Chablais: end of the long forced break 🎥

The trailer with a few action scenes and the naming of the championships, which includes the Rally du Chablais 2021. Electric vehicles are contrary to the announcement only 2022 again.

Almost 600 days have passed since the Rallye International du Valais was the last round of the Swiss Rally Championship. The organizers of the 17th Rallye du Chablais, led by the indefatigable Eric Jordan, stuck to the date for 2021 despite the uncertain pandemic situation and can now pull it off with the appropriate safety concept.

Closed society
So this long forced break - which will last even longer for the national slalom and hillclimb racers - will end at the end of this week. That's nice for the active drivers, but access is only possible according to strict specifications.

Spectators are in principle not allowed, but will certainly be along the special stages. After all, the two-day route and the course of the special stages, most of which are known from previous editions, can be viewed on the Internet and are therefore no secret...

Duel of the two champions
Due to the cantonal medical regulations of the cantons of Vaud and Valais, the number of SS kilometers had to be reduced from 175 km to 156.5 km. Although the official length of at least 160 SS kilometers is not reached as a result, the "Chablais" will be counted as a type 1 rally for the award of championship points.

From a sporting point of view, a lot can be expected, as the duel between reigning champion Ivan Ballinari and his predecessor Sébastien Carron will only be repeated. Both changed the R5 model: The man from Ticino now drives a VW Polo and the man from Valais a Skoda Fabia.

Upswing in the RGT category
New to the circle of R5 drivers is junior champion Jonathan Michellod (Skoda). A total of ten teams are entered in the top category.

The GT class is experiencing an upswing with four Alpine A110s against two Abarth 124 Spiders and a Porsche. One of the new French flounders is driven by Olivier Gillet, who is always fast on any car and will thus certainly move into R5 regions in terms of time.

Toedtli aims for junior title
The Renault Clio V makes its Swiss debut as a universal rally car. It can score points in the Swiss Clio Trophy as well as in the Junior-SM, if the driver is not yet over 28 years old.

Because this is not quite the case yet for Jérémie Toedtli, who is already R5-qualified, the driver from Neuchâtel - second behind Carron at the "Chablais" in 2019 - is taking this opportunity to fight for an SM title at a reasonable cost. For Trophy double champion Ismaël Vuistiner and junior runner-up Sacha Althaus, Toedtli undoubtedly represents a benchmark - but both for him as well.

German-speaking Swiss continue to be rare
With 69 "modern" teams, the field is (start list) respectable. However, the FIA predicate attracted only a few foreigners, probably not least because of the restricted travel conditions.

Unfortunately, Swiss-German teams are also rare in the new season. They are led by the "oldies" Ruedi Schmidlin/Erich Götte in the attractive Ford Fiesta S2000 and Beat Wyssen with daughter Janine on the co-driver's seat in one of the two Abarth RGT.

Boom in the historical
The largest field at a Swiss rally so far is the category VHC with 32 registered historic vehicles and youngtimers. (start list). Because they are also competing for European Championship points, a number of foreigners are taking part.

The field is led by BMW M3 drivers Marc Valliccioni, Eddy Bérard, Pascal Perroud and Erwin Keller as well as former champion Florian Gonon in a Ford Escort RS Mk1.

Everything else before, during and after the Rallye du Chablais 2021 can be found out, if you speak French, at the official Facebook page and the homepage.

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