Aix-les-Bains - Valence, 11th of April, 2014
The second to last stage of this year’s Tour Auto led from
Aix-les-Bains to Valence, capitol of the département Drome.
Situated in the region of the Rhone-Alps this day was expected to
have some nice hillside roads and the participants were not left
disappointed. As today there was no track racing in
compensation no less than three special stages led the tour
through the twisty mountain roads of the region. Although this
was the shortest leg of this year’s Tour Auto the lack of highway
miles and the slower speed in the mountains did not make this
day much shorter than the other ones.
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As mentioned yesterday the race order of the groups changed
with the regularity leading the convoy for the last two days. At 8
am the first car, a Renault 4CV left the parc fermé in
Aix-les-Bains towards the first special stage at the Massif de
l´Epine.
After the special stage maybe the most enjoyable drive so far led
through the Vercors massif. This was also the first time during
this year’s TA that one could see a little bit more interest by the
locals in the tour as a few local car clubs joined in and followed
the competitors through the narrow canyons and in the
serpentines were sitting several spectators. Certainly this is not
the same ambience as at the Mille Miglia but in the previous days
one could rarely see people roadside waving the cars going by
and one does not have the impression that even many people
know about the tour, even when they live along the road. Maybe
the difference is the ever changing layout of the tour year by year
(compared to a mainly fixed MM), apart from the parc fermé and
the announced stops at the Optic2000 shops of the main sponsor
few locations are known. On the other side most of them were
well prepared as the entry list posted on the official web site of
the TA could be seen in most of the spectator’s hands together
with cameras of different sizes to capture the cars.
The Vercors-Valleys are certainly a perfect spot for that as the
roads are carved in the solid rocks giving a lot of overhanging
passages and tunnels. Unfortunately the traffic was quit heavy
sometimes as the competitors were often stuck behind their
assistance vehicles, most of them even with a trailer.
After the second special stage the lunch was taken at Couvert
des Carmes, the ruin was several times stopping point during the
last years when the tour was in the region.
As mentioned the previous days a small mistake led to the
change in the lead of the overall classification. After the second
hill climb the leading Cobra of Caron/Villaucourt showed some
scars on the right hand front, most likely from a contact with a
stone so the team dropped back behind to eighth position but as
the car seemed to work properly after that a day’s best on the
last special stage was possible.
Leader is now another Cobra of Shaun Lynn teamed with co-pilot
Kevin Kivlochan with about one minute in front of the first E-type.
The final leg tomorrow will lead south to Marseille; the final
special stage in the morning will be followed by the deciding race
at Paul Ricard in Le Castellet.
Report & images … Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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