With 20 crews on the start line for the Twingo R1 France Trophy, the Rallye du Rouergue promised plenty. Leaders in the points with a win and a second place so far, Axel Garcia and Fabien Pomares maintained their fine form by heading the race after the first three specials. After SS4 it was home boy Alexis Sirmain and his co-driver Benjamin Gaffard who were in front, however. Making the most of his local knowledge, the Aveyron driver was in the top three in all four of Friday’s stages.

A broken axle on SS6 caused Alexis Sirmain to relinquish his lead on Saturday, though he managed to stay in the race. Damien Defert and Florent Diottin briefly took over at the front only to run into a ditch on the following special, which allowed Florian Bernardi and Xavier Castex to snatch the lead before they were handed a 40-second penalty for arriving late at a checkpoint at the start of the day. Gabriel Lieffroy and Laurine Ehrhardt briefly held first before running off the road in SS9, giving Florian Bernardi the chance to make light of his time penalty and regain top spot by the end of the day, with Axel Garcia second.

The race leader won Sunday’s opening special to open up a gap that the chasing Axel Garcia could not close, while Laurent Pellier and Alexandre Dewael were rewarded for their consistency with third place ahead of Simon Lebiez and Gwenaelle Le Poec. Florian Bernardi’s timely win moved him up to second in the Twingo R1 France Trophy points, though Axel Garcia still holds a healthy advantage heading into the second half of the season.

Florian Bernardi: “We achieved our aim of getting on the podium and we got the win too, which was a bonus. We moved into contention on Friday but the penalty knocked us back. Even so we managed to keep our pace up and stay out of trouble. The whole team did a good job and helped us to achieve this win.”

Rallye Aveyron Rouergue – Midi-Pyrénées – Final standings
1. Florian Bernardi - Xavier Castex 2:27:05.4
2. Axel Garcia - Fabien Pomares +0:33.9
3. Laurent Pellier - Alexandre Dewaele +1:20.9
4. Simon Lebiez - Gwenaëlle Le Poec +1:28.3
5. Johan Notargiacomo - Marine Delon +2:30.3
6. Alexis Sirmain - Benjamin Gaffard +3:25.9
7. Terry Flob - Sébastien Poujol +5:08.6
8. Jordan Mottard - Mélodie Artzner +5:40.6
9. Nelson Lukes - Loïc Barbera +6:49.5
10.Antoine Dhaisne - Marine Flajolet +8:25.2
11. Valentin Cohen - Jérôme Cornebise +17:03.0
12. Olivier Floret - Vincent Groulier +28:09.7

Twingo R1 France Trophy standings (after round three of six)
1. Axel Garcia 61 points
2. Florian Bernardi 46 points
3. Damien Defert 25 points
4. Laurent Pellier 23 points
5. Gabriel Lieffroy 22 points
6. Raphaël Astier 21 points ...