Following your parents, François & Laurence, and sister Marine’s involvement in rallying, was it just a matter of time for you ?
Of course, my family introduced me to rallying, but they never really encouraged me to do it because they were aware of the sport’s complexity. I stepped away from it for various reasons, including my studies. I am now a freelance mechanic, so I’m often in a garage during the week and at rallies at the weekend. When I was 21, a friend with a passion for rallying got me back into it and pushed me to go for it. My father had stopped three years earlier, but he came to help me when he saw that I’d bought a car and was spending all my time in the garage. So, I kind of got him back into it !

You started with a Renault Clio II 16V. Was there any particular reason for this ?
As I built the car, costs were at the top of my list of priorities. The first results were positive, and we missed out on victory in Group N by just two seconds at Rallye du Rouergue. We then took a map to target the events with more N2S cars.

Soon after, you were competing in the Clio Trophy France Asphalte...
I was very familiar with the feeder series as I’d been around rallying since I was a kid. Still, I didn’t have such a broad vision of the world, and my father pushed me into it when I thought I’d instead continue my development with my little car. They are two different schools. The small categories are perfect for pure driving and understanding rallies, with the special stages, road sections, check-ins, assistances, and everything else that goes with it. At the same time, the Clio Trophy France Asphalte is excellent for the pace and the competition, all in a good atmosphere. The level is unbelievable, and I realise that every time I return to the French Cup. So, we went there in our second year, which maybe was too early. We stopped our campaign almost as quickly as our first three appearances ended with a contact in Le Touquet, an off in Antibes and an engine failure in Rouergue...

Despite the difficult start, what were your initial impressions of Clio Rally5 ?
It was completely different from Clio II, and I was financially apprehensive about it but the Clio Rally5 allows you to gain confidence reasonably quickly. After cutting our season short in 2022, we did two more rounds in the N2S to brush up on the basics. We improved our pace note system, organisation and preparation. At the end of the year, we did a regional rally with Clio Rally5 and understood its full potential, finishing fourth overall out of a field of 80 cars ! At that point, I also found my first real partner for the Cévennes. We returned to the Clio Trophy France Asphalte with no pressure, just to get back into the swing of things. We did a wise race, probably too wise, but that was the target, and we scored our first top-five finish.

That result must have given you hope for the future...
Looking back, it’s weird, but we’ve always held on to something to keep us going. In my first season in N2S, we won our class every time, and there was one national rally where we set the sixth fastest time on a 20 km special stage in difficult night-time conditions. We went out in the next stage but thought there was still something to try. Despite the failure in our Clio Trophy France Asphalte debut, we had an intermediate time from someone we knew well in the long special stage in Rouergue, where we retired. We’d just returned from a big accident, and I drove completely freed up. We were on course for the stage win. It may seem like a detail now, but it was hugely important at the time, and we would have stopped without it as there was nothing else concrete. We spent hundreds of hours in the shop... Passion is one thing, but you have to justify it at some point and we were not certainly sure of what we were doing.

And so the 2023 season began...
Despite some bad memories a year earlier, we wanted to do Le Touquet and we were right to go. We learnt the lessons of the past by approaching it completely freed up and by having totally changed how we work. I wasn’t watching the times at the start but I started to get many messages as we were in the lead. The battle was intense with Patrick Magnou and Valentin Ascenzi. We had a 30-second lead before going off on the last stage... It was a huge blow, but we were talking about something more than an intermediate time, a strong performance on 13 of the 14 stages of an event far from home and in atypical conditions.

It was also your first collaboration with Fun Meca Sport...
That’s right. It’s funny because Jérémy Brissiaud contacted me on Messenger after that famous sixth-fastest overall time with the Clio II in 2021. He introduced himself as a ’small tuner based in Charente-Maritime’. We chatted a bit, but nothing came of it. But I made some enquiries and learned that he was far too modest ! He convinced me and was sure our association would be mutually beneficial. We got to know each other, as my father and one of my best friends assisted me, not forgetting my dad’s old team still following us. In the end, time worked its magic, and there was no doubt we’d be back together in 2024. And the story will continue next year, and I can’t thank them enough for all they have done.

Didn’t you get frustrated at regularly being at the sharp end without winning in 2023 ?
A bit. After retiring in Le Touquet, we returned for the Antibes round, where Patrick Magnou and Valentin Ascenzi were unbeatable until they retired. We found ourselves in contention for victory and started to let up. It was silly, but repeating our mistake was out of the question... After that, the Rouergue was the rally where I most discovered my potential. Valentin and I quickly pulled away, battling by tenths of a second before our puncture. That’s also where ‘Bastoo’ (Bastien Pouget, his co-driver) and I had our first wheel change on a special stage. A minute and two seconds later, we were off again ! We climbed back up to second place, 11.6s behind the winners. We were again running at the front at Mont-Blanc, but Benjamin Stirling had been impressive in his preparation and was uncatchable. We put in a few best times and overcome a recalcitrant bonnet, but nothing more. Lastly, we were leading in the Coeur de France before a small mistake. Ultimately, we could have won four rounds, but we only managed two podium finishes and the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage Trophy...

So, in 2024, was the goal to put it all together ?
Exactly. Before that, we didn’t have a clear target, which was perhaps wrong. This time, we were going for the win. Like the previous season, I thought about many things, and we adapted our driving accordingly.

Did the stability to your right help you win the title ?
Without a doubt ! For me, ’Bastoo’ has always been my co-driver, even if the statistics don’t necessarily show it because of availability problems. He’s an obvious choice. I don’t know how to explain it, but our foundations are so solid that there are never surprises when we discover something together. For example, we didn’t ask ourselves the slightest question for our first Clio Rally5. There’s chemistry, and even without realising it at the time, it was a huge plus to have him with me throughout the season.

When did you realise you would win the title this year ?
There were several moments I actually thought it would slip through our fingers ! Despite our victory in Le Touquet, we started slower than we thought we would. After that, the Vosges was the most frustrating rally. We were already in management mode, and it was pretty strange. I wasn’t at my best ; I drove too much with my head. Paradoxically, that’s where I made the most mistakes, including one that could have been extremely costly. By being too conservative at the Rouergue, I wasn’t sure I could go for it again. Circumstances were such that a puncture forced us to drive without thinking, as we no longer held all the cards, and we found our level back. The title seemed very complicated to seal from the Mont-Blanc. Despite the calculations with the discarded score, we weren’t in an ideal position. And it was the rally I feared most all year, as I didn’t do very well there the previous year. We worked hard, and I realised we’d found our pace again by the end of stage two. It was time to get on with it... And mission accomplished !

We’ve often seen you practising wheel changes, which was a decisive factor this season...
That’s for sure ! Yoan Corberand and I had a puncture on the same stage in Rouergue, and we finished two places ahead of him… And we sealed the title for one point at the following round in Mont-Blanc. You can make the figures say whatever you want, but it was decisive this year, as it was for the teams with a similar scenario in the Cévennes. It’s not something we particularly emphasise, but we train regularly to anticipate as many situations as possible. And this aspect proved to be very useful and very visible twice.

Why did you decide to vlog your season ?
I have talked to many people in amateur rallying and former drivers, and I always tell myself it would be incredible to see the stories they tell. So I tried something in Le Touquet, more on a personal level, but there was enough material to create a vlog, and everything took off from there. There weren’t many views, but rallying is a small world and I received a lot of feedback. We continued, and I loved it because you have to show as much as possible, including behind-the-scenes things. My father says I should show more when I’m working, but no one will watch hours of me analysing onboards. It’s tricky to find the right balance and entertainment without coming across as too much of a comic, so I hope it’s immersive enough without being boring !

Was there a particular motivation to give Clio Trophy France Terre a try ?
We spoke to Fun Meca Sport about it at the start of the year. It was never planned to do the full season, but we seized every opportunity to discover this surface at low costs. From the first rally, I realised that it was an extremely complementary surface to tarmac and that we might need it in the future. We’ve reached a good speed, but much work remains to do. Sometimes, it’s just a question of building up the mileage to make some things routine. It’s all a question of constant work, starting from a strong base and a specific methodology you develop. Gravel demands a different approach, and I love that.

It was on gravel that you first got to experience Clio Rally 3. What were your first impressions ?
The Rallye Terre de Vaucluse was one of the rallies where I learnt the most in my career. I was learning to drive a four-wheel drive car, and on gravel, where I’d only had two starts. It was an extraordinary experience, with some good times as we began our learning process. Then there was the Rallye d’Automne, where we didn’t necessarily have the will to apply the insane Clio Trophy pace, but the performance was quickly there with a car that is designed for that and so easy to drive. We were battling for fifth going into the final loop, and we were eventually fighting for the overall podium. However, seeing Clio Rally3 achieve incredible results was no surprise, which makes you want to be in the car for 2025 !

What are your strengths, and what do you need to work on going forward ?
It’s hard to say, but I have a certain clarity regarding results, even if this can be a disadvantage, as I sometimes tend to devalue them. I also want to visualise too much what might happen when it’s impossible to predict the future. As for what I need to work on, I’d like it to be just driving, but the most important thing is creating a network of people who are passionate about and interested in our project. It’s quite a complex job, as you have to remain competitive behind the wheel.

At 24, you are one of the youngest winners of the trophy. What can we wish you as we wait to find out about your official programme ?
When I see some of the young drivers, it hasn’t been that fast for me. That said, I only started in 2021, and we’ve come a long way in just four seasons and around 30 rallies. I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if I’d been active before 18 or had done karting, but the fact that I started later in life has made me wiser, perhaps ? For now, we’re trying to be at the start of the 2025 Monte-Carlo Rally in a private entry. And what can I wish for ? Performance ! I believe in performance, not necessarily on every single special stage, but the stopwatch is the essence of rallying. Everything else is secondary !