The Fastest Rally Driver To Have Raced On Tarmac 

To be honest, making donuts to assert dominance and then winning the rally with over 1 minute of advantage from the rivals, is the biggest gigachad move i've ever seen in motorsport

i met Gilles Panizzi at Paris auto show in 2004, i was 13. He was showing his new Mitsubishi Lancer and setting a time on a simulator. Told him i have a 306 maxi rc car and i am a fan of him, he signed me a poster. I had stars in my eyes nice memories.

I am in love with your presentation style please continue doing this. GT OST + Ridge Racer R4 menu aesthetics is off the fucking wall. Bravo.

Panizzi to me is a literal blue print of how to handle a car on ashpault. From steering grip to positioning on road to steering corrections.

Jean Ragnotti is the real french rally guy. Much more of an awesome career, and he was doing 180° at 180km/h in his Turbo 2. Seen it a few time from my bare eyes, and video are available here. He is a true legend in french racing history.

I saw Panizzi making that Donut in Catalunya live on tv and was crazy! Man, it gives me chills to remember hahaha I grew up in the age of Loeb and I have the pleasure to own not even one but two Xsaras VTS but Panizzi was one of its kind on asphalt. SPECTACULAR work guys! Love the style!

Greetings from America 🇺🇸. Nobody demonstrates cat-like reflexes more than Panizzi 🇲🇫 Love Gilles & Herve's unorthodox way!

Very nice description of an absolute asphalt specialist and also showing the variety of rallying. 2 notes I wish to make: 1) When you say with the 3 year Peugeot contract, the first two pictures with the 309 was actually when Panizzi competed in the Peugeot Cup, which he won and that awarded him the works drive in the 106. 2) I don't think it is fair to say that Corrado Provera decided to stop development on the 206 WRC. The works teams do this to promote the products the manufacturers are selling. The 206 was no longer a new car, but the 307 was. It were marketing reasons from Peugeot to dictate the change of car upon Provera and the team. Although I felt it was interesting to switch to the 307 CC, as we didn't have a hardtop cabrio in rallying since the Fiat 124 Spider and the Mercedes 500SL, it surely wasn't the best choice by Peugeot as the CC-layout meant the car had odd proportions and a lot of its weight at the back. But as said, production of the 206 road car in France ended only 2 years later, so one can see why Peugeot didn't want to promote it any more. Hardly Provera's decision, I believe even Provera himself was not happy about the change of model.

I appreciate the use of some classic and subtle Gran Turismo tunes. Very tasteful and informative documentary of a great era in rallying. Well done!

My family car growing up was a 306. I have pictures with Panizzi when I was 10 years old in the service area of the Acropolis Rally. I think it was important to mention that the 306 Maxi was a front-wheel drive car and when this guys was on asphalt he was so good we would beat AWD Group A cars.

I remember when I was a kid and my father told me how amazing panizzi was. Even in the WRC games of the time Gilles was incredibly fast and hard to beat. I remember battling him in WRC II Extreme in tarmac rallies, swapping first place at the and of the stage and the third place driver being 40s - 1+ minutes behind.

In my opinion Didier Auriol was the fastest on tarmac ever but definetly Panizzi performances were epic and he deserves much more recognition. Great video

Amazing content as always. The amount of effort that goes into these videos must be insane!

Ridge Racer Type 4's soundtrack... now I feel nostalgic.

As soon as I read "underrated" i thought of Panizzi . He was a genius at the wheel.

This is easily my new favorite motorsport channel on youtube. The thought and care that goes into producing every one of your videos is outstanding! Keep going! You have a real talent for editing and writing.

The aesthetic of your documentaries like this is genuinely astounding, you deserve so many more views and subscrubers than you currently have!

I love the editing and story telling, don't let anyone stop you guys because this is peak content right here. Make sure to Sega Rally 2 OST for the next documentary!

The presentation, the topic, the GT Lounge music and the depth of information. What a video this is, congratulations!

It doesn't make sense that you have less than 3k subscribers, your content is out of this world in terms of research, presentation and cool topics. Per favore, non fermatevi mai, siete a livelli altissimi ragazzi. Attendo nuovi video :0

MY MAN! The Pearl Blue Soul fits so perfectly!!

