Lefebvre targets R5 step-up in Britain

Newly-crowned FIA Junior WRC champion Stéphane Lefebvre hopes to move up to a Citroen DS3 R5 for the WRC season’s final round in Britain next month.

Lefebvre, a protégé of nine-time WRC champion Sébastien Loeb, clinched the title at Rallye de France-Alsace with a round to spare, and hopes to take advantage by experiencing the R5 car at Wales Rally GB (13 - 16 November) ahead of his WRC 2 prize drive in it next season.

“The championship is finished now and I have never driven a four-wheel drive car on a rally,” said Lefebvre, who drove several hundred kilometres in a DS3 R5 during a recent media presentation at Issoire race circuit in France.

Lefebvre won three of the first four JWRC rounds before cruising around his home event last weekend to secure the necessary points for the title in his first WRC season.

“It wasn’t an easy week due to the conditions. The stages were slippery and tricky. I think I made a good race. I didn’t push all the time, just for two stages, because I was thinking of the overall position and the title,” said the 22-year-old.

“To win the title in France is something very special. It’s a dream,” he added.