Rallye de France Alsace : Imperial Mathieu Arzeno
The sixth round of the French Rally Championship, Rally de France Alsace took place in the shade of the round WRC. Hardly put back by his victory in the Peugeot 207 S2000 in Rally of Fayence, the driver from Marseille dashed with ambitions unconcealed: “It’s the first rally of the season that I know from the past. I will push hard from the beginning to compete for the victory in R3 class. I often showed my speed but here, I absolutely want to concretize. It’s important for the future of my career”. After the two first stages Mathieu shows his ambition by signing two best’s times. But during stage 3, the adversity, which seems to pursue him since the beginning of season, strikes him again. Cuts engine caused by a failing fuel pump come to perturb the progress of the French-Belgian crew. When they came back in the Service Park in Strasbourg the Saintéloc Mister Auto team does not delay resolving the problem. “I lost about forty seconds in the adventure. The concerns appeared around 12 km before the end of stage 3 and I had to make the next one in the same conditions. I’m only a few seconds behind my team mate Cédric Robert. Tomorrow I start on the same rhythm to take back the lead. The tactic is simple: big attack!”
Saturday morning in the first stage it’s already done. Mathieu took the lead of the group R and also the 2nd place in the overall classification! During all day, Mathieu will not stop signing impressive stage times which allow him to return in the service park at the end of day with a comfortable advantage of 29 seconds on his closest rival. “It was the perfect day. I feel really good in the car and on the roads. The fact of having already run here last year gives me trust. With Renaud, my codriver, we applied to take good notes. That seems so easy when everything takes place like that. Nevertheless when I compare my stage
times to the drivers evolving in the WRC round, I am regularly in the middle of S2000 and in the top 15! My advantage should be enough for me to manage the small day of tomorrow.” With only 19 km of stage Sunday announces as a formality. At the end of the last stage where he realizes a new best time of category it is the delivery for Mathieu: “Finally I hold this victory. Except those small problems during the first day I had a perfect weekend. I worked hard to get my first victory since the beginning of the season. I shall have to confirm at the end of the championship. Even if we are opponents in the stages Cédric Robert does not hesitate to give me advices. It is nice to have him close to me as a reference because he’s a great driver and it’s not easy to beat him. But this time I made it and I am happy there. It is also the first podium of the DS3 R3 in French championship as well as the first podium of Pirelli since Rallye du Var 2009. I hope this podium and this victory in front 2WD will give me some new opportunities for the future!” Next event will be Rallye des Cevennes at the end of October