Putting ridge racer music in the background, insane aesthetics… thank you for this, this channel is criminally underrated

Love your content my man. Keep up the awesome work

Good stuff bro 👍🏻loved it thanks!

Glad to see you back!

I freaking love the R4 soundtrack ❤️ Edit: I extend that love the graphic/menu influence from that game. Bravo!

30 seconds in i'm subscribing for the music + GT/RR editing style. this channel is perfect.

Stunning work again !

I don't really know what's better; your visuals + the music or your storytelling. Keep it up my dude

Love the content, info. And the graphics remind me my childhood haha. Exellent work mate. Cheers from Uruguay.

Informative video with gorgeous presentation. Great video!

first time watcher, i was really interested in this topic and the presentation of the video. awesome content

Nice theme for your video! I love rally and "R4" is a really sweet memory of me playing with my PS1 as a child 😁

Great video, awesome presentation. Keep it up!

Absolutely beautiful video and presentation, bravo!

Great content and very neat editing. Good job sir. I like that gt ost Touch as well

Awesome content!! I love the gt music!!!

When I saw the video I subscribed immediately This is my kind of video

Tarmac master !! If you love rally, you know the Panizzi brother.

Wow ragazzi, questo canale é bellissimo. Complimenti. I titoli di coda sono spettacolari e le musiche anche. Ho un modellino 1:18 proprio di Panizzi. Che gran pilota

Bravo Sir, great Video

Absolutely brilliant editing!!!

Really nice little vid mate!

Imagine taking your brand new Corvette or Ferrari to your favorite mountain road and being smoked by some Frenchman in a bone stock minivan. Apparently Dan Gurney pulled that trick quite often in his Honda Odyssey.

nice ridge racer ost you got at the start. i like it!

I just stumbled across your channel but I got hard Gran Trismo 3 A-Spec vibes. Subbed

While I wouldn't have made such a claim myself, as there are some massive names who could be considered ''fastest'' on tarmac, you just gained another sub!

Amazing content 🎉

I remember that race at Catalunya with the donuts! Such an iconic rally moment.

IMO you forgot one important thing when you talked about his WRC podiums in 1997. Peugeot 306 Maxi was built as car for feeder series. It was FWD, meanwhile most of the field drove a bit stronger, 4WD World Rally Cars. And that makes it even more impresive.

all french drivers are asphalt masters, as their national championship conisits of asphalt only. but this guy, best ever witn no competition. he's a fkin robot

Oh wow, i have seen a fast peugeot driver in older rally videos and was stunned how fast that one guy was, that was him! x.D

awesome video

Fantastic video, keep up the good work. I remember being a kid an seeing Panizzi doing donuts in catalunya rallye and thinking, is that part of the race?????

Doing donuts in the middle of a race and still winning by over 40 seconds what a chad

I remember watching on eurosport back when i was 4. His driving style on asphalt is just amazing. And yes the donut thing i even saw it too. That got me thinking. What if u put him in an ae86 around touge against keiichi tsuchiya. Must be fun to watch

As a fan of Panizzi this video brings back so many memories.

Oh man, thank you! Outside the Finn Foxes, Panizzi was my fave in my Rally times.

I remember seeing Panizzi and Bugalski racing front wheel drive kit-cars against the WRC cars and beating them on some of those 1990's tarmac rally's. Total commitment and incredible skill, plus howling naturally aspirated engines!

Good video. GT-OST music, nice)

This is good storytelling

LIke and New Sub, Gigachad Driver Chad .... Gigachad video ✌

this channel feels like the Gran turismo of RU-vid Racing Channels

Love the ridge racer vibe of the video

Absoluter Topfahrer. Einer meiner Lieblingsfahrer.

I don't know why I whispered "Gilles Panizzi" as soon as I saw the title in my suggested videos list. I think the 306 Maxi on the video icon made me think of this gentleman.

Panizzi is just like Villeneuve... 🥶

In 1998, he visited us in the Canary Islands for the biggest rally we used to have here. Coefficient 20 European Championship, etc. He still holds an absolute record on one of the sickest stages you have never seen. Like a tarmac version of Pikes Peak uphill and downhill. People here had not yet heard of him. They could not believe his speed with the maxi. People still talk about it today. People used to even gently clap at him racing by. As if to say, it’s okay, you can go home, take it easy 😂. It was absurd good.

