The Rallye du Var is a motor rally held in the month of November in the French commune of Sainte-Maxime in Var. It is often held as the final round of the French Rally Championship. It began in 1950.
Famous participants include WRC champion, Sébastien Loeb (the 2000, 2009 and 2014 winner), the four-time Formula One champion Alain Prost, 1994 WRC champion Didier Auriol (the 1987 and 1988 winner), Freddy Loix, Craig Breen, Jari-Matti Latvala (the 2011 winner), Dany Snobeck (the 1982 and 2008 winner), 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Romain Dumas, François Chatriot (the 1985, 1986 and 1989 winner), Renault F1 driver and 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica, and Julien Maurin (the 2013 winner). Jari-Matti Latvala was the first non-Frenchman and thus foreign driver to win the rally, and it was also his first win on asphalt.
As well as part of the French Rally Championship, the Rallye du Var was part of the European Rally Championship calendar from 1984 to 2001.
Recent years 2008 Dany Snobeck, who had last won the Rallye du Var 26 years before, took his second victory in the event and beat out much younger drivers, such as the 25-year-old, Jean-Sébastien Vigion who finished second. The World Rally Champion, Sébastien Loeb, returned for this event and was third. Both of Snobeck's previous challengers, Eric Brunson and Pieter Tsjoen had retired so Snobeck was sure to win from the get-go.
2009 Sébastien Loeb who recently won the 2009 World Rally Championship won here again in the title-winning Citroën C4 WRC, but this time co-driven by his wife, Séverine Loeb, for his regular co-driver Daniel Elena was driving a separate entry. The podium finishers were Stéphane Sarrazin and Patrick Henry. The Belgian Pieter Tsjoen, who crashed out of last year's rally, led for one stage in his Ford Focus RS WRC.
2016 In 2016, the 62nd running of this event, Hyundai WRC driver Kevin Abbring and co-driver Sebastian Marshall in a Hyundai i20 WRC won this event, and was the second driver who is not French to win Rallye du Var, after Latvala's victory in 2011. Second place went to Yoann Bonato. In third was Sylvain Michel. David Salanon, the winner of last year's rally, suffered bad luck when he had an accident on special stage 10, Pignans, whilst leading, and this allowed Dutchman Abbring to win.
2017 In 2017, Frenchman David Salanon won the event for the second time, this time partnered with Jérôme Degout, with Sylvain Michel and Yohan Rossel completing the podium. Sébastien Loeb returned to the event, driving his recently refurbished Formula 2 Peugeot 306 Maxi. Despite his car being 20 years older than those of his rivals, Loeb led for most of the event, eventually dropping behind Salanon to second, before retiring on the penultimate stage with an engine issue.
2018 In 2018, Yoann Bonato won this event for the first time. Sylvain Michel led early on but suffered an accident in special stage 3 which ended his challenge.
Winners
2024: Yoann Bonato 2023: Yoann Bonato 2022: Nicolas Ciamin 2021: Nicolas Ciamin 2019: Sébastien Loeb 2018: Yoann Bonato 2017: David Salanon 2016: Kevin Abbring () 2015: David Salanon 2014: Sébastien Loeb 2013: Julien Maurin 2012: Cédric Robert 2011: Jari-Matti Latvala () 2010: Cédric Robert 2009: Sébastien Loeb 2008: Dany Snobeck 2007: Jean-Marie Cuoq 2006: Nicolas Vouilloz 2005: Nicolas Bernardi 2004: Alexandre Bengué 2003: Simon Jean-Joseph 2002: Cédric Robert 2001: Stéphane Sarrazin 2000: Sébastien Loeb 1999: Philippe Bugalski 1998: Philippe Bugalski 1997: François Delecour 1996: cancelled 1995: Patrick Bernardini 1994: Sylvain Polo 1993: Pierre-César Baroni 1992: Jean Ragnotti 1991: Bernard Béguin 1990: Bruno Saby 1989: François Chatriot 1988: Didier Auriol 1987: Didier Auriol 1986: François Chatriot 1985: François Chatriot 1984: Jean-Claude Andruet 1983: Guy Fréquelin 1982: Dany Snobeck 1981: Dominique De Meyer 1980: Jean-Claude Andruet 1979: Francis Bondil
Famous drivers
Kevin Abbring Jean-Claude Andruet Mathieu Arzeno Didier Auriol Bryan Bouffier Alexandre Bengué Luca Betti Craig Breen Philippe Bugalski Olivier Burri Pierre Campana Yann Clairay Keith Cronin Jean-Marie Cuoq François Delecour Bernard Darniche Romain Dumas Guy Fréquelin Matteo Gamba Hermann Gassner, Jr. Quentin Gilbert Jonathan Hirschi Thomas Holzer Chris Ingram Andrzej Koper Robert Kubica Jari-Matti Latvala Stéphane Lefebvre Freddy Loix Sébastien Loeb Julien Maurin Jimmy McRae Jarkko Nikara Sébastien Ogier Alain Oreille Gilles Panizzi Alain Prost Conrad Rautenbach Bruno Saby David Salanon Stéphane Sarrazin Todor Slavov Ekaterina Stratieva Ott Tänak Brice Tirabassi Max Vatanen Albert von Thurn und Taxis Nicolas Vouilloz Antony Warmbold Jon Woodner
References
External links Rallye du Var website