Sébastien Chardonnet (born 17 October 1988) is a French

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver. He made his

WRC WRC may refer to: Broadcasting stations * WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States * Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area: ** WWRC, a radio station (570 AM) l ...

debut in 2012 Monte Carlo Rally in

Renault Clio R3 The Renault Clio () is a supermini (B-segment) car, produced by French automobile manufacturer Renault. It was launched in 1990, and entered its fifth generation in 2019. The Clio has had substantial critical and commercial success, being consi ...

with his co-driver Thibault de la Haye. Chardonnet scored his first championship point in

2012 Rallye de France The 2012 Rallye de France – Alsace was the eleventh round of the 2012 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over 4–7 October, and was based in Strasbourg, the capital city of the Alsace region of France. The rally was also the ...

by finishing tenth overall driving

Citroën DS3 WRC The Citroën DS3 WRC is the World Rally Car built for the Citroën World Rally Team by Citroën Racing for use from the 2011 World Rally Championship season. It is based upon the Citroën DS3 road car, and replaced the highly successful Ci ...

. Sébastien started his career in karting at the age of 11, promoting to single-seaters such as

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to auto racing, motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before mov ...

before switching to rallying, in 2009. His grandfather was André 'Doudou' Chardonnet, a former circuit racer and rally driver himself. André Chardonnet was also an established

Lancia Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe, which is the European subsidiary of Stellantis. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganise ...

importer in France, who owned a very successful privateer rally team. Frenchman

Bernard Darniche Bernard Jean Darniche (born 28 March 1942 in Cenon, a commune in the Gironde department) is a French former rally driver. He won the European Rally Championship in 1976 and 1977 and the French Rally Championship in 1976 and 1978, each time behind ...

won

Tour de Corse The Tour de Corse is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was the French round of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season until 2008, was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge from 2011 to 2012, and ...

in 1979 and 1981 at the wheel of a Team Chardonnet entered

Lancia Stratos The Lancia Stratos HF (''Tipo 829''), known as Lancia Stratos, is a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, rear mid-engined sports car designed for rallying, made by Italian car manufacturer Lancia. It was highly successful in competition, win ...

, famously painted ' bleu de France'. In 2011, Chardonnet was about to make his World Rally Championship debut driving Ford Fiesta R2 in

WRC Academy The FIA Junior WRC Championship is an international rallying series restricted to drivers under 29 years old, running within the framework of the World Rally Championship. The series is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobi ...

that season. Eventually he had to withdraw from the series before the first rally, due to sponsorship difficulties. In 2012, he made his first WRC appearance with a WRC car, at

. He finished tenth overall with a

. In 2013, he competed in the WRC-3 championship, driving a Citroën DS3 R3T supported by Citroën's official WRC team. He won the championship by a ten-point-margin to Keith Cronin. Chardonnet won two events in the season and finished three times in second place.

Career results

WRC results

WRC 3 results

WRC-2 results

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chardonnet, Sebastien 1988 births Living people French rally drivers World Rally Championship drivers 21st-century French sportsmen