Rallye du Condroz - Huy
4th to 6th November 2016
While the Rallye du Condroz-Huy, the traditional Belgian Championship final, is an extremely popular rally, as we were able to notice this weekend, there is also a real challenge for the teams that present themselves at the start. Contested in front of a particularly numerous public, the vintage 2016 of the Rallye du Condroz will remain a grand cru for Citroën Belux. Heading into Huy on Saturday night at the end of a day when he gave everything to stay in contention for victory, Craig Breen managed perfectly his effort throughout the eight stages of Sunday. Sparkling eyes, he imposed himself at the wheel of his DS3 R5. And Breen welcomed the welcome received in Belgium, but also the level of this event.

Already second last year with hs DS3 R5 behnd the DS3 WRC of Cédric Cherain, Stéphane Lefebvre completed the success of Citroën by ensuring the double. For his part, Stéphane Lefebvre admitted to being short in kilometers following a serious accident at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland, which prevented him from competing to the end his teammate. But for the DS brand, whose cars haven't always been the most reliable this year, this double crown is a crowning for Yves Matton who's all-time involvement and branding the rafters on this event that is close to heart in the Hutois, responsible for Citroën Racing.

Behind the two DS3 R5's, the Skoda Fabia R5's picked up the seats of honor. However, Vincent Verschueren was never dropped by the two leaders, completing the test of the edges of the Meuse to 37"7 only of Craig Breen, which constitutes a real performance. The first lap of four stages hadn't been perfect for Vincent Verschueren, who immediately lost about 20 seconds to leader Craig Breen, after which Vincent and Veronique found the right rhythm and the Skoda GoDrive was positioned in the wake of the two Citroën Racing drivers, even if they all had to let Cédric Cherain's Fabia R5 lead the way until his release in the last stage of the first day. Regular as a metronome Vincent Verschueren climbed to 3rd place at the end of the first 16 stages. Sunday morning, Vincent and Veronique started the day in third place, only at 9" from Stéphane Lefebvre and 26" from Craig Breen. The third in the Belgian Championship didn't attack at all.

Guillaume de Mevius didn't miss his beginnings under the colors of the RACB National Team. Ghislain's younger brother led the Juniors race from start to finish. Throughout the event, the driver of the black-yellow-red Peugeot 208 R2 fought a fierce battle against the other 208 R2 of Guillaume De Ridder, which finally finished at 23"7. Guillaume De Ridder beaten like a lion, but unfortunate lucky times on Saturday made him lose a total of about fifteen seconds on de Mevius without rolling. The gap was then a little too big to be filled. Romain Delhez finished 3rd of the Junior rankings on his Opel Adam R2 despite problems with the gearbox at the end of the race. The fourth place went to Sébastien Bedoret who discovered the Peugeot 208 R2 after reselling his Renault Twingo R2. Amaury Molle finished 5h on his Opel Adam R2 ahead of Andy Dewallef and Tobias Brüls.

Finally, in the ranking of the historic cars, Robin Maes impose himselfs at the wheel of the beautiful BMW M3 E30, Patrick Deblauwe (Ford Escort Mk2) offering the silver medal, by anticipating very broadly the duo HOens-Hoens (Ford Escort Mk1).
Pos. No. Driver / Co-driver Car Team
1 7 Breen / Martin Citroën DS3 R5 Burton Racing
2 4 Lefebvre / Portier Citroën DS3 R5 J-Motorsport
3 46 Verschueren / Hostens Skoda Fabia R5 GoDrive Racing
4 18 Bouche / Gregoire Skoda Fabia R5 BMA Autosport
5 9 Matton / Podgorny (1st RC1) Citroën C4 WRC Citroën Racing
6 31 Canal-Robles / Neven Skoda Fabia WRC Aldero Rallysport
7 28 Van Woensel / Snaet (1st NCE) Mitsubishi Lancer WRC '05 CVW Rallysport
8 1 Princen / Kaspers Peugeot 208 T16 R5 DG Sport
9 16 Fernémont / Maillen Ford Fiesta R5 Team Floral
10 15 Vanneste / Snaet Ford Fiesta R5