While Derek Tohill conquered the first round of the 2026 Rallycross France season at Lessay-Manche, the DA Racing driver happened to be in the best place for it, as it could have been the current champion Davy Jeanney, who challenged him until the very end, and pretty much any other driver out there, as long as it could have kept the car on track, given that the unstable weather made the track a slippery mess, with few moments of proper grip during the whole weekend.
Track condition was sketchy to say the least, no matter the weather. Under dry weather, some grip was at disposal but most cars were tiptoeing the way through the corners. Whenever rain fell, it was absolutely slippery, to a point where even the current champion Davy Jeanney found himself in embarrassing moments when the steering wheel was facing the corner, but the wheels weren’t.
In the end, consistency was more than essential, and with Jean-Baptiste Dubourg winning three of the four heats, he topped the Qualifying table, with Damien Meunier in second while Laurent Le Manac’h appeared in a surprising third place, exactly ahead of Jeanney.
In the Semifinal A, three cars stalled at the line, but Damien Meunier led the way, with Jeanney and Yann Clairay in the chase. In the third lap, Meunier had an unexpected crash as he couldn’t counter the heavy understeer of his Audi S1 RX, opening the way for Jeanney to win the race, with Yann Clairay in second, Stephane de Ganay in third and Laurent Terroitin in fourth.
The Semifinal B had all cars departing from the line, and fighting for space as hard as they could, with Dubourg leading Derek Tohill, Le Manac’h and Anthony Paillardon, while David Vincent went for an early Joker to get some clean air. Paillardon went for the Joker a lap later, while the top three left the Joker lap for the last laps, in special Dubourg, who had no competition around him until the finish line, with Tohill, Le Manac’h and Paillardon completing the top four positions.
Rallycross France Lessay-Manche - Semifinal A / Semifinal B
The rain was back for the Final, meaning that the wet track was as treacherous as it was during the Qualifying. With too many cars wanting the same piece of track, Le Manac’h was sideways in front of Jeanney, Dubourg faced the barriers and crashed into Jeanney, who went off the track. Dubourg eventually stopped in the first corner, while Clairay lost his lucky lead when his Peugeot 208 WRX oversteered in the second corner, giving the lead to Tohill.
The challenge now was to stay on track, as Tohill was followed by Jeanney and Laurent Terroitin. While Terroitin opted for an early Joker to not get stuck behind Jeanney, the champion was set on chasing Tohill, which didn’t allow the Irish to take the Joker, with him deciding on doing it on Lap 5, and when Jeanney went for a final lap Joker, he met Tohill at the exit and was side swiped to the barriers, although he still came back to be second on track, just behind Tohill.
Rallycross France Lessay-Manche - Final
Despite Tohill’s win, Jeanney leads the standings with 35 points, while Tohill has 33 and Dubourg sits in third with 30 points, even though he retired in the Final. The competitors won’t have to wait too much for more, as the next round at Faleyras will be held on 17 May.
PHOTO: Rallycross France
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