Cédric Cherain and Damien Withers win superb Legend Boucles @ Bastogne 2025

For the 10th edition of the Legend Boucles in Bastogne, the organisers of R.A.C. Spa had three days to savour! With the massive crowds on Friday evening and throughout the rest of the weekend, the spectacle of the cars of yesteryear on the gravel and asphalt sections, the omnipresence of world rally champion Thierry Neuville and the final victory of Belgian champion Cédric Cherain, the emotion was total and the success more than ever...

This time, he did it! For several years now, Cédric Cherain has shown that he can drive a racing car from the days of yore, but he had never had the opportunity to lift the winner's trophy at Bastogne. This time, all the planets aligned, and from Saturday morning, the 2024 Belgian rally champion took the reins of the event, an advantageous position he has never relinquished since! On Sunday, on the RT forest roads, Cherain and Withers combined performance and caution to claim a victory that is particularly close to their hearts...

It's finally won,’ breathed Cédric Cherain after the finish. We've been chasing this success for a number of years now, and this time it went off without a hitch! We took advantage of these Legend Boucles to unveil the Porsche that we'll be using in the Belgian championship this year, and to kick off the season with a victory in Bastogne with another rear-wheel drive car, I see that as a sign of destiny! I'd like to thank all my partners for a superb weekend which ended in champagne!

Although Cédric Cherain is now a Legend Boucles winner, he had to leave the limelight to Thierry Neuville this weekend! The world rally champion took to the track for three days with the same smile on his face, and put on a great show at the wheel of a Lifelive Motorsport BMW M3 E30. It was really a rally without any pressure for us, and it felt really good to continue the WRC title celebrations here,’ explained Thierry on the podium in Place McAuliffe. Well done to Pierre Delettre and his team for putting on such a great event. We'll certainly have to fine-tune the coefficients with a view to future editions, but with my co-driver Antoine Cornet, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves...’.

The other great man of these Legend Boucles 2025 was Bruno Thiry! For the first time at the wheel of a highly competitive Ford Escort Mk2, our former World Rally Championship driver spent a long time in absolute 2nd place... before unfortunately falling victim to a slow puncture in the penultimate timed sector! Having completed the RT in slow motion, Thiry and Portier slipped off the final podium. But they left their mark and unleashed the passions...

Already twice second in the Legend Boucles, Guino Kenis and Bjorn Vanoverschelde added another silver medal to their list of achievements! Once again, the G&A Racing BMW 325i E30 was very efficient, and against this year's competition, Kenis was finally satisfied to finish in this position once again.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) The other great man of these Legend Boucles 2025 was Bruno Thiry! For the first time at the wheel of a highly competitive Ford Escort Mk2, our former World Rally Championship driver spent a long time in absolute 2nd place... before unfortunately falling victim to a slow puncture in the penultimate timed sector! Having completed the RT in slow motion, Thiry and Portier slipped off the final podium. But they left their mark and unleashed the passions...

Already twice second in the Legend Boucles, Guino Kenis and Bjorn Vanoverschelde added another silver medal to their list of achievements! Once again, the G&A Racing BMW 325i E30 was very efficient, and against this year's competition, Kenis was finally satisfied to finish in this position once again.

Having alternated between driver and co-driver throughout the weekend, Stéphane Lefebvre and Mickael Reydellet took advantage of Bruno Thiry's puncture to claim the final podium and position a second Andes Motorsport Escort in the top 3. Once again, the driver from the Nord region had a great time!

Not only did André Lotterer have the time of his life at the wheel of his Gr.4 August Porsche 911, but he also took the final scratch of the Legend Boucles! The world endurance champion admitted it at the finish: rallying is the absolute kingdom of driving. We'll see him again at the start in Bastogne, with even greater ambitions.

Well established in the top 5 on Sunday morning, Frenchman Maxime Vilmot (Ford Escort Mk2) thought he'd lost everything when he went off the road on the first section of the day. He was nevertheless able to restart, with the front end of his Ford Escort Mk2 slightly open, to finally claim a convincing 5th place overall behind Cherain, Kenis, Lefebvre and Thiry! A good result.

He finished ahead of Olivier Cartelle (Ford Escort Mk2), who overcame the Indian sign by finally competing in Sunday's forest RTs! And even though he admits to a lack of driving time, Bastogne being his only annual rally, Cartelle enjoyed himself immensely... and he's already looking forward to 2026.

