Photo : Gu?nol? TREHOREL/ACO

 

At the Rally France-Alsace , there was much talk of the first world title for Sébastien Ogier and Sébastien Loeb's  farewell, which unfortunately ended with an off-road incident on Stage 15... Meanwhile , Romain Dumas, from Ales, drove the Alsatian roads under atrocious weather conditions and with great success , with Denis Giraudet co-driving , several times a winner in the WRC (www.fiawrc.com) alongside Didier Auriol . He was driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, managed and prepared by former British driver Malcolm Wilson.

On the last day of the rally,  Romain reached the top 10 ... and with that tenth place finish , he also became the first former winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to score points in the WRC ! "I started quietly because the first goal was to finish the rally", he said. "As it went on , I gained confidence and I was able to push more , especially from Saturday . Finishing in the top ten was my real goal , so we can talk about mission accomplished. The experience was very rewarding : the weather has made it a very difficult rally, but it was even more interesting for me. I had to deal with the conditions under which I am not accustomed . Sometimes it was hard , I had a few scary moments , but it was good ! And I must say that before me there was a fabulous fight for victory with an incredible level of ability from the top drivers . A great moment in sport for me . Congratulations to Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia on winning the title in their VW Polo R, I have the opportunity to applaud them for their success and their title after a superb season . "

Winner of the distance record setting 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2010 for Audi in the company of Germans, Timo Bernhard and Mike Rockenfeller , Romain Dumas in 2014 will be one of the Porsche drivers for their return to the premier class in prototypes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His other team mates are Timo Bernhard , Neel Jani and Mark Webber. Other drivers will be announced shortly .

More information please follow Romain Dumas on his website: www.romaindumas.com and Facebook.

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO
(Quote from press information from Romain Dumas)

Photo: CIRCUIT OF THE 24 HOURS (Le Mans, Sarthe), 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, RACE, June 23, 2013. Before celebrating his first top 10 rally finish, Romain Dumas won the LM GTE Pro class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2013 driving a works Porsche 911 (991) , with Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz.