François Duval (rally driver)
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| Nation: |
 Belgium
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| World Rally Championship (WRC) | |||||||||
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| First rally: | Rally Portugal 2001 | ||||||||
| Last rally: | Rally Germany 2010 | ||||||||
| Co-driver: |
 Denis Giraudet
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| Team: | Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team | ||||||||
| Vehicle: | Ford Focus RS WRC | ||||||||
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| Points: | 172 | ||||||||
| Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) | |||||||||
| First rally: | Rally Portugal 2008 | ||||||||
| Last rally: | Rally San Remo 2009 | ||||||||
| Co-driver: |
Denis Giraudet
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| Team: | Abarth & Co Spa. | ||||||||
| Vehicle: | Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000 | ||||||||
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| Points: | - | ||||||||
François Duval (born November 18, 1980 in Chimay ) is a former rally driver who drove in the World Rally Championship with his co-driver Stéphane Prévot until mid-2005 . After separating from Prévot, Sven Smeets (former co-driver of Freddy Loix ) sat in the “hot seat” next to Duval for the rest of the season. From the 2006 season, the Frenchman Patrick Pivato was Duval's co-driver.
Career
Young drivers
Duval has been in the World Championship series since the 2001 Rally Portugal . In 2002 he started there in the junior classification and was signed by Ford a year later. At Ford he was eighth overall in the first full season, and sixth overall the following year.
Successes in the WRC
In 2005, Duval drove alongside the world champion driver Sébastien Loeb for the Citroën world championship team . In the last race of the year ( Rally Australia ) he landed the long-awaited 1st victory in the World Rally Championship (WRC) in his 64th competition with his Citroën Xsara WRC . Up until then, the season had been rather disappointing for Duval, he was even replaced by rally veteran Carlos Sainz because he produced one crash after the other.
In 2006, the Belgian started in the First Motorsport Team with a Škoda Fabia WRC . At the end of the year, he contested the Rallye du Condroz in Huy , also on a Škoda Fabia WRC, a European championship race that he ultimately won in a duel against Bruno Thiry . In 2007 it was planned that Duval would contest all World Championship rallies in Europe from the Portugal rally, but this could not be realized due to quarrels about the First Motorsport Team . On the last weekend in April 2007, Duval drove a Porsche 911 GT3 Road Challenge in Belgium's third championship round , the Rallye de Wallonie around Namur , in which he came second.
Duval then had a new chance when the works team OMV Kronos Citroën offered him to compete in the Rallye Deutschland . The goal was to land in front of the Ford drivers around Marcus Grönholm and thus take points away from the Finn, thereby enabling world champion Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) to secure the 4th title. Duval achieved this after a convincing performance and a 2nd place, which once again attracted attention.
In November 2007, Duval drove again in the Rallye du Condroz-Huy , where he repeated his victory from last year, this time in a Fiat Punto S2000 . However, this was only possible after Freddy Loix , who was in the lead until the final day, decided not to continue after a rule violation and the resulting penalty. Still, Duval's driving skills received praise as it was the first time he'd raced in the 2000 class and didn't have much time for test drives. He also said that this class could well be an option for his future.
In 2010 Duval took part in four out of ten races for the European Rallycross Championship, for which he had a Ford Focus ST T16 4 × 4 with around 550 hp .
Web links
- Official site (French and Dutch)
- WRC statistics on juwra.com
| personal data | |
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| SURNAME | Duval, François |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian rally driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 18, 1980 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Belgium |