The opening round of the 2025 French Rally Championship (CFR), this 65th Rallye Le Touquet Pas-de-Calais heralds a new, highly competitive season! From the first to the last kilometer, the spectacle was there, and the battle was intense, especially between the three leading crews.
At the end of the 12 special stages contested by seconds, even tenths of a second, it was the locals Stéphane Lefebvre and Andy Malfoy who won at Le Touquet after a breathtaking finish. Already a winner in 2018, the driver from Pas-de-Calais secured a second home victory for this stint in the CFR at the wheel of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.
Yoann Bonato and Benjamin Boulloud, who are showing their determination to win a sixth national title this year, preferred not to take any unnecessary risks in the last special stage – 29.97 km long: leaders throughout the first stage, always battling at the front, they confirm their intentions for 2025 with this hard-fought second place with their Citroën C3 Rally2.
On the third step of the podium, Eric Camilli and Thibault De La Haye appear to be their main rivals this year. Consistent and without making a mistake, the Hyundai i20N Rally2 crew set three fastest times on the tricky roads of Pas-de-Calais, but a tricky tire choice during the first loop put them slightly behind the two leading duos.
While they remain just off the podium, behind a leading trio that has clearly pulled away, Réhane Gany and Franck Le Floch have displayed excellent consistency throughout the weekend and very encouraging performances at the start of the season. They equal their best result in the CFR (Vosges 2024).
They are ahead of their teammates Pablo Sarrazin and Yannick Roche: a new duo that has proven to be very effective and promising for the upcoming CFR events. Third Citroën C3 of Sarrazin Motorsport Iron Lynx, the “Iron Dames” Sarah Rumeau and Julie Amblard were unfortunately forced to retire at the end of SS9 due to mechanical problems, while they were in the top 10.
Note the very good performance of Raphaël Astier and Denis Giraudet who won the 2 Wheel Drive and Michelin Premium Trophy classifications, with the bonus of the best time of SS11: they beat Cédric Robert and Matthieu Duval, followed by Ludovic Godard and Frédéric Vauclare. A 100% Alpine A110 GT+ podium!
Always highly prized for its end-of-year prize offering a CFR round at the wheel of a Rally2 category car for the following season, the Michelin Amateurs Trophy has already revealed its first candidate for success this weekend: despite a puncture in SS 11, Julien Casale and Pierre Delorme won thanks to a comfortable lead accumulated over the kilometers.
Newcomers to the asphalt, Matthieu and Mathilde Margaillan had an eventful weekend: victims of an impressive road exit, fortunately without consequences for them, the reigning French CFR Gravel Champions were able to resume the race with a “new start” for the 2nd stage. Congratulations to the AMD Motorsport team who worked all night to make this possible!
Stéphane Lefebvre (Toyota Yaris GR Rally2), winner, said: “It was a bit of a surprise to do this rally. Jean-Michel Raoux, the car’s owner, called me just before the deadline to offer me the chance to do the Rallye du Touquet: so of course I said yes. Putting together a rally like this in such a short space of time and managing to win it really has a special flavour. Andy (Malfoy) was on top form all weekend, and so was the whole team: for a first in the French Championship for the Yaris GR Rally2, it’s a great result!”
Yoann Bonato (Citroën C3 Rally2 – Trajectus Motorsport), second, said: “It was a very good rally for us. We had a great first leg in the rain, whereas last year we were less good in those conditions, so it means we’ve made good progress with the team.” Overall it was a great weekend, everyone did a great job, and we really enjoyed ourselves: the organization worked really well. The rally was very clean, very well protected in the ropes, etc… a big bravo! It was a great rally. And a big thank you to our competitors who allowed us to push until the end and keep the suspense going throughout the race.”
Eric Camilli (Hyundai i20 N Rally2 – 2C Compétition), third, said: “We are very happy to have a podium at Le Touquet. It’s always a good way to start the French Championship season. We lost a bit of time yesterday morning that we weren’t able to recover due to a slightly too defensive tire choice. But then we were competitive, with quite a few ‘scratches’: it was a three-way battle, but the other two were really fast too. When it’s a battle over tenths, that’s what we like!”
Overall Rallye Le Touquet Results
01. S. Lefebvre/A. Malfoy (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) – 1h 33m 28.3s
02: Y. Bonato/B. Boulloud (Citroën C3 Rally2) + 08.5s
03: E. Camili/T. De La Haye (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) + 32.3s
04: R. Gany/F. Le Floch (Citroën C3 Rally2) + 1m 40.3s
05: P. Sarrazin/Y. Roche (Citroën C3 Rally2) + 1m 54.8s
06: H. Margaillan/M. Coppa (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) + 2m 01.2
07: R. Astier/D. Giraudet (Alpine A110 GT-P) + 2m 11.5s
08: T. Habouzit/O. Ural (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 2m 42.6s
09: L. Darmezin/V. Auge (Citroën C3 Rally2) + 2m 44.5s
10: P. Ragues/J. Pesenti (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 3m 03.3s