Stéphane Lefebvre: "For an old man coming out of the closet, five races is not bad."

How was this program set up?

I was the one who instigated it. I learned that MRF was looking for a pilot. I contacted Vivek Ponnusamy, the manager. They asked me to propose a project with a team to assess whether it would be a good fit for them. I called several people, including Thierry Neuville, to see what could be done. In the customer department of HyundaiVincent Ducher is working hard and he assured me of his support. We gradually made progress until we found solutions for these 5 races. The investment that Thierry and Hyundai are making has definitely been a plus. I'm very happy to have a real program, which hasn't been easy. For an old guy coming out of the closet, 5 races isn't bad! We're continuing to look for funding to do more.

What do you think of the European Championship? Do you already have an idea of ​​the competition?

For the moment, we have the five asphalt events planned, so Sierra Morena, Rome, which I did last year, Barum, which I discovered as a Junior in 5, Ceredigion, and Croatia, where I went in 2014. I'm looking to add more, like Poland, which is close to my heart. Regarding the competitors, I think there will be diversity. Jos Verstappen announced that he would be present, like John Armstrong, who is starting to know this competition well.

After five races, do you think the title is within reach? Could you follow Hayden Paddon's trajectory?

That would be really cool, but we prefer to take the races one after the other. This will avoid any added pressure. Since there are eight rounds, it should be mathematically difficult to aim for the championship. If it works out well, why not consider doing a second round?^e season ?

What is your experience with the Hyundai i20 Rally2 that you will be driving?

I had the opportunity to do two races behind the wheel and we won the rally Ypres last year. It wasn't a different version than this year's, which has evolved considerably with different subframes, new differentials, a changed turbo wastegate... They've worked quite a bit on this Evo version, which I'm going to discover.

You've often shown a great ability to adapt. Will it be strange to always drive the same car?

(Laughs) It's true that, recently, I've rarely competed in two consecutive rallies with identical equipment. I do have the ability to adapt, but it's going to be good to have this i20 Rally2 several times in a row. I'm not likely to get bored.

Having been running since 2010, how will you look back on your career and what do you expect from such a program?

With the difficulty of this sport, I haven't had a contract with a manufacturer since Citroën in 2018. You have to be humble and ask yourself what you like about rallying. What I love is driving, it's my passion. No matter the opportunity, you try to seize it. If you have to come back to Rally4, there's no problem! My career path is certainly a little atypical and I'm aware that it takes a lot of resources to express yourself at the highest level, but I don't give up, I fight to get there. However, I don't get up every morning saying to myself: " I have to go back to the world championship... "What I want, however, is to do everything to win.

Won't being in this state of mind relieve some pressure?

Exactly. I don't forget that after the races, I'll have to get back to work. I think that not expecting anything from this project in the long term will allow me to experience it much better. In the short term, however, we're here to win races.

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