Former FIA European Rally Championship stars Craig Breen and Stéphane Lefebvre – both recently signed as factory World Rally Championship drivers for Citroën – battled in Belgium this weekend on Rallye du Condroz-Huy.
The asphalt event is a classic season-ending event that often attracts big names, with Sébastien Loeb a former winner. Breen and co-driver Scott Martin (celebrating his birthday today) took the victory in a Citroën DS3 R5, 24.3 seconds ahead of Lefebvre driving a similar car. Incidentally, the very car Breen was driving was that in which Lefebvre starred on Belgian asphalt in the ERC in June.
Both Breen and Lefebvre took on the man that recently handed them dream WRC deals for 2017: Citroën Racing chief Yves Matton. The Belgian drove his marque’s C4 WRC to fifth overall, and even beat his young chargers to two stage wins.
A number of other names familiar to ERC fans took part, including Vincent Verschueren finishing third and Kris Princen taking eighth. Cédric Cherain, who has been eyeing more ERC events in 2017, actually led the rally until crashing on the final stage of the first day.
Emil Bergkvist, Lefebvre’s successor as ERC Junior champion, also competed in a DS3 R5 following a podium on Omloop van Vlaanderen but was ruled out by an accident.