Lejeune and HP2 Sport enjoy success in International Rally Championship

After 10 days of intense competition on racetracks and roads all over France, HP2 Sport rider Fred Lejeune from Belgium has finished in second place at the 2008 Dark Dog Moto Tour of France. This result also means that the 36-year-old BMW Motorrad dealer finishes in second place overall in the 2008 International Rally Championship (of which the Dark Dog Moto Tour is just one part) and repeats his success story from 2007.

Earlier this year, Fred Lejeune won the Belgian Dark Dog Tour for the second consecutive time on his BMW HP2 Megamoto, and following the Portuguese round of the International Rally Championship – which took place from 5–7 September – Fred was among the favourites for the 2008 title, going into the French Dark Dog Tour. Around 200 participants from several countries met for the FIM-approved event, which started on 25 September in Reims and ended in Toulon on 5 October.

The rally visited many places all over France, including the island of Corsica – and the competition stages took place on several racetracks as well as special stages that were held on public roads. Success required not just fantastic on and off-road riding skills, but also navigational expertise and the ability to keep concentration levels high for nine days of competition and around 3,000 kilometres of riding.

Fred Lejeune is no stranger to international competition, having participated in the BMW Boxer Cup series with his brother Eric, as well as the Belgian Enduro Championship. Having entered the ‘experts’ category with the top competitors (the International Rally Championship also included ‘Promotion’, ‘Classic’ and ‘Scooter’ classes) Fred knew that his main adversary throughout the 10 days of road rally riding, navigational tests and special stages, would be Frenchman Denis Bouan.

Bouan was looking for revenge, having narrowly missed out on victory in last May’s Belgian Moto Tour, when a simple navigational mistake handed the victory to Fred, who won by less than a quarter of a second – after more than 25 hours of riding! Switching from the HP2 Megamoto to an HP2 Sport for this longer event, Fred kept his French rival on his toes throughout the rally’s duration, finishing in second place in six of the ten stages. However, with six stage wins in total, Denis Bouan was impossible to beat this year and Fred was forced to settle for second place.

"It's been a fantastic race,” said Fred. “I haven't had the slightest problem with the HP2 Sport, which was definitely very competitive – especially on the circuits where we've been riding. Furthermore, the organisation of our team helped us stay in contention throughout the rally. I'm now looking forward to the IRC 2009 with the aim of winning the championship!"

This result rounds off a great year of sporting success for Fred Lejeune, who now has the 2008 Vice International Rally Champion accolade to add to his hard-earned Belgian Rally Champion title from earlier this year. Expect him to go one better in 2009.

For more information about this year’s championship, please visit the French language http://www.moto-tour.com/2008 website.

Overall classification (Experts-Multi)
1 Denis Bouan (FRA) Buell 1125R
2 Fred Lejeune (BEL) BMW HP2 sport
3 Philippe Pinchedez (FRA) Ducati Hypermotard
4 Benjamin Colliaux (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R