Stellantis Rally Cup Lander Depotter did it in style!
Contested in the hugely popular but also very tricky Spa Rally, the final round of the 2025 Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup Belux saw Lander Depotter and Jasper Maelfait take the honours, as expected, with their Opel Corsa Rally4 dominating the proceedings!
Depotter's final rival in the race for the crown, young German Lukas Thiele (Opel Corsa Rally4), co-driven by Loris Elst, nevertheless put up a fierce fight. So much so that he took a gamble on slick tyres during the first loop on Saturday. By setting two fastest times on the four special stages on the programme, Thiele was 22.5 seconds behind Depotter on the first return to Spa.
The rest of the day went in favour of the young Dutch-speaking driver, already crowned Belgian Junior Champion, who scored four stage wins on the second loop to finish the day with a lead of almost a minute over Thiele.
On Sunday morning, Depotter went into management mode, leaving the best times to his rivals in the eagerly awaited stages at Theux and Ster. On the second pass through Theux, Lukas Thiele and Loris Elst's crash put an end to the title fight. With another victory, Lander Depotter and Jasper Maelfait secured an undisputed crown...
"Throughout the weekend, I made sure I controlled the situation by avoiding taking unnecessary risks," commented Depotter on the podium at Spa. On Saturday, we were able to build up a good lead, and on Sunday's stage, we just had to get to the finish and survive, especially in the Theux special stage. All that mud was no gift for our front-wheel drive car, but we didn't make any mistakes..."
The undisputed attraction of the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup Belux at Spa, the first appearance of a Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally4 in national competition was bound to turn heads. Right from the Shakedown, Hugo Cravillon and Jean-François Blaise made their mark on social media by escaping a perilous situation, before gaining momentum during the two stages of this final, which ended with an excellent 2nd place...
"I'm delighted with the Lancia's performance and potential," said a relieved Hugo Cravillon at the finish line. "I made a small mistake in the very last special stage, stalling the engine, but we were able to get going again. I really enjoyed my first outing at the wheel of this Lancia!"
The Spa podium was completed by Corentin Fiasse and Adrien Hauteclair, who never let up in their Peugeot 208 Rally4, even setting the fastest time in the first run of Ster on Sunday morning. The duo finished the Spa Rally just 20 seconds behind Cravillon and Blaise's Lancia, allowing them to finish the 2025 Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup Belux on the lowest step of the podium!
While Corentin Dozot and Coline Fallay had bad luck with their Peugeot 208 Rally4, forced to retire on Saturday following a broken engine mount, young Sergio Plattes, partnered with Andreas Palm, racked up the kilometres and experience for the future, completing all 15 stages of this very difficult Spa Rally 2025.
Collette and Huberlant in Rally6
With five Rally6 cars from the Stellantis group on the starting podium, the battle promised to be just as spectacular at this level of the classification. Although Christian Jupsin and Michael Louette finished Saturday's first loop in the lead with their Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally6, they unfortunately went off the road at the start of SS8 Wanne 2.
That was all it took for Julien Collette and Xavier Huberlant to take the lead in their Peugeot 208 Rally6, an advantageous position they would maintain until the end, winning ahead of young German driver Claire Schönborn, co-driven by Michael Wenzel, who set no less than eight fastest times, only a time-consuming puncture in SS4 preventing them from securing victory.
Smail Haddouche and Marcel Grasges completed the podium in their Peugeot 208 Rally6, ahead of the Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally6 driven by rookie Bob Wohrmann, co-driven by Thibaut Blaimont.
There is no doubt that the Rally4 and Rally6 cars lined up under the Stellantis banner made a big impression at Spa! We can't wait for the 2026 racing season to begin...
