Night Stage 1
Sunday 12 February 2023 - Checks and Stage 1 : Sochaux-Malbuisson - 175 KM with 80 km in 5 ZR
RANKINGS NIGHT STAGE 1: around midnight
General Ranking after Stage 1 - 4 wheels Category
General Ranking after Stage 1 - Historic Regularity Category
Hours of Start Stage 2 - Malbuisson - Maiche - Malbuisson
Headlights in the night...
With 160 kilometres and some five Regularity Zones on the programme, this first night stage of the 68th Neige et Glace Rally promised to be an exciting one for the 80 or so crews involved. While Arnaud and Adeline Euvrard, the title holders, took the lead in the 4x4 category with their Subaru Imprezza, at the end of this long night, in the Historic category, the Belgians Guino Kenis and Bjorn Vanoverschelde (BMW 325i) will take the lead from Monday morning, On the second stage, traced in a loop in the Doubs, right on the Swiss border, crossing here and there the famous smugglers' paths that used to carry absinthe, an alcohol produced by the distillation of a mixture of plants, prohibited under this name until 1988.
"Our advice is to put on studded tyres because the last three ZR in the direction of Malbuisson are either very icy or snowy...". This is what Patrick Zaniroli announced without ambiguity at the end of the general briefing of the event, organised in the facilities of the Peugeot Adventure Museum in Sochaux, from where the cars set off at the beginning of the evening under the cheers of hundreds of enthusiastic spectators who had come to encourage the crews rushing into the dark night under the sole light of their headlights.
On a particularly tricky terrain, the first rankings already showed the colour: the battle was well and truly launched between the leaders of the different categories, fighting for the slightest penalty to take the lead of the general ranking.
First on the road, the 4x4s opened the ball and Arnaud and Adeline Euvrard (Subaru Imprezza n°21) didn't do anything too fancy! The winners of the 2022 edition are ahead of the BMW 325IX of the Belgians Van Peer and Chapa by 38 points and the Frenchmen Georges and Perquin by 103 points!
It will be the Subaru that will have the delicate task of opening the road this Monday morning, on the the second stage, traced in the Doubs, along the French-Swiss border.
In the Historic categories, the leaders are there. And if it's the Belgians Kenis and Vanoverschelde (BMW 325 n°21) who are leading the race at the end of this first stage. Behind them, Deflandre/Gully (Porsche 911 n°24) and the Fiat Cinquecento of Frenchmen Sanseigne and Fornassier only concede three and 4.40 points respectively. A mere trifle! If we look at the classification, we find the Porsche 914/6 n°12 of the Belgian duo Van Rompuy/Vanoverschelde on 7 points and the Franco-Belgian team composed of Serge Garosi and Jean-Marc Piret (Mazda RX2) on only 8 points. You will have understood: as announced, the battle is already looking very competitive!
