European and British RX championship leaders Albatec Racing continued its strong form of 2015, with Julien Fébreau powering his 600bhp Peugeot 208 Supercar to fourth place in the French Rallycross Championship at Faleyras Sunday.
Practice on Thursday allowed the Canal+ Formula One reporter the first opportunity to experience the 1.1km track, and official free practice on Saturday allowed him to put that knowledge to good use, posting the fastest time on his first competitive run.
Amid an exceptionally strong field, including Belgian rally driver Francois Duval, and local rallycrosser and former French Super1600 rallycross champion Jean-Baptiste Dubourg, another solid performance earnt Julien the fourth fastest time in heat one, and sixth in heat two, to place him fifth overnight in the intermediate standings.
Overnight torrential rain made track conditions incredibly slippery for Sunday’s heat three, which saw three Supercars roll out of contention, and pitched the rapid Frenchman off into the sand at the first corner. A superb drive in his final heat however saw him first past the flag, and secure the fourth fastest time overall to put him into the semi finals.
In that, another strong drive from Julien allowed him to take third place, and easily qualify for the seven-lap, eight car final. Starting from the back row a superb performance saw him steadily move through the field, posting the fastest lap on the way, to finish fourth, less than three seconds adrift of the winner.
The Dumfries-team, embarking on its first competitive outing in French RX, will now rebuild the car in France in preparation for Jérôme Grosset-Janin’s bid to secure a second successive Euro RX victory, in round two at Estering, where he joins Briton James Grint at round five of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy.
Andy Scott, Albatec Racing Team Principal:
“What an amazing weekend it’s been. Julien has been an absolute pleasure to work with, he’s very professional, committed and fast, and it’s great to have seen him reach the final here in Faleyras. The track conditions today were exceptionally difficult, but he overcame them well with three solid drives in the qualifying heats to put him easily through to the semis.
“In the final, he drove very well, from the back of grid, we really couldn’t have asked for better and I’m really excited to see how he goes at the next event, in Pont de Ruan next month.”
Julien Fébreau, Albatec Racing driver:
“First of all I want to thank Andy and his wife Aud for the way they welcomed me into the team. I felt at home immediately and as a driver that is very important. A big thanks to all the mechanics and to Cédric my Chief Engineer too, they were great all week-end in a great atmosphere.
“Finally I would like to say a big thank you to Jérôme Grosset-Janin who was my coach and spotter all week-end. It was not an easy task but he did so well! I wanted to make him happy and I think I achieved that target with fourth place and the fastest time in the final! I learnt so much with the team during these two days... I’m really looking forward to the next race in a month!”
