The Rallycross France season finale at Dreux had end of year feel on it, a lot like the early years season finales in World RX, but everybody was set on going serious, given the high level of the field, with Julien Febreau barely beating the opposition as sparks flew all over the place in the Final.
The round had exactly the end of season vibe as multiple international drivers were present, incuding the already confirmed presence of Derek Tohill, along with Mats Öhman, Tamas Karai and the Rallycross France debut for Joni Turpeinen, fresh off a World RX final with a near miss to the podium. But even with so many drivers from outside the border, the locals were proving that they were fierce.
Consistency was king in a Qualify full of contact and turnarounds. While no particular driver dominated through all the heats, it was clear who exactly was putting a challenge to Turpeinen and company, as Julien Febreau was the top qualifier, with Jonathan Pailler, Davy Jeanney, Samuel Peu and Damien Meunier just behind, demonstrating on track the close fight that the table was showing.
Turpeinen and Karai came right behind the top 4, while Öhman needed more luck to stay within the top 16, though Öhman’s difficulties actually were the result of a battered car in the final heats.
In the first Seminfinal, Turpeinen outpaced everybody before the first corner, opening a decent gap to Pailler, while Peu had problems and backed off the third place, which was taken by Laurent Le Manac’h. With positions 1 and 2 secure, Pailler chased down Turpeinen near the end, but saw the door being shut in his face by the Finnish driver.
Semifinal 2 had Febreau denying Jeanney of the lead, while Damien Meunier was spun out. Jeanney then proceeded to chase Febreau relentlessly, to a point where Emmanuel Moinel was left behind to defend the third place from Karái and Derek Tohill. Jeanney went earlier to the Joker but got boxed by Karái, losing the opportunity to win the race. Behind the two contenders, hell broke loose for third and fourth, because Anthony Paillardon actually capitalized on Karai’s late Joker and took third place in the final corners, while the Hungarian saved the fourth place to secure him in the Final.
The last Final of the 2025 season had Febreau blocking Turpeinen and Jeanney and letting the rest of the field settle their differences panel bumping. Karai jumped to second but he was falling prey of the battling Jeanney and Pailler rather than chasing Febreau. With Turpeinen, Karai, Jeanney and Pailler trading paint, Febreau had open way to win the race while Karai took second place from Turpeinen and Pailler completed the podium by sneaking in between Turpeinen and Jeanney.
Rallycross Frace - Dreux event results
Davy Jeanney was already crowned champion, but he ended the season opening the gap even more, as he had 252 points over the 193 of Meunier and the 190 of Pailler. What is even more impressive is the fact that Fabreau only competed in three Rallycross France rounds and still finished in fifth in the standings, which also sets an alarm at how volatile the grid number actually was during the season, with some rounds having single digit grids while Lohéac was packed with 35 cars.
PHOTO: Rallycross France
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