Stéphane Lefebvre triumphs at the Rallye du Touquet-Pas de Calais

Faced with the numerous R5s lined up for this opening of the French Rally Championship on the roads of Touquet-Pas de Calais, the Citroën DS3 WRC by Stéphane Lefebvre was a big favorite.

The Citroën driver did not tremble throughout the two stages on the program between yesterday Friday and this Saturday. Author of a perfect first day with eight best special times out of eight possible yesterday, Lefebvre had already built up a solid lead after the first stage.

The Frenchman continued his momentum this Saturday, adding four new scratches to his list. Despite a spin in SS10 and a small off-track excursion in the penultimate timed sector, Lefebvre won at the finish with a 1'33″1 lead over Bryan Bouffier (Hyundai i20 R5).

The former winner of Rally Monte-Carlo and former French champion showed his best in R5, beating the reigning French champion Yoann Bonato (Citroën DS3 R5). For his last outing with this car before moving to the C3 R5, Bonato, disturbed this Saturday by brake problems, saved his place on the podium by four tenths.

Thibault Habouzit (Skoda Fabia R5), who started this rally with a Skoda Fabia R5, took a good fourth place and ahead of Jérémi Ancian (Ford Fiesta R5). Sixth, Pierre Roché (Skoda Fabia R5) won the Michelin Trophy and achieved the last scratch of the rally.

Patrick Rouillard wins in GT+ with his Porsche 911 ahead of Nicolas Ciamin (FIAT 124 Abarth). Manu Guigou is the strongest in the R3 category with his Renault Clio RS

Final classification Rallye du Touquet-Pas de Calais

Discover the full report of the Rally du Touquet-Pas de Calais, produced by our special correspondent, in AUTO n°2157hebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.