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Pilot of the week
Francois DUVAL
(2001/2010)
born on November 18, 1980 in
CHIMAY
1st rally
on SAXO in 1999
Belgium, the country of rallies par excellence. TV reports,
public enthusiasm, highly
selective events,
"provinciaux" etc..
Everything is done
to discover new talents, and there
have been some!
Son of a
former amateur rally driver, he
started rallying in 1999, with the Saxo
challenge in Belgium which
he won.
The latest
one is called
"OBELIX". Passionate about rallying from a very young age, his father
is a mechanic who allows him to satisfy his passion for motor sports.
From the age of 6, he tried his
hand at QUAD and then from
adolescence, he participated
in QUAD competitions of course, but also in KARTING.
He entered
the "CHALLENGE SAXO in 99, still with the help of his dad, and from the first event he finished 3rd.
Then everything fell into place.... He won
the challenge, "ESPOIR DE L'ANNEE RACB", he
received the "golden helmet".
Integrated into the MITSUBISHI MARLBORO JUNIOR TEAM, in 2001 he joined the FORD team and officially
evolved with the PUMA which however had some reliability
problems.
In 2003, Malcom WILSON awarded him the FOCUS, he finished 8th in the WRC championship
then 6th in 2004.
Guy FREQUELIN spotted the artist well and trusted him to support LOEB. By trying
too hard to force his
talent or follow the frantic
pace of his teammate, he has a strong
tendency to go off course.
During the season, Carlos SAINZ replaced him occasionally in order to put
the brand back in the saddle for the
"CONSTRUCTORS" title.
A few communication problems with his co-driver did not make the task any easier.
He was then reinstated to end up obtaining
his first victory in Australia.
First victory
of a BELGIAN driver in the world championship. CITROEN did not
renew its confidence in
him in 2006, where he occasionally
officiated on SKODA.
2006: He could not express himself because of his mount.
However, he accumulated
experience, and because
of his youth, he had a bright
future ahead of him and
his performance during
Great Britain made him remembered fondly by everyone.
He deserved
a good steering wheel in 2007. Ah, if only he had not wanted to burn the stages....especially at CITROEN!
2008: taken
over by FORD to assist HIRVONEN in the conquest of the title, the unfortunate exit of GALLI will
do the rest. He is then the victim of a big exit in Japan.
Pivato injured and replaced by GIRAUDET in GB, he
will have difficulty in
finding his motivation
and we understand it. Despite the few events on his program, he will finish in an
excellent 7th place in the championship. 80th
driver of all time (3rd Belgian, behind Neuville and STAEPELAERE, and ahead of BIANCHI and LOIX), despite
his only victory in Australia, he is a “tarmac” specialist, reliability: 3
stars, Car: the Xsara, even
if he was more in tune with the FOCUS, 51st best performer of all time
CO-DRIVERS: 1/2/4-FORTIN,
3/4/5-PREVOT, 5/6-SMEETS, 6/7/8-PIVATO, 7-ELST, 8-CHEVAILLIER, 10-GIRAUDET
CARS: 1-MITSUBISHI LANCER,
1-FORD PUMA, 2/3/4/9/10-FORD FOCUS, 5/7-CITROEN XSARA, 6/7-SKODA FABIA
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