David Evans tried the A290 Rallye, which made its debut in France last weekend
Photography by Malcolm Griffiths / Alpine
Words by David Evans, DirtFish Head of Media
Were we looking at the wrong stretch of Tarmac? On the wrong continent? Was last Saturday actually all about Buzançais rather than Takamoto Katsuta’s dreams going down the drain on another road in another world?
Quite possibly.
How au fait are you with the second tier of French asphalt rallying? Rallye National de I’Indre anybody? Thought as much. And you’re forgiven. The collected eye of the rally world was, of course, focused on Japan and last weekend’s penultimate around of the WRC. South-east of Le Mans in the middle of France, there was another story being written. A story about going back to the future.
Alpine: the World Rally Championship’s first winner.
Back in 1973 Jean-Luc Thérier, Jean-Pierre Nicolas, Bernard Darniche and the gang were ripping it up, ruining the combined fun of Fiat’s 124 and Ford’s RS1600 by putting Dieppe on the map with the A110. In a season bookended by 1-2-3 results in Monte Carlo and Sanremo, with four more wins in between – including events as rough as the Acropolis and Morocco – Alpine was a worthy winner.
But there the story stopped. Lancia’s Stratos moved the game on and parent company Renault was already eyeing forced induction and Formula 1.
Saturday was the new dawn. The rebirth, if you like. Yes, yes, granted, the modern incarnation of the A110 has enjoyed significant success, with a brace of FIA R-GT titles after it was rolled out as a rally car in 2019. But this is different.
Saturday was about the A290 Rallye. That’s an all-electric 220bhp front-wheel drive charger. Think Gen Z Clio Williams and you’re pretty much on the money. Breaking cover at this summer’s Goodwood’s Festival of Speed – where Alpine UK managing director Nicola Burnside drove it up the hill – there were 10 of them lined up for their Saturday stage debut.
And eight of them made the finish, two of them falling off the road, but crucially none of them suffering any kind of mechanical – or electrical – issues. And here’s the really interesting bit, they were right on the pace of their internally combusted Rally4 rivals. Last weekend was the precursor to a full one-make all-asphalt series in France next year.
In an effort to understand more about Alpine’s ambitions and what the A290’s like on the inside, I made for a road up a Gloucestershire hill that’s owned by a bunch of Bugatti fans. Welcome to Prescott Hill Climb. It’s just over 1000 meters in length with a variety of corners from a fast left-hander off the line into an open-ish hairpin right. There’s an uphill left with tricky braking and a quick sequence through the Esses before the long right-hander (complete with a decent drop off into the trees) which leads to the finish.
Ten A290 Rallyes debuted in France at the weekend, and were competitive vs Rally4 cars
If I had a four-liter Judd V8-engined single-seater I might be expected to go from lights to flag in a little over half a minute. Fortunately for hill record holder Matthew Ryder, I have neither his car nor his talent. And anyway, it was raining the day before and the track is still really slippery.
“There was more grip in the rain yesterday,” offered my instructor, helpfully. “It’s always tricky when it’s drying like this.”
Splendid.
Fortunately, I’m not a complete novice to the A290. Or to Alpine. I made the journey through the Cotswolds in an A110 GTS – a thing of absolute beauty which weighed in at next to nothing and came complete with almost 300bhp through the rear wheels. But no cup holders, if cups are your thing.
Track mode combined with genuinely workable paddled gearshift made this one of the most engaging cars I’d driven in a long time. I was, I’ll admit, sorely tempted to bypass the A290 and its battery in favor of more over-running crackle and pop. But I didn’t. Instead, I climbed aboard what looked like an electric blue Renault 5 with an A on the front and tried to figure out how to start it.
Burnside had joined us for some fever and, given her record as a historic racer, a more realistic shot at the hill record.
Enjoy your time with the A290, David?
“This car really is a bit of kit,” she smiles. “I was so excited to drive the A290 Rallye at Goodwood for the global reveal. It’s so much fun and a great rally car. When we were at the Festival of Speed in the summer, we had people coming and asking if they could just buy that car – there’s been such a resurgence in rallying, especially in the UK.
“The A290 Rallye series is only in France… for now. There’s definitely a desire from a UK perspective to have something over here. There’s a good opportunity, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
For this hill, for this moment, we’re on the line in the roadgoing A290. And I’ve managed forward motion.
All I can look at, however, is the red OV button. It looks like something out of Top Gun.
“Press it,” said Burnside. “You’ve got to use the Overtake button… my kids love it! When you push the button, the dash goes into Star Wars mode – it’s amazing.”
Overtake doesn’t actually deliver more power, it just reworks the mapping and throttle progression for 10-second bursts. The key to getting it off the line is to get the car rolling, then thumb the button. As with an EV, the linear acceleration is strong, but this is especially impressive. With only one (220bhp) motor up front, I’d been expecting to smoke the bespoke Michelins for much of the OV window. Instead, rubber moulded to Gloucestershire and fired us towards the first corner.
A modern-day Peugeot 205? David can see the potential in Alpine's creation
Turning down the regen offers a more natural feeling on the brakes (Brembo, same as the A110), but within a handful of turns it’s very obvious that the chassis is beautifully balanced. With the 52kWh battery bolted to the floor, the car’s multi-link rear suspension and hydraulic bump-stops combine to make almost 1500kg of car feel entirely hustle-able.
Did it need four-wheel drive? Not a bit of it. Should it have been rear-wheel drive? Maybe. Renault’s 533bhp 5 Turbo 3E sits in that configuration, but it also sits at a price point someway north of the £37,000 that would get you in this A290 GTS.
It won’t surprise many of you to know I’ve had my doubts over EVs as a solution for our sport. Not for the future, not with the way battery tech is developing at such a ridiculous rate, but for the here and now.
This is different. Even in the road-goer, this had the right feel. Is it a Peugeot 205 for the modern day? Time will tell, but it’s got to be in with a shot.
And, let’s face it, it’s an Alpine and that has to be a good thing for rally fans.
Let’s get the renaissance started.
Words:David Evans
Tags: Alpine, Alpine A290 Rallye
Publish Date November 16, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/11/kPkije90-MG107451-780x520.jpg November 16, 2025
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