Can we spec about this episode?
I hope so as I'm about to do it.
The alcohol in the previews is most likely cider as that region of France is a major cider producer, especially something called calvados, a distilled apple brandy. It's also home to two French national stud farms (horse breeding).
Pit stop Juno Beach perhaps? Be a fitting place! Would love it to be Vimy Ridge, but that's a nearly 350km drive (and we know they're self driving in the previews). Is there any precedent in other versions of having teams drive that far in a single leg?
TAR4 Le Mans to Marseilles: 892 km.
It looks like you were researching the same things as me today.
I agree with the cider. It looks like Audrey is trying to find a barrel that has aged long enough to take a sample? I am presuming they are testing the temp, because it must stay at a lower temp to ferment.
The two stud farms ...Haras du Pin and Haras Saint Lo: Haras du Pin is considered to be the Versailles for horses. Literally. It was begun by Louis XIV aka "The Sun King", a very important person in the history of Lower Canada (Quebec). It would be a nice connection. However, the barn they are in is more "rural" looking compared to this place, where the stalls are white washed stucco, and ornate woodwork. Definitely the kind of stable a King would have his horses bred. I thought perhaps it was a lesser used stable. However, one screencap has cows in it. Normandy is littered with horse breeders and riding academies and the like. I have not yet looked closely at the other place (I think it has a connection) but it looks much the same. I hope I am wrong...these 2 stables are incredible. One interesting thing is haras du Pin is along the way from Paris to Beny-sur-Mer and Juno Beach.
Juno Beach was the first place that crossed my mind, for obvious reasons. I would be disappointed if it isn't the pit stop. If not there, Caen (which was decimated in WWII) or Bayeaux.