closely contested the #event was, but also how the pair improved over the two days.

REACTIONS FROM…

Didier Clément, Head of Customer #racing Promotion, Citroën Racing

“Yoann and Yohan once again showed themselves to be excellent ambassadors for the #c3r5, the former reiterating his status as the man to beat in France and the latter confirming his undeniable potential. This one-two finish is a great result, achieved against some incredibly stiff competition. It goes to show how valuable and effective the ongoing development work done by our teams has been in constantly improving the #c3r5.”

Yoann Bonato

“It was a great race, a controlled performance and a good result for the championship. I knew that the #c3r5 would be strong on these stages. You can really make the most of the qualities of the chassis and the engine here, and we did just that!”

Yohan Rossel, Citroën Total driver

“I'm delighted with the way my feeling improved as we completed more stages. We worked well with the entire team, and by the end, I was really managing to do what I wanted in my #c3r5, so that augurs well for the rest of the season. In all honesty, I was probably a bit short of experience on the first pass to really compete with Yoann, but we were very fast on the second runs. We need to keep it up now.”