Clairay wins at Dreux as Meunier is crowned Rallycross France champion

While Damien Meunier kept appearing in front during the final round of the Rallycross France season at Dreux, the victory actually went to an inspired Yann Clairay, to the surprise of the stalwarts present there, while Meunier himself just had to be there to secure the 2026 season title, as the situation was almost totally in his favor.
 
Yury Belevskiy was back to rallycross with a bang, as the pace and consistency guided him through an incident-filled Qualifying to take the top spot, while Yann Clairay suprised despite the home heavyweights and the internationals in action to stay with the second place, and for Damien Meunier, the third place was more than enough to secure the 2026 title, as Davy Jeanney stood right behind him and Derek Tohill was fifth. In preparation for the Rallycross World Cup, Tamás Kárai was victim of the circumstances since the first heat and appeared only in tenth.
 
Semifinal B had Emmanuel Moinel stalling at the start and Clairay leading the way with a decent margin to Jeanney, with a pack that still had Kárai and Samuel Peu. Eventually, Kárai and Peu were left behind, and considering his position, Jeanney went to the Joker on Lap 4, leaving him incredibly close of winner Clairay, while Kárai and Peu kept their places for the Final.
 
In the Semifinal A, Tohill barged his way to the lead from the outside while Meunier and Belevskiy kept the pursuit, while Stéphane de Ganay had the fourth spot for himself. The same robust moves used by Tohill were used in full by Meunier to move the Irishman out of the ideal line and take position, forcing a strategy change for Tohill. Belevskiy had the Joker Lap done way before the top two, and outpaced Meunier right at the line, with Tohill settling for third and de Ganay beating Philippe Maloigne for the fourth place in the Final.
 
Clairay started the Final on pole position and with a clever move to shut the door on Jeanney and Meunier, he stood in the lead, even though the pursuit was relentless by Jeanney, while Meunier was following them as an outsider. On Lap 3, Jeanney’s Skoda Fabia RX Evo stops on track, leaving Clairay on striking distance for Meunier and Peu, but even though the chasers had some strategy variation, the pace was too similar to favor an attacking move, leaving Clairay in first until the finish line.
 
Rallycross France - Dreux event results
 
Meunier ends the season with 235 points against the 182 of Jeanney and 172 of Derek Tohill, with only the top three in the standings making appearances in all events of the season.
 
PHOTO: Rallycross France