The 2012 Tour de Corse, the fourth round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, is sure to go down as one of the very best editions of the island event. Over three days of rallying, from Ajaccio to Bastia, the so-called ‘rally of 10,000 corners’ proved the perfect setting to showcase the qualities of Renault Sport Technologies’ rally vehicles.
Guest driver François Delecour started the Tour de Corse in a Megane RS N4, entered by Automeca Solutions, and enjoyed his return to a familiar playground that he has mastered over the years. Delecour, runner-up in the 1993 World Rally Championship and winner of the Tour de Corse the same year, finished second in the two-wheel-drive division of this year’s event and won Group N in his fourteenth appearance. “Above everything else, I enjoyed driving the Megane RS N4 a huge amount on the roads of Corsica,” he said. “The chassis is very impressive. I was able to attack and enjoy myself at the wheel. I felt I could have driven even quicker, but it was important to reach the finish and to get the victory in Group N. Even at the age of 49, I’m still learning new things with the Megane RS N4. I felt competitive throughout the rally. The car has great potential. I’m now going to try to exploit it in the Romanian championship.”

Nicolas Romiguière, the reigning Twingo R1 Trophy and French Rally Junior champion, underlined his potential at the wheel of the Twingo RS R2 Evo, winning in the R2 category by finishing 21st in the final overall standings. “We had a magical weekend,” said the 24-year-old driver. “For our first Tour de Corse, everything was perfect. We pulled off a ‘grand slam’ by clocking all the fastest times in the R2 category. The Twingo RS R2 Evo was flawless in both its performance and reliability. The roads and landscape are magnificent and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, from the reconnaissance run to the podium at the end. This is an extremely positive result for our first time competing in an international rally.”

Manu Guigou, IRC 2WD Cup leader in the early stages of the rally, was also able to show off the potential of the Megane RS N4, entered by Chazel Technologie Course. “We managed to take the lead in the category after the first special stage,” said Guigou. “Our times were very good and we were starting to widen the gap. Unfortunately, though, our rally came to an end in SS6. I’m disappointed, even though we did have time to show that we were capable of great performances against international competition.”

Petru-Antoine Boschetti and Benoit Manzo won the round in their Clio RS R3, finishing top of the final IRC 2WD Cup overall standings ahead of François Delecour and Dominique Savignoni in the Megane RS N4. Nicolas Romiguière and Alexis Nègre, meanwhile, finished fourth in the two-wheel-drive category and triumphed in the R2 division with the new Twingo RS R2 Evo. The Austrian pair of Michael Kogler and Jürgen Heigl rounded off the top five in another Clio RS R3.

The result means Petru-Antoine Boschetti now shares first place in the IRC 2WD Cup after four rounds, with Renault Sport holding their position at the top of the manufacturers’ standings.