Mon 10 Jun 2024
Mathieu Franceschi is keeping calm despite preparing to start BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia on Thursday with a target on his back as the provisional FIA European Rally Championship leader.
The Michelin-equipped Frenchman is 21 points ahead of defending champion Hayden Paddon after two rounds but isn’t letting his new-found status get the better of him.
“It’s great news, but we have to stay with our feet on the ground because the championship is long,” the 25-year-old AMD Motorsport driver said. “In any case we have to keep the momentum from the start of the season. The objective will be to score the maximum possible [points] as usual. I set myself the top five as an objective.
“Sweden is a very nice rally with big sensations. I am very happy to find this style of road that I was able to discover last year, the only negative point is that, in the meantime, I was not able to find this style of road [somewhere else] to learn to drive better.”
Franceschi finished seventh on last year’s first BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia after pulling off one of the saves of the season following this two-wheel moment on the opening Ölme stage (pictured below).
“I hope not to repeat it although it made for some great photos and videos and many more on social media,” Franceschi said of the dramatic incident.
BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia takes place from 13 - 15 June.
Finland
Italy
Hungary