The Rallye de Charlemagne or Loeb vs Lefebvre

July 8, 2026 Tim Havermans Rally, Wilfried Geerts

All eyes were on the showdown of the year in the Hautmont region of France. Stéphane Lefebvre had barely had time to savor his third consecutive victory in Ypres.

Nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb had come to the Rallye de Charlemagne to test his brand-new Red Bull Porsche 992 and put the pressure on the relentless Lefebvre. Reydellet (Toyota), Vanbeveren and Ponchant (Skoda), Lemaitre and Langlois (Porsche) were lying in wait to potentially outmaneuver the two rivals. After the first lap, it immediately became clear that, barring mechanical trouble, the top three were set.

The relentless duel between Loeb and Lefebvre became a battle of seconds, with the fastest stage times split between these two drivers. After a 10-second time penalty for Lefebvre for missing a chicane, he came under heavy pressure from Loeb. When Loeb, too, was caught making the same mistake, the battle was over. Lefebvre still held a 9.9-second lead. The pursuers—Reydellet, Ponchant, and Langois—rounded out the top five. The organizers could therefore look back with pride on their meticulously organized rally.

In the shadow of the big names, two historic stages were also held. Here, quality clearly outweighed quantity.