Rally-eMag 027 April 2015

Oh britannia

Meeke mania Argentina

Issue 27, April 2015

tac & Wallonie

putten Plus: Erik’s Epic Encounters

looking for the limit... found it!

Image: Erik van ‘t Land

rally argentina i

s a wet and wi

Image: Erik van ‘t Land

ld adventure

ogier hit trouble , never stopped attacking thoug h Image: Erik van ‘t Land

It’s been a long road, but kris m eek with his first w rc win in argent e got his due ina Image: Erik van ‘t Land

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Rally-eMag April 2015 / Contents

This month Who made it?

Publisher: Rally-eMag Words: Steven van Veenendaal, Harry van Veenendaal.

Photography: Bas Romeny, Erik van ‘t Land, Andy Crayford

Who helped?

Logo design: Minse Blom Backcover artwork: Dam Charles Distribution: Issuu.com

Who we thank!

PR Photography from: Peugeot Sport, Hyundai Motorsport, Citroen Racing, FIA ERC, Volkswagen Motorsport, M-Sport.

How to reach us?

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Email: info@rally-emag.com Web: www.rally-emag.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ emagrally Twitter: @emagrally Issuu: www.issuu.com/rally-emag

WRC Rally Argentina

BRC TAC rally

BRC Rallye de Wallonie

NRK Rally van Putten

Meeke Mania

Belgian Championship round 3

Belgian Championship round 4

Dutch Championship round 2

Erik’s epic encounters

Page 13

Page 26

Page 27

Page 28

Page 31

Rally-eMag April 2015 / News 9/34

This month’s wrap up New cars in Portugal A lot of work has been done vide greater vertical load on the in the workshops and the test front axle, whilst also reducing sites of the teams. the drag coefficient. All of this comes with a new-look livery, Volkswagen already intro- which emphasises the dynamduced it’s 2015 evolution, but ic feel of the DS 3 WRCs. they had to do some work as two cars abandoned in Argenti- At M-Sport they also have a na. Both cars suffered from the new evolution of the Fiesta same problem. After thorough WRC. On the outside not very research they found out that much can be seen but most a fuel injector broke and that of the changes are under the broken particles prevented the bonnet. A completely new eninjector from working properly. gine, developed in house in the VW ordered new spec injectors M-Sport studio’s, has to deliver at supplier Bosch to prevent more power and a considerthe problem from materializing able increase in torque. Apart again. As injectors are homolo- from the engine everything gated parts, the team have to under the bonnet has been use a joker for this injector to redesigned to accommodate be allowed. the new engine. This means a total revision of the cooling Citroën already introduced package, transmission, elecsome improvements with revi- tronics, wiring harness and difsions to engine, gearshift con- ferentials. They have built five trols, rear suspension, geom- new-specs Fiesta’s for the Metry and rear spoiler ahead of Sport customers Kubica, BerMonte Carlo. Since then they telli and Prokop and of course have been working on further for their own team drivers Ott developments to be introduced Tänak and Elfyn Evans. Evan’s in Portugal. These improve- car is a very special one as ments, as their press release it is the 50th Fiesta RS WRC states, are mainly focused on that came out of the Cumbrian redefined aerodynamics on workshops. the front end. The new bumper and redesigned wings will pro-

Rally-eMag April 2015 / News

Nine rallies nominated for 2016 During last week’s meeting of the FIA World Rally Championship Commission nine WRC events were nominated to get a place on the 2016 WRC calendar.

Two of them, Monte Carlo (21-24 January) and Sweden (12-14 February also got their date confirmed.

These events will be submitted for final ratification to the World Motor Sport Council. Apart from Monte Carlo and Sweden, the following rallies have also been nominated: Argentina, Australia, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Poland and Spain. For those events that have not been run yet in 2015, they of course have to present a ‘satisfactory’ running of their event this year.

No surprises?

We already knew several organizations had long-term contracts so the inclusion of Finland and Poland for example is no surprise. Now the other organizations also all seem to have longer-term agreements. The inclusion of the long haul events like Australia, Argentina and Mexico is no surprise, as the WRC Promoter wants a more evenly spread of the events over the globe. A small surprise is perhaps Italy. For a long time there have been discussions about Sardinia. “It’s to complicated and expensive to get there; there are relatively few local fans”, etcetera. Or will San Remo come back? We very much doubt that for 2016. For the longer term we wouldn’t know.

of car manufacturers, especially Volkswagen that is now dominating the WRC. We therefore expect (and hope) that Germany will be back on the calendar.

Wales/Rally GB is also a surprise. Although we know that within some groups it is not the most popular rally, but with Kris Meeke and Elfyn Evans popularity has been growing the last few years. So it would have been logical to include this event. For Portugal it is important to show they can organize a good rally in a new area. France has the same thing. After The Alsace region threw out the rally they now have to show they can organize a good rally again especially with the limited funds they have available.

In September the World Motorsports Council will ratify the calendar, then including the four events that are not yet on the list. We expect one of them to be a new rally. This will be an event outside of Europe and we think it will be either Brazil or China with South Africa as an outsider.

Not on the list Bigger surprises come from the rallies not on the list.

