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After a break of more than a month, it’s back to work for Simon Jean-Joseph and Jack Boyère whose European Rally Championship campaign resumes with this weekend’s Elpa Rally in Greece. The French pair will contest the ninth round of the series with the PH Sport-run Citroën C2 Super 1600.

For the first time since 2002, the penultimate round of the ERC returns to the Halkidiki Peninsula in northern Greece. The other major change this year is the event’s mixed format, with the super- special and opening leg all on asphalt before switching to gravel for the second day. The majority of the action (148km) takes place on gravel, however, while the rally features an otherwise
classic menu of several loops of stages to be contested twice each.

After its busy summer schedule, which took it to a long list of ERC and Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) rounds, PH Sport profited from the break that followed late-August’s Barum Rally to carefully prepare the Citroën C2 Super 1600 that will compete in Greece. Meanwhile, Simon Jean-Joseph used the time to hone his physical fitness. “It will be nice to be back in action again,”
he says. “I’m looking forward to getting back onto the stages and I’m really excited by the events that are coming up, beginning with the Elpa Rally.”

“Thanks to my experience of the Acropolis Rally and of various Greek European Championship rounds, I have a fair amount of experience of Greek-style stages,” the Martinique-based driver observes. “That will doubtlessly come in useful for the Elpa Rally which this year takes place in a region that is pretty much unknown territory for me. Apart from the fact that it’s a mixed-surface
event, I know little about it. As a rule, the asphalt in Greece isn’t that hard-wearing but it offers relatively little grip, although the gravel frequently warrants its reputation as being particularly punishing. Let’s hope it won’t be too rough this weekend.”

“I enjoy both types of surface, so the format isn’t a problem for me,” adds Simon who is currently third in the ERC standings. “In fact, as a driver, I think mixed events are a good idea. That said, it’s not really to our advantage against the four-wheel drive cars. We will do our utmost to be as quick and consistent as possible and try to score as many points as we can. The C2′s
strength and performance will be invaluable in helping us achieve that goal.”

PH Sport boss Bernard Piallat says that the mixed-surface format doesn’t pose his team any particular problems: “The most important thing is to prepare thoroughly beforehand so that we don’t forget anything when we swap the C2 Super 1600 from asphalt to gravel spec, which essentially involves the suspension, brakes, wishbones and subframes, etc. We will also add underbody protection.
The team knows the C2 inside out and the job is reasonably straightforward with this car. We will have 2 hours and 45 minutes to make the changes and that should be amply sufficient. Indeed, the mechanics are quite excited at the prospect; it will make a pleasant change.”

“Simon Jean-Joseph, Jack Boyère and the Citroën C2 Super 1600 have been strong on both asphalt and gravel all season,” points out Citroën Sport’s Customer Competition Manager Yves Matton. “This weekend’s mixed format is another interesting challenge for them and will also give them a fresh chance to show off their skills on both types of surface. They will be able to count on the
speed and reliability of their Citroën to try to score the points they need to be in with a chance of finishing in the final top-three of the ERC when the championship heads to Antibes, France, for the final round of the year.”

A promising rally for the Citroën C2 S1600 of Simon Jean-Joseph and Jack Boyére 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 PH-Sport 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.

« It was really frustrating » said Simon. « The car stopped and we just weren’t able to get it going again, which was a real pity. I’m sure that we had the chance of getting a really good result. A small consolation is the fact that we set some good times yesterday and that I’m developing a really good feeling with the Citroën C2 S1600 now. This rally also marked the start of an excellent collaboration with PH-Sport and everybody else at Citroën. »

Yves Matton, Citroën Sport’s customer competition manager, shared Simon’s frustration. He concluded: « It’s a real shame that all the hard work from Citroën Sport and PH-Sport was ruined by a manufacturing defect in a component from one of our suppliers. Before the problem, Simon and Jack’s performances demonstrated that the C2 is competitive with all the other European Championship contenders. This is very encouraging for the rest of the season, where we will have to be both fast and reliable. »