Best regional driver of this 2025 edition, Billy Simoné took full advantage of the potential of the second G&A Racing BMW 325i E30, which he believes is easier to exploit than last year's M3. He finished ahead of Christophe De Leeuw (Opel Ascona A) in the top 10, who was as efficient as ever, Loïc Pirot at the wheel of the Lifelive Motorsport BMW M3 E30, and Frenchman Thierry Barjou (Ford Escort Mk2), who is definitely a fan of the event and the region.

While Grégoire de Mévius (Nissan Sunny GTi-R) and Thierry Neuville finished just outside the top 10, Nicolas Blerot (Peugeot 205 GTi) was 13th and William Reyntiens, who took full advantage of a very good Ford Escort Mk2, was 14th.

Challenger: Kettels and Sulbout on the green carpet

The 80 kph Challenger category, which has been the preserve of regional crews for several years now, was characterised by extremely close gaps throughout the event. Although Jencôme Theis and Laurent Perrée (Ford Escort Mk1) were at the top of the standings after the final RT, ahead of Pierre-Henri Kettels and Romain Sulbout (Ford Escort Mk1) by just a tiny point, an early score earlier in the day resulted in a penalty that gave the latter victory! Following in the footsteps of Blerot-Dauby, Van Hove-Windeshausen, Theis-Perrée, Magerolle-Hennuy and Jaumin-Godfrin, Kettels and Sulbout confirmed that the ‘Challenger’ category can boast the most varied prize list of the event!

They beat Bruno and Florent Nielen (BMW 325i E30), who are closing in on victory, and the always superb Alfa Romeo GTV6 of Dimitri Van Hove and Lionel Windeshausen. Nicolas Servatius and Laurent Martin (Ford Escort Mk2) on the one hand, and Jonathan Georges and Elisabeth Fagnant (Peugeot 205 GTi) on the other, completed the final top 5, while Jérôme Martiny, the Belgian hero of the last Dakar in the Moto category, finished the event in 7th position in the company of Frédéric Lejeune in his BMW 323i.

Classic 65: the Deflandres resist and win!

It was a great battle between Belgium and France this weekend in the Classic 65 category of the Legend Boucles! While Yves and Benoit Deflandre (Porsche 911) were out in front, Frenchmen Christophe Baillet and Gauthier Brignon (Ford Escort Mk2) never allowed them to let their guard down. Often unlucky in recent years, Yves Deflandre won for a second time after his success in... 2016! This time with his son Benoit at his side. As for Baillet and Brignon, experts in the art of putting pressure on the Belgian specialists, they have already set a date with their rivals and friends for the next races of the season!

The final RTs saw a number of changes in the hunt for places of honour, with Dave Cuynen and Guy Desmet (BMW 320/6) finally completing the overall podium, ahead of Claude Ninane and Freddy Cara (Opel Kadett GT/E), René Georges and Jean-Marc Piret (Volkswagen Golf GTi), and Alain Lamberty and Frank Frankenberg (Opel Ascona B). Less success for Jean-Marc Devillers and Guy Hardenne (Ford Escort Mk2), but also Eric Gengou and Didier Gathy (Volvo 142), who were still in the top 5 heading to the finish before a more complicated end to the race.

Classic 50: Simon and Bernard never give up

There was a superb battle in the Classic 50 too! While Mario Varrewaere and Pablo Cracco (Nissan Sunny GTi) had surged to the top of the standings late on Saturday, Patrice Simon and Christian Bernard (Porsche 924), the first leaders of these Legend Boucles, never gave up. And Sunday's stage was to be theirs, with the duo managing a lead of just a few units over the Nissan duo to win for the first time in Bastogne.

Frenchmen Jérôme Ambrosini and Montgomery Abel (Audi 80 GT) took 3rd place in the final, keeping ahead of Peter Wouters and Charly Laroye (Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 S), Felix Jacobs and Roberto Conego (Porsche 912), and Jeroen and Brian Nijs (Lancia Beta Coupé 1800).

Tribute Battle of the Bulge: de Braekeleer and van Rijckevorsel make history

Three Willys Jeeps took part in this 2025 edition of the Legend Boucles @ Bastogne, an initiative to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge! In their ‘Gendarmerie’ version, Edouard de Braekeleer and Frederic van Rijckevorsel rounded off some very intense weeks with a clear overall victory, ahead of Marc Baltus and Denis Colin on the one hand and Philippe Vermaut and Renaat Declerck on the other. Well done to these adepts of regularity at 30 km/h aboard a machine that has more than left its mark on the history of the region...

Curtain up on this five-star edition of the Legend Boucles @ Bastogne, undoubtedly the most successful since the winter classic moved to the heart of the province of Luxembourg...