I clearly remember him and his crazy eyes while flying on the curvy tarmac roads. Amazing dude 306 was such a beautiful beast

Gilles panizzi has always been one my favourite, no one drove the maxi like the did

The gran tourismo 4 music at 6:05 is legendary!

i feel like the actually underrated driver is bugalski, man got not only a podium but 2 wins against the WRC cars with the xsara kit car, and was a vital part of the developement of both xsaras, including the one that got 6 titles in 4 years and ,before the c4 even existed, became the most dominant car to ever exist. puras said in interviews how he always was breaking later than him in every corner, he might not have driven a full season in WRC but he still got one of the most impressive and underrated careers in rally.

The Peugeot 306 Maxi has to be one of the most beautiful rally cars my eyes have set its sights on.

The Fastest Rally Driver You've Never Heard About in two words: Adruzilo Lopes! That was a real driver.

Certain drivers don't need to be world champions to be legends. And Gilles shows that. He is the tarmac king.

dude Gilles Panizzi was my guy back in the early 2000s. dat boi was a fucking monster

Some more facts about Panizzi: 1. Catalunya 1997 saw Panizzi and Delecour seriously fighting the 4WD WRC for victory with their 2WD 306 Maxi. It was the first time that ever happened. They ended up not winning the rally mostly because WRC were allowed to have tyres with the so-called "mousse", that allowed the car to still be drivable in case there was a puncture, and 2WD cars still didn't. 2. After the Catalunya 2002 victory, Panizzi was just 1 point behind the leader, Marcus Gronholm, who later won the championship. Also, Panizzi missed 2 rallies and didn't start in another, and still ended up the season just 6 points behind Solberg, who ended the championship season in 2nd place. 3. Panizzi (amongst other drivers like Bugalski and Puras) never did a full season, yet he was still shining. It's a shame that he was always only treated as the asphalt specialist, and mostly allowed to race only there. Maybe he wasn't competitive enough, but surely he was never given a chance. Panizzi's story is similar to other drivers': a great talent never really used. This is one of the many reasons why in those years I parted ways with WRC: too many strange rules and decisions, electronics ruling everything, great drivers not doing full seasons while unknown drivers like Jean-Joseph did.

THE Tarmac Master !!

love the ridge racer music at the beginnig😍

This title is so wrong and a clickbite... Panizzi is one of the best tarmac specialists. So no i dont thinks so that people never heard about him. But dont take this comment negative, this document is really nicely done man.

When you are called just to drive rally cars on tarmac..you have to be more then just good!

Merci.

A real tarmac specialist

The guy is an absolute legend, bad management in the Peugeot rally team and board of directors in general have seen a steady decline in the brand's appeal to the enthusiast and car buying public in general. The 206 wrc was an oddity but the 306 was Peugeot's last good car.

Love the R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 Theme

I have never seen him blink, ever

His donuts in Rally Catalunya ‘02 were just savage.

This just shows that if you are passionate about sth. Never give up while you still have the chance

lol the Panizzi's vs the Argentinian pair in the Impreza is one of my fave wrc moments ever. I've never know any rally fans that haven't heard of the Panizzi's tho.

3:10 gotta be the cleanest hairpin attack I've ever seen. Sublime.

Yeah the legend, the GOAT

No: rally driver Sarel van der Merwe: in 1983 in the IMSA series in the United States, with his most notable win in the 1984 24 Hours of Daytona race driving for Kreepy Krauly Racing, an all-South African team in a March 83G-Porsche. He shared the win with Graham Duxbury and Tony Martin.

Ridge Racer Type 4

THE tarmac Specialist.

Watched quite a lot Maxi cars as a kid, later WRC and that stays imprinted for whole life, lots of French driers where where great tarmac specialists

The moment you said "Tarmac", I knew it was about Panizzi.

i feel like i've seen and driven most of these 90s rally cars in my PS1 rally games such as Colin mcrae 2.0 and vrally

Great video ! Song at the 8 minutes mark ?

the Pug 306 Maxi is an insane vehicle

He was unstoppable on tarmac