Tuthill Porsche celebrates tonight, following victory in the world-famous Monte Carlo Rally. Driving a Tuthill Porsche 911 in the R-GT category, François Delecour finished almost three minutes ahead of his rival, Romain Dumas, to win the opening round of the R-GT Cup.
“We’ve won rallies in Porsche 911s on every continent, but no rally means more to Porsche fans than Monte Carlo, site of so many classic moments in Porsche history,” said delighted team boss, Richard Tuthill. “To win on this event with the great François Delecour is extremely special: something we will always remember.
Having spent days with the Tuthill crew and most of the weekend keeping tabs on events in Monte Carlo via every available social channel, I know how hard the team worked for this win. Rallying may look like a rock-up-and-ponce-around event, but nothing could be further from the truth. The conditions were deadly: one false move from Delecour or one mechanical failure would have killed the whole effort. Victory in a heavier car with less power than the 4-litre RS of Romain Dumas, a more than worthy adversary, is an excellent achievement.
“An overall Porsche win is no longer possible in the modern World Rally Championship, but we treasure this win just as much,” Richard told me. “Fighting equally committed competitors in capable cars right to the finish was incredible. This year’s Monte Carlo Rally showed just how exciting R-GT rallying can be with more cars taking part.
Delecour in Tuthill Porsche wins Monte Carlo
François Delecour and co-driver Dominique Savignoni set quick times from the start of the 2015 Monte Carlo Rally, building a lead of more than three minutes as they entered the fourth and last day’s rallying. Over the final three stages, including the treacherous Col de Turini, Delecour shrugged off extreme pressure before sealing a memorable victory: the first Monte Carlo Porsche win since 1978.
“This rally has been a huge challenge,” said François. “Snow and ice on the twisty mountain roads makes a great test for the driver! The final day of managing the gap to Dumas while driving quickly to keep concentration was not easy: I am just so happy now! We will celebrate tonight with family and friends, and this amazing team of Tuthill Porsche.”
The Monte Carlo win puts Tuthill Porsche and Delecour on top of the 2015 R-GT Cup: a five-round FIA championship for R-GT cars. The next R-GT round is the Geko Ypres Rally in June, which Tuthill Porsche has previously won in historics, as part of a victorious Belgian championship campaign.
“Ypres is a mega event,” says Richard Tuthill. “Starting with a Monte Carlo win in our pocket, a wonderful car that the fans absolutely adore and this incredible driver and co-driver pairing will be a dream come true. R-GT rallying is a brilliant experience: we want to see more drivers signing up for 2015, hopefully using Tuthill Porsche 911s!”
épico sem duvida
Fantastic!! Well Done Francois Delecour …
So pleased it all came together – a deserving win!
Fab !!!
Stefano Spedini!!!!
Epic
Worked out perfectly. François cruised it – skill to spare and fittest man in the paddock!
Well Done! Visit Romania!
Simon Baxter
Amazing!
Yes awesome!! He is a rock star!!
superb picture
Pic by McKlein: they are the masters!
I remember him talking a couple years back about this in here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRvcobW-LN4
Awesome !
Emanuele Rametta
Under all the weather conditions an amazing drive and victory!!!
Grant Geelan #fast
great..
Those 911’s are capable of anything :)) well done
good job …!!
So, Tuthill have won, which is great for them as a team and good for the Marque. I don’t expect Porsche to enter a full works effort for next year, but wouldn’t it be good if they could put a couple of 991Cups Tuthill’s way as development cars?…
Haha, would be cool but never going to happen. R-GT is all about drivers and GT fans, not manufacturers. The idea is a control on costs using personal homologation: power then restricted to keep GT cars away from WRC.
997 is an old model though. Wouldn’t Porsche wish to promote 991?
Porsche doesn’t care about rallying – not on the radar. Even the Safari and Dakar projects of thirty/forty years ago were of little interest to the management. Volkswagen do all the rallying in that group, and they are winning, so job done 😉
Christian Cedric Doug
Timothy ManHammer Robishaw
they could have used some of that luck at Daytona 😉
I am a huge porsche fan but there were only three cars in the R-GT class and all three of them where porsches.
Trying to visualize the VWs, etc. being so much quicker than GT3Cups for overall win and top 10 finishers??
Un vrai pilote une vrai voiture.
Chapeau bas mr Delecours.