A promising rally for the Citroën C2 S1600 of Simon Jean-Joseph and Jack Boyère was cut short by an electrical problem 15 kilometres into SS10. The second leg of the 31 st Rally 1000 Miglia – which kicked off the 2007 European Championship – consisted of two identical loops of three stages, comprising 150 competitive kilometres.
Simon Jean-Joseph had more or less got to grips with his new Citroën C2 during the opening leg on Friday. He steadily increased his pace to lead the Super 1600 category, having set fastest time on SS3. « We used the following stages to increase our advantage and get past the other registered European Championship competitors » he said. The man from Martinique was held back by a puncture on SS6, but he ended the opening leg with the bit between his teeth.
« In the afternoon, we pushed hard to try and get back some of the time lost » he said. « That allowed me to see that all the work we had done together with Alexis Avril (chief engineer for Citroën Sport’s customer division) and the entire PHSport team was really paying off. I liked the C2’s set-up and we were able to get into the top 10 a few times (10th on SS7/9 and 9th on SS8), which we certainly hadn’t counted on at the start. »
Having fought back to second place in Super 1600 by the time he took the start this morning, Simon had high hopes for leg two. « We’ve seen that are able to go very quickly in the C2, which definitely gives us front-running potential » he said. Simon was on a mission to attack. With just one spare wheel in the boot in order to make the car even lighter, Simon and Jack left service absolutely determined to catch up their rivals in the Super 1600 category and the European Championship. However, an electrical problem in SS10 scuppered their plans.
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