French Rallycross Championship R8 2023 – Dreux

[tbtstt]

Not sure if this section of the forum is getting looked at much now, but I’ll post this and hopefully someone will read it!

Managed to get out to France for the final round of their national rallycross series last month. It was a class weekend, with a good entry, some great racing and, predictably, lots of pictures. Here are some faves…











I can’t enough of the EKS-built Audi S1 and there were two late specification S1 entered for Dreux.







The final French Championship round also comprised part of the 5 Nations (British) Championship for the Supercar class. Five British drivers had made the trip to Dreux, with 2022 British Champion Patrick O’Donovan and current season point leader Jack Thorne posing the biggest challenge to the French regulars.









Davy Jeanney had wrapped up the 2023 French Supercar Championship at the last round, so the focus was purely on the event win.







Junior driver Alizee Pottier delivered one of my highlights of the weekend, rolling the car, then putting it in first and carrying on racing!









Thanks to a badly timed puncture Jeanney dropped down through the order during his semi-final race and Davy was knocked out.







In the final Belevisky got the jump of the line and led the race from start to finish, recording the fastest laps of the day on his way to victory. Seeing my favourite car in the field take the win was a great way to round things off!



As with last year I am hugely impressed by the French series and it was great to see a number of little improvements around the circuit from last year.

More (quite a lot more!) pictures here if anyone is interested.

[Bolesroor]

Well I still check out any posts on here

Stunning pictures from you as always , looked a great event.

Thanks for sharing.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by Bolesroor

Well I still check out any posts on here

Hurrah, someone is still here!

Originally Posted by Bolesroor

Stunning pictures from you as always , looked a great event.

Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, it's a great weekend. No matter what your opinion on the French you can't deny that they love their motorsport and the whole thing is so well run.

[Steve_PPP]

Great stuff mate

Didn't realise the i20 was used in rallycross too.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by Steve_PPP

Didn't realise the i20 was used in rallycross too.

Yeah. The French team PGRX run three cars in the Championship; one they built themselves, two of them are ex-GRX (Gronholm racing) i20.

The other two GRX i20 are owned by another private team and will be racing at Lydden this weekend!

[BIG"E"]

Quality picture as usual Steve

[Frenchie]

Cracking set of pictures. Not really in touch with the racing circuit scene, but Dreux is less than 2 hours from.us so if I'd known would certainly got some friends together and taken a look.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by BIG"E"

Quality picture as usual Steve

Cheers!

Originally Posted by Frenchie

Cracking set of pictures. Not really in touch with the racing circuit scene, but Dreux is less than 2 hours from.us so if I'd known would certainly got some friends together and taken a look.

There are a few really strong motorsport series in France, the French Rallycross Championship being one of them. They haven't announced their 2024 calendar yet, but the Dreux round has been the season finale the last few years, so I'd expect the same again for next year.

If you're two hours from Dreux then you can't be too far away from Le Mans either? That's a must!