Garry Jennings made it two wins from two in France, as he followed up his victory in Rally du Bethunois with another win at Rallye Charlemagne last weekend. The Kesh driver took the lead on stage two of the latest round of the French Championship, and pulled clear of the opposition to bring his Subaru home one minute forty seconds clear of the chasing pack.

Jennings came under an early threat from Belgian champion Chris Van Woensel. The Mitsubishi WRC driver claimed the fastest time on the opening stage, but as the event moved into the night stages it was Jennings who pulled clear.

“I stalled on the first stage and we lost nine seconds,” said Garry. “When we got to the end of the stage we were second quickest by 0.3 and we knew then we wouldn’t be that far away. I don’t know why but when we got onto the night stage we excelled on them, and blew everyone else away. I wasn’t expecting that. I have done very little in the dark recently but I was always very good in the dark. My times in the dark were almost identical to what I was doing over the same stages in the daylight.”

It was Garry’s second attempt at the event, having contested it back in 2001 with Martin McGarrity on the pace notes. On that occasion he managed to bring his Peugeot home in eighteenth position, but this time around he was always one of the favourites for victory. In a gruelling event that saw the drivers competing until midnight before rising at dawn for day two, Jennings was well clear by the overnight halt. Day one threw in a challenging gravel section in the middle of the mainly tarmac stages, but Jennings was back on more familiar tarmac on the Sunday, and when nearest challenger Van Woensel retired, he was able to control his advantage. “On Sunday it was a matter of being neat and tidy,” he said. “It was just giving a second here and pulling two or three back there. We had no problems and the car was faultless again. It was a good event.”

Having racked up back to back rally wins, Garry is keen to continue in the French series. He has left his Subaru in France and plans to return for another round of the series before the end of the season.