2024-01-22 17:35:08
Par Nicolas Segura
Published on Jan 22, 24 at 6:35 p.m. See my news Follow L’Orne Combattante
“I have always been on the circuits! I followed my father during the races”, Antoine Lerallu, driving school instructor in La Ferrière-aux-Étangs (Orne), has had the bug for cars and motor sports since he was little.
My father started autocross in 1987, when I was six years old. I already had stars in my eyes and I was already hoping to be one of these drivers, even if it was only local competitions.
Antoine Lerallu
His father traveled the slopes around Flers and Briouze.
When Antoine turned 18, he stopped and passed the torch to him. Having just reached the age of majority, he took out a Fol’Car license and entered the Normandy championship.
A life devoted to automobiles
At the same time, he continued his studies as a mechanic, with a BTS in automobile following-sales. But this dream of entering the world of competitions has not been abandoned.
This is a very difficult industry to enter. As soon as we start talking regarding this, the doors close. “We are told that it is only a dream and that being a mechanic in a garage is already very good.
Antoine Lerallu
After his BTS, obtained following a lot of work, he stuck to his goal and entered a school in Le Mans, to do research and development training in competition vehicles.
” I was very happy. Thanks to this, I was able to do an internship in Île-de-France, in a motorsport team, ASM Racecars, to study rally-raid vehicles. » This brand will follow him until today.
Antoine Lerallu with Sébastien Loeb, at the 2014 Dakar (Chile). ©Antoine Lerallu
“I was therefore able to work on high quality machines. They were racing prototypes, actually,” he recalls. This team is participating in the Dakar.
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It allowed Antoine to go, as a mechanic, on the roads of the Rally Raid World Cup during the 2004 season.
The World Cup and the Dakar
That year, he was on the rally of Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey and Egypt, accompanying driver Christian Lavieille. Then came the Dakar, in which he participated in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
This allowed him to discover many African countries, because, at the time, the race took place, until the end of the 2000s, in Dakar, Senegal.
“I happened to spend exceptional moments with the population, whether in Mauritania or Mali. I particularly remember Bamako, where they have the joy of living, despite the context in which they live. They are very welcoming and very generous. »
From then on, he was only around twenty years old.
Memories engraved forever
From these participations in the Dakar, he retains the values of surpassing oneself, rigor and tolerance: “It is the event of the year. There may be tensions, but we must not fail each other. »
The nights are short. During the day, the mechanics in the truck to reach the bivouac, while in the evening and at night, they work. Doing a Dakar is like “being on another planet”, according to Antoine.
For two weeks, we no longer follow anything except the race. We are completely in the west, we no longer know what day it is or what time it might be…
Antoine Lerallu
Unforgettable memories that can be kept.
Whether in contact with the populations or during the race, Antoine has many positive moments in mind: “Sometimes, we took 10 hours to do 300 km, because it is almost only track, with huge holes. You had to stop, go down into the holes, come back up and start once more.”
Antoine Lerallu with Nasser al-Attiyah, five-time winner of the Dakar. ©Antoine Lerallu
In 2006, Antoine took a first break from rally raids, becoming a driving school instructor. He therefore remains in the field of cars, which he loves so much.
However, this does not prevent him, at the same time, from participating in international races, such as the Africa Eco Race, in 2012.
From mechanic to driving instructor
But the appeal of the Dakar remains strong and prestigious. He was recalled to participate in it, in 2013 and 2014. At that time, this race traveled across South America, between Peru, Argentina and Chile.
In the meantime, he opened his own driving school in La Ferrière-aux-Étangs. At first, he did not want to close his establishment by participating in races like this.
“My former boss from ASM Racecars called me one day to find out if I wanted to participate in the Morocco rally in October 2021. I said yes, and I closed the driving school for two weeks. Since I’m on my own, I never dared to do that. But there, I said to myself ‘go on, go for it, you’ll enjoy it, you’ll rediscover the sensations of rallying.’ »
His work as a priority
Today, Antoine places his driving school as a priority.
“I was offered to participate in the Dakar in 2022, but I refused. Because I mightn’t close so soon following going to Morocco. I care regarding my students and it’s not just a job; they matter to me. »
Having, moreover, started a family, this lifestyle of distant races seems hellish.
I wanted to have a more settled life, because it’s important to have a fairly stable job. When I started working, I went abroad four months out of twelve. I had a daughter in 2006 and I wanted to see her grow up.
Antoine Lerallu
But he does not rule out the idea of participating in rallies once more in some time. “These are powerful experiences and when you get a taste of that, you can make a career out of it. » When we are stung…
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