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208 Rally Cup / Peugeot Rally Academy : Portugal and France the same weekend for Peugeot Sport!

Peugeot Sport faces a packed programme of topflight rallying this weekend. While 31 crews battle for 208 Rally Cup supremacy at the Rallye Antibes Côte d'Azur in the south of France, the competition's 2015 winner Jose Antonio Suarez will be defending the colours of the Peugeot Rally Academy at WRC2 level at the Rally de Portugal.
After the recent all-gravel Rallye Terre des Causses in France, the 208 Rally Cup's secondround marks a switch to asphalt as the series moves into the mountains that tower overthe French Riviera.

A new record for the competition's biggest entry was established at the opening roundwhen no fewer than 31 208 R2s lined up for the start. The same figure is expected for theseason's second clash!

Meanwhile, last year's 208 Rally Cup victor Jose Antonio Suarez will be competing in a208T16 at the Vodafone Rally de Portugal, the second outing of his WRC2 campaign withthe Peugeot Rally Academy.

Portugal and WRC2 action for ‘Cohete' Suarez

While 31 crews will be competing in the south of France in a bid to follow in his footsteps aswinner of the 2015 208 Rally Cup, Jose Antonio Suarez will be in Portugal getting anothertaste of world championship action. This time, the Spaniard, who will drive the Peugeot RallyAcademy-liveried EVO version of the 208T16, will be looking to take advantage of theexperience he gained on dirt within the framework of the 208 Rally Cup in his bid to harvest atop result at Europe's western tip. The Rally de Portugal has attracted a 26-strong entry inthe WRC2 class but Jose Antonio Suarez and Candido Carrera are unfazed by the prospect ofcompeting against the category's established front-runners.

"Along with everyone at the Peugeot Rally Academy and the people in my entourage, we areall fired up and looking forward to the Rally de Portugal, " says the Spanish youngster. "Wehad a good test recently and we have even had some great help from Carlos Sainz. I want tocontinue to familiarise myself with the 208T16 and give my very best as my way of payingback all those who have helped us."

For further information about the evolution specification of the 208T16, click here: http://
www.peugeot-sport .com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/208-T16-Evo2.pdf

On the asphalt of the French Riviera

Following the season's opener on the all-gravel Rallye Terre des Causses, the 208 R2s willswitch to asphalt trim as the calendar provides this year's competitors with their firstopportunity to show their skills on sealed surfaces. The twisty, technically-challenging stagesof the Rallye Antibes Côte d'Azur visit the same region that serves as backdrop to the famousRallye Monte-Carlo and the exercise will consequently serve as a useful benchmark for 208Rally Cup runners, many of whom were caught out by the same awesome mountain roadsthis time last year...

An exciting entry

It is difficult to pick out a single potential winner from the 31-strong entry list and a close eyewill need to be kept on the 21 crews listed in the Junior class (born after January 1, 1993) whocurrently monopolise the top three places in the standings, with two more figuring inside theprovisional top 10.

The opening round was won by Pepe Lopez (Sainteloc Racing) who stands out as one of thefavourites, while Jean-Baptiste Franceschi - a consistent podium finisher since the end of lastseason - would love to pick up his first victory on home soil. Meanwhile, William Wagner (PHSport), who came ninth on this event in 2015, is on good form at the moment and hoping for atop points haul, just like Nil Solans (Mavisa Sport) who showed well on late April's Rallye deL'Escarène which numerous 208 Rally Cup runners contested in order to prepare for thisweekend's Rallye Antibes Côte d'Azur. Others to watch are Bruno Riberi (CHL Sport Auto) andAndrea Carella (Power Car Team), who were respectively second and third in Antibes in 2015, Stéphane Consani (Automeca), who retired while leading last year, and Patrick Magnou (PitStop).

The roll-call also includes six drivers who missed the opening round, including Antibes regularXavier Quinsac (William Odou, Easy Rally), Jonathan Boueri (Chazel Technologie Course), who crashed out last year, and Anthony Fotia (Pit Stop) who was third in the Junior FrenchChampionship classification here in 2015 and who will be getting his first taste of the 208Rally Cup this time round. The list continues with Jérémy Fournier (H2 L), former racerBrandon Maisano (FB Rally) and Yoann Salvadero (Automeca) who is making his rally debut!