Stéphane Lefebvre has gained experience

Le Rally of Finland is an event where experience plays a huge role. Frenchman Stéphane Lefebvre learned this the hard way last weekend. Well placed in Junior WRC, the driver of the PH Sport Citroën DS3 R3 went off the road during the second stage, damaging his suspension and had retired. Restarting Rally 2 the next day, he set the fastest times in the category and finished instead, with six points, which allowed him to retain the reins of the championship.

“I am torn between disappointment and satisfaction. I am of course disappointed by the abandonment, but extremely satisfied with the experience gained. We learned a lot on these stages and also showed our ability to adapt. It was also a great pleasure to drive on these tracks, this rally is legendary and we now know why! Now we will have to concentrate on Germany: the margin we had over our opponents is now reduced and we will therefore have to complete a perfect race on the German asphalt. » says Lefebvre.

Winner of the first two rounds of the season in Portugal and Poland, the Frenchman saw the Slovakian Martin Koci close to four points (56 against 52) ​​in the ranking. Lefebvre will be betting big on the next two rounds of the Junior WRC in Germany, from August 22 to 24, and especially in France at home from October 3 to 5, in order to follow in the footsteps of Sébastien Loeb et Sébastien Ogier, who also won the junior title before the career we know.

Find the report of the Rally Finland produced by our special correspondents in Jyväskylä, in issue 1972 of AUTOhebdo, available in digital version and on newsstands.