FR: Gallagher Terre de l'Auxerrois summary

Gallagher Suffers First Retirement of 2004

Donegal rally driver, Shaun Gallagher, suffered bitter disappointment this weekend when he retired from the second round of the French Peugeot 206 Cup while battling for third position.

54 Peugeot 206 crews started the Rallye Terre de l'Auxerrois, which consisted of twelve gravel stages run near the town of Auxerre. The gravel stages are unlike the traditional stages in Ireland or Great Britain as they are run through the Chablis Vineyards of Central France.

The stages were also different to the extremely rough conditions of the opening round and instead were smooth and fast with long straights separated by square rights and lefts.

The first day of the event was very tightly fought with just 25 seconds covering the top five cars at the end of six long stages. On the opening stages of day two Shaun moved into third position but disaster struck on SS10 when a broken driveshaft within sight of the finish line caused instant retirement.

"Of course I am disappointed," commented Shaun "But this championships counts only your best five scores from eight rounds so things could be a lot worse.

Shaun's next event is the tarmac Rallye Vins Macon on 29th and 30th of May.

-sgr-