Crowned since the Rallye Mont Blanc Morzine in September, Florian Bernardi will return to the service area to honour his new status in his eighth start on the Rallye du Var. While the Vaucluse native looks to take his first win in this event, his ambitions could be jeopardized by those behind him in the general classification, and most notably by Mathieu Walter, Guillaume Jean and Thibaut Poizot.

All three will battle for second place in the general classification, but more importantly the Junior crown. For the moment, Mathieu Walter has a one-point lead from Guillaume Jean, who scored his maiden victory in the Clio R3T Trophy France at the previous round. Seven points further back, when taking into the account the subtraction of the worst result of the season, Thibaut Poizot will try to bounce back after retiring from the Coeur de France to take the runner-up spot.

The fight should be exciting, with Damien Tozlanian and Olivier Delaporte still in with a shot of finishing in the end-of-season top three. While the former has an experience advantage, the latter will make his first appearance in this round without pressure because the absence of David Nafria guarantees he will be the best of the Gentleman drivers.

The competition will be stiff in this category with the return of Pascal Aimé, Dominique Patenotte and David Sauvaigo to the Clio R3T Trophy France. Meanwhile, the 18th Rallye du Var for Patrick Romano will mark his return to the Clio R3T Trophy France after having taken several class wins in a Clio R3T since last year. Multiple two-wheel drive champion in Canada, Jason Bailey will take part in just his second rally in Europe after his third place in RC3 on the Monte-Carlo Rally.

Following their best results in the Trophy on the Cœur de France, José Javier Pérez and Sara Williams would like to finish the year in style. In the Female category, the British driver will have the chance to take on 2014 French Female Champion and newcomer in the Clio R3T Trophy France, Charlotte Berton.

Yoann Lambert and Yann Mogno will also try to add to their tallies. After a remarkable debut in September, the Czech Republic’s Václav Stejskal Jr. will be back to confirm his promise with a second top five in as many starts.

Among the newcomers, Italy’s Ivan Ivan Ferrarotti and Federico Bottoni will be two to watch. A multiple champion in production and two-wheel drive in Italy, the former is none other than the winner of the Clio R3T Trophy Italia while his countryman won the Trofeo Rally Clio R3, contested on the national rallies.

As often, this record number of entries will have the opportunity to see how they stack up against Emmanuel Guigou and Cédric Robert, both of whom are not entered in the Trophy but who are contenders for the victory in R3.

The Rallye du Var will feature 14 special stages (192.21km) starting on Friday the 23rd through Sunday the 25th of November. The route will be run on the finest roads of the Var Department, including the marathon Plan de la Tour special stage (31.99km), which will close the event.

Rallye du Var

Entry list – Clio R3T Trophy France
#51 Florian BERNARDI – Victor BELLOTTO

#52 Mathieu WALTER – Thibault RAINCOURT (Junior)

#53 Guillaume JEAN – Loris PASCAUD (Junior)

#54 Thibaut POIZOT – Marion GRAND (Junior)

#55 Damien TOZLANIAN – Romain BRUN

#56 Olivier DELAPORTE – Matthieu BELHACENE (Gentleman)

#57 José Javier PEREZ – Alberto ESPINO (Junior)

#58 Ivan FERRAROTTI – Massimo BIZZOCCHI

#59 Vaclav STEJSKAL Jr – Stanislav VIKTORA Jr (Junior)

#60 Sara WILLIAMS – Patrick WALSH (Féminine)

#61 Charlotte BERTON – Cécile PAGES (Féminine)

#62 Pascal AIMÉ – Stéphanie AIMÉ (Gentleman)

#63 Federico BOTTONI – Daiana RAMACCIOTTI

#64 Yoann LAMBERT – Fabien YONNET 

#65 Dominique PATENOTTE – Valentin GOUTEL (Gentleman)

#66 Yann MOGNO – Sylvain MOGNO 

#67 Patrick ROMANO – Patrick GUERRIERI (Gentleman)

#68 Jason BAILEY – Leanne JUNNILA (Gentleman)

#69 David SAUVAIGO – Stéphane MARQUEZ (Gentleman)


General classification Clio R3T Trophy France
1. Florian Bernardi, 113 points
2. Mathieu Walter, 58 points
3. Guillaume Jean, 57 points
4. Thibaut Poizot, 53 points
5. Boris Carminati, 52 points
6. Damien Tozlanian, 46 points
7. Olivier Delaporte, 37 points
8. José Javier Perez, 22 points
9. Sara Williams, 12 points
10. David Nafría, 12 points
11. Vaclav Stejskal, 10 points
12. William Pitot, 10 points
13. Éric Filippi, 10 points
14. Julien Brégeon, 8 points
15. Yves Gire, 8 points
16. Florent Joly, 6 points
17. Pierre Lerosier, 6 points
18. Pascal Aimé, 6 points
19. Jérôme Aymard, 6 points
20. Yves Pezzutti, 4 points
21. Yoann Lambert, 3 points
22. Alex Sabater, 3 points
23. Dominique Patenotte, 2 points
24. Christophe Herbelin, 1 point
NC. Riquelmo Gomis
NC. Anthony Caplan
NC. Yann Mogno
NC. Riccardo Canzian