Terre de Vaucluse – Lefebvre pattern size

Six drivers are able to win the title of French Champion of gravel rallies at the start of the 30th edition of the Terre de Vaucluse, the final meeting of the season on the gravel calendar: Cyrille Féraud (C4 WRC), Benjamin Clémençon (i20 R5), Emmanuel Gascou (C3 Rally2), Stéphane Consani (DS 3 WRC), Paul Lamouret (Lancer Evo IX) and Mathieu Franceschi (i20 R5).

But these six madmen must deal with distinguished guests who are determined to come and cause trouble in the hierarchy. Stéphane Lefebvre returns to a car he knows well with the DS 3 WRC while Ole-Christian Veiby (i20 Coupe WRC) returns to competition after the FIA ​​sanction. The latter takes advantage of the Terre de Vaucluse to find the interior of a WRC but it will be completely transparent in the rankings, both for the “scratch” and for the French Championship.

In great form after his consecutive victories in the Final of the French Rally Cup at Châteauroux then at Rally du Condroz, Stéphane Lefebvre, co-driven for the occasion by Benjamin Veillas (the future teammate of Sébastien Ogier) quickly resumed “dirt driving” mode to take the lead of the rally from SS 1. The northerner does not want to stop this series of successes and takes the lead of the rally from the outset to keep it all day and return to Courthezon (Vaucluse) as leader at the end of the first stage. “Spending a weekend in a WRC, there’s nothing better! » rejoiced Lefebvre, author of four scratch times out of the six possible during this first day. The DS 3 WRC driver has a lead of more than 20 seconds over his closest pursuers

Certainly considered transparent in the various rankings, the Norwegian Ole-Christian Veiby regained his bearings at the wheel of a WRC to set the last two scratch times of this first stage. 

For his first rally with the DS 3 WRC, Stéphane Consani reached the provisional podium and showed his ability to adapt to a car he was discovering. 

French Junior Rally Champion in 2020,  Léo Rossel (Fiesta Rally2) finished the first stage on a good note and positioned himself as the first driver in the “R5-Rally2” category.

Fifth in the provisional ranking with an i20 R5 that he still has to get to grips with, Mathieu Franceschi still remains comfortable behind the wheel.

Currently, after this first stage, Cyrille Féraud is at the top of the provisional ranking of the French Championship ahead of Stéphane Consani and Emmanuel Gascou, eighth this evening.

Tomorrow, the crews still have four special stages to compete, or just under 60 kilometers to cover against the clock to find out the name of the future 2021 French Land Rally Champion.