Yoann Bonato settled for experience rather than a repeat of his Rally Fafe Montelongo heroics on his Rally Hungary debut in what turned out to be a fact-finding mission for a planned ERC bid in 2021.
Having registered for FIA European Rally Championship points ahead of the sealed-surface event, Bonato was expected to challenge from the start in Hungary only for an off-road moment to cost him valuable time early on leg one.
But he bounced back to land a top 15 finish in the Michelin-equipped Citroën C3 R5 he shares with co-driver Benjamin Boulloud.
“Coming into this rally, I had no idea what to expect,” said the CHL Sport Auto driver. “We focused our goals on discovery and experience. After our second place in Portugal last month, of course, it’s not easy to reduce your ambitions as a competitor, but we had to this weekend.
“If we put aside the final standings, there are a lot of lessons and positive to be learned from this Hungarian experience, especially for the future, not only for us in the car, but also for the team, which is also constantly growing.
“With the aim of always taking more information for next year, we can announce that we will be present at Rally Islas Canarias, the next round of the ERC, at the end of the month, thanks to the involvement of our partners.”
By: ERC
