Toulemonde and Zollinger side by side
The first practice session set the scene for the weekend with a gap of only five thousandths of a second between the two drivers in the lead in the Challenge. Zollinger took pole ahead of Toulemonde, both driving Norma M20 Fs.
Race 1: Toulemonde confirms!
This Saturday race was run on a dry track and many people had their eyes on local driver François Ader, fourth on the grid in the Norma M20 of the JMP Racing team from Chalons, unfortunately an old generation model by comparison with the cars of the three drivers in front of him.
When the lights went out, Zollinger made a perfect start from his pole position and Toulemonde followed but posed no threat to him in the first third of the race. Behind them, Girardot and his Norma M20 F was quickly putting air between his car and François Ader. Le Corre, Norma M20 F, headed the chasing bunch composed of Mora's Ligier JS49, the Norma M20s of Beck and Chauvière and the Juno SSE of British driver Bernans as at ease as ever at Dijon.
Although Toulemonde did not seem to be able to get past Zollinger, he moved up to him as they were overtaking a group of cars battling it out for a win in the small car category. Not wishing to take any risks, Zollinger went round the outside along the straight after the start line and found himself boxed in by his manœuvre. Toulemonde opted for the other side of the track and snatched first place in totally unhindered. He won the race as Zollinger was unable to catch him back.
Girardot, firmly implanted in third position, was obliged to abandon at mid-race. Ader wasn't expecting this and was able to savour his good fortune on the third step of the podium after being obliged to play a waiting game for part of the race.
Mora finally shook off the chasing group and drove his Ligier JS49 to a superb third place on the podium.
In the less powerful cars category, Tremblaye, Peltier and Heriau had lots of fun swapping the first three places between them several times. The scrap was too good to be true and Peltier, lying second as they went into the last lap, hit leader Tremblaye on the rear right end sending him off into the gravel for his trouble. So Heriau took the second podium step and Tomaszek the third.
Race 1: 1. Damien Toulemonde, Norma M20 F, 1st CN in 26:17’188, 2. David Zollinger, Norma M20 F at 2’’702, 3. François Ader, Norma M20 at 43’’485, etc… 13. Michel Thierry Peltier, Funyo 4RC, 1st CN/C3 at 3 laps, 14. François Heriau, Funyo 4RC, 2nd CN/C3 at 3 laps, 14. Erick Tomaszek, Funyo 4RC, 3rd CN/C3 at 3 laps, etc… 17 finishers out of 19 starters.
Fastest lap: Damien Toulemonde, Norma M20 F in 1’17’’662 (176.19 km/h)
Race 2: Zollinger strikes back.
The track was awash with heavy rain for the start of the afternoon, upsetting all form for the second race. Under cataclysmic conditions, visibility was almost zero at the end of the straight. The start went without a hitch and Zollinger held onto his lead ahead of Toulemonde, who took over on the third lap and once again demonstrated how evenly matched the two drivers are.
On a track full of pitfalls, overtaking the stragglers was quite difficult and the two young guns used all of the track and even more in order not to take risks. Zollinger moved into the lead at mid-race and hung on to it putting sufficient ground between his car and his chasing rival.
Unfortunately, Toulemonde was slowed down by a damaged spoiler on his car. Both received penalties by the commissaires at the end of the race, but this did not change final classification.
Out to make his usual impression for his fans, Ader was counting on the rain to have some fun with Girardot and his faster Norma M20 F. Girardot slightly jumped the start but Ader got by him in the first lap moving up to third place. The race directors inflicted a drive-through on Girardot which kept him out of the way and in the end gave Ader his second podium of the weekend.
Peltier proved his skill in the rain by taking a first in the small car category and ninth on scratch ahead of Tremblaye who finished a hard weekend on a good note. Heriau followed them onto the podium after shaking off Tomaszek.
Race 2: 1. David Zollinger, Norma M20 F, 1st CN in 26:52’966, 2. Damien Toulemonde, Norma M20 F at 3’’048, 3. François Ader, Norma M20 at 1 lap, etc… 9. Michel Thierry Peltier, Funyo 4RC, 1st CN/C3 at 3 laps, etc… 12. Gilles Tremblaye, Funyo 4RC, 2nd CN/C3 at 3 laps, etc… 17. François Heriau, Funyo 4RC 2nd CN/C3 at 4 laps, etc… 16 finishers out of 17 starters.
Fastest lap: David Zollinger, Norma M20 F in 1’30’’270 (151.58 km/h)
Challenge Sprint Proto Classification: 1. David Zollinger, Norma M20 F, 1st CN 2l. (421.5 pts), 2. Damien Toulemonde, Norma M20 F, 2nd CN 2l. (373.5 pts), 3. François Ader, Norma M20, 3e CN 2l. (178.5 pts), 4. Alain Girardot, Norma M20 F (156 pts), etc… 64 placed.