2012 CITRON RACING TROPHY RALLYE DU VAR FINISH
After an incident-packed sixth and final round, the outcome of the 2012 Citron Racing Trophy was finally decided as Quentin Gilbert was crowned champion. Leader ahead of the final stage of the Rallye du Var, the man from the Vosges region drove carefully on the last test, even if meant Mathieu Arzeno snatched the win from under his nose. 23 year-old Gilbert wins a drive in next year's Rallye Monte-Carlo in a DS3 R3. He will also join Citron Racings team of customer racing test drivers.
Four drivers were still in contention for the title going into this, the final round of the season: Jean-Sbastien Vigion, Quentin Gilbert, Stphane Consani and Mathieu Arzeno. The rally opened on Fridaywith four stages scheduled on day one.Sbastien Chardonnet looked set to influence the outcome of the championship, as he was first to holdthe lead in the Citron Racing Trophy. A few seconds back, Stphane Consani looked very sharp. Afterclaiming three stage wins, he ended the day with a 2.5s lead over Chardonnet. Some 25s off the pace,Quentin Gilbert made a cautious start to the rally. Although only few seconds further back, MathieuArzeno was unable to hide his frustration at not managing to be among the front-runners. Sixth-placedJean-Sbastien Vigion also remained in the hunt.
Saturday began poorly for Chardonnet, who fell out of contention for the win after picking up a puncture.On the days second stage (SS6), Jean-Sbastien Vigion had to retire (gearbox failure) whilst StphaneConsani moved clear of Quentin Gilbert at the front.
A series of fastest stage times saw the Provence-based driver build up a lead over a minute beforegoing off on the infamous Vidauban test (SS9). This allowed Gilbert to move into the lead, 36s ahead ofMathieu Arzeno. A little further back, Keith Cronin and Mathieu Maurage were also still fighting for thewin.
There were still three stages to complete on Sunday before reaching the final podium. On SS10 (LaGarde Freinet), Gilbert almost got caught out by the extremely slippery conditions. In his DS3 R3, havingshaken off his earlier engine cut-out problems, Arzeno went quickest: he narrowed the gap to the leaderto just 12s!
SS11 (Collobrires 2) saw Robert Kubica go off. The Polish driver had dominated the rally in his CitronC4 WRC up to that point, having established a lead of over five minutes. The crew escaped unhurt, butthe car was totally burned out after the accident. The stage was cancelled, leaving just the final run onVidauban to decide the outcome of the Citron Racing Trophy.
Focussed on the title, Quentin Gilbert made no attempt to keep pace with Mathieu Arzeno, who went onto collect his third win of the season. Mathieu Maurage completed the podium, around twenty secondsahead of the Belgian Kevin Demaerschalk, whose fourth place finish was his best result of the year.Yves Matton, Citron Racing Team Principal: When we first decided to create the Citron Racing Trophyas a promotional formula, the idea was to promote the development of talented young drivers andperhaps find a new Sbastien Loeb. I am most of all pleased that two juniors have managed to competefor the title against established drivers such as Jean-Sbastien Vigion and Mathieu Arzeno. StphaneConsani made a mistake after a great start to the race, but Quentin Gilbert drove an intelligent race toclaim the championship. We will now begin preparations with him for Monte-Carlo. Hell team up withAndrea Crugnola, the winner of the Italian Citron Racing Trophy. Although the experience didnt turnout quite as we had all hoped, we are happy to have supported Robert Kubica in his return to rallying. Heis an engaging character and we hope that well have other opportunities to see him drive a Citron.Quentin Gilbert: Im just very happy. My season has been a bit up and down, but it has finished on ahigh thanks to a great team. Id also like to thank my co-driver Isabelle Galmiche, who was a very calminginfluence this weekend. There are many other people Id like to thank: all those who have believed in meand who have worked so hard to help me get to where we are today. This rally was tough and I had tostay focussed. I can hardly believe that I will be lining up at the start of the Rallye Monte-Carlo in undertwo months time.
Mathieu Arzeno: There really were several points at which I thought about giving up. But the teamworked hard to resolve our problems and I was able to push on the final day. I am pleased to secure mythird win on tarmac. We didnt manage to win the title because we werent sufficiently well prepared forthe gravel rounds. But I have picked up some experience so I dont have any regrets. Well done toQuentin for winning the title, he's had a great season.Mathieu Maurage: After a difficult series of races, its great to finish the season on the podium! At thestart of the rally, I didn't feel confident and was quite far off the pace. I gradually picked up my pace asthe rally went on. The most pleasing thing for me is that I didnt make any mistakes despite the extremelydifficult conditions.