Germany is the biggest surprise. It has everything the WRC Promoter wants: easily accessible with a huge amount of fans living within a short distance, a history

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Monte Carlo is again the season opener. Image: Steven van Veenendaal

Rally-eMag April 2015 / News

Four Hyundai drives for Abbring In the beginning of the 2015 season, Hyundai announced Dutchman Kevin Abbring had signed a contract in the role of official test driver for 2015 for the Korean WRC team. According to the official press release, the Dutchman would be focussed on development of the new i20 and he will compete in ‘selected WRC events’. At the official opening of the WRC season in the Monte Carlo based Hotel de Paris, team principal Michel Nandan repeated this announcement but until recently it was not clear what events Abbring would be doing. Recently however, things became clear. He will do four more events.

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Sweden In Sweden Abbring was called at very short notice to come to Sweden.

Not for the usual recce, no this time it was for real. Dani Sordo could not compete due to an injury, so Abbring was called to replace Paddon in the Hyundai Motorsport N team. Paddon, in his turn, replaced Sordo in the main team. In his maiden event in a World Rally Car Abbring did well and reached the finish in eleventh place. After that he was very busy developing both the latest additions to the ‘old’ car (like the recently introduced paddle shift) and development work on the new i20. He will continue do-

Fond memories, Abbring took his first JWRC victory in Poland in 2009

Words and images: Harry van Veenendaal

ing that, as well as the recces of all WRC events, but there will be more.

Four rallies The first of the four rallies will be Poland, after that he will compete in Rallye Deutschland, Rallye de France– Tour de Corse and in Wales Rally GB. “I have very fond memories of Poland,” Abbring says. “It was my first win in a JWRC event and I’m proud to have beaten local hero Michał Kościuszko in his own country.” In Germany the young Dutchman also has some experience. His WRC debut was here when he only just got his driver’s licence in 2007. Driving a Mitsubishi EVO IX he finished 10th in class N4. One year later, in his first JWRC season under the banner of the KNAF Talent first programme he finished 6th in JWRC. During his last outing there (2010) he had to retire. Last year in Corsica Abbring was flying his R5 Peugeot 208 T16 over the twisty stages. Two RRC cars were too fast for him but he won the R5 class. And the sweetest memory of Wales GB 2011 was finishing fastest in S2000 and 12th overall in the VW Motorsport team Skoda Fabia.

A sign of things to come? Abbring used a Hyundai recce car early on in his career.

Rally Argentina / Overview 13/34

Rally Argentina

Based in: Villa Carlos Paz Date: 23-26/04/15 Number of stages: 12 Shortest stage: Super Especial Merlo - San Luis, 2.68 km Longest stage: San Marcos - Characato, 56.77 km Total stage distance: 334 km Surface: Gravel Image: Erik van ‘t Land

Rally Argentina / Revieww

meeke mania WRC promoter Oliver Ciesla must have been happy with the result of this year’s Rally Argentina. He wants heroes for his beloved World Rally Championship. One of the all time heroes of WRC was Colin McRae. Although he sadly died several years ago he is still adored by fans all over the world. It was McRae who saw the raw talent of a young British driver: Kris Meeke. It took quite some time but in Argentina 2015 he was finally proven right: His protégée won his first WRC event. A new hero was born!

Words: Harry van Veenendaal

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Images: Erik van ‘t Land / Rallypicture.nl

Rally Argentina / Revieww 15/34

Before the event After the short six-week spring break everyone was eager to start again. Most teams used the break for testing, either new evolutions, or simply tweaking existing evolutions. Hyundai was tweaking its shift paddles and they were introduced in Argentina. At the same time they have been testing the new evolution i20. But they came to the conclusion that it will not be possible to present the new evolution this year, as originally planned. They postponed the introduction until Monte Carlo next year. Production planning of the four-door version of the car interfered with the development schedule of the WRC team. Poland did not provide good news either.

Human hero Robert Kubica announced he would not be competing in Argentina. He needs to have time to restructure his team. Seemingly there is some tension between the Robert Kubica World Rally team and the Italian outfit A-Style that is responsible for the preparation of the Pole’s Fiesta WRC. “But I’ll be back in Portugal,” he quickly assured us. From France we got some good news.

Citroën announced that Khalid Al Qassimi would be driving the third DS3 WRC of the team. At M-Sport they completely rebuilt the Tänak Fiesta that went swimming in Mexico and also they did a lot of testing of the new evolution due to appear in Portugal.

There are quite a few people who agree that, for a sport to be really popular, it needs heroes. After Loeb, Ogier was to be this hero.

He won, just about everything there was to win. Still he is not the real hero. He is fast but he lacks something. What it is, no one can really tell you. Probably it is his attitude. He is extremely professional but, for people who don’t know him, seems distant.

Look at the difference with his teammate. Latvala is not consistently as fast but perhaps due to his friendly nature, or actually the fact that he does make mistakes from time to time, is much closer to being a hero.

The reactions to Meeke’s victory however, especially in the Anglo Saxon world, catapulted Meeke to instant herodom. Social media exploded, but also the traditional media could not get enough of the Northern Irishman. So it was not a ‘business as usual’ victory that was celebrated in Argentina on the 26th of April after the last stage.

Every human emotion ranging from tears to laughs and everything in between passed Meeke’s face. And that is perhaps what makes him a hero: he is simply human.

Rally Argentina / Revieww

Who will win?

After his victory last year, obviously Latvala is eager to win here. Especially after his disastrous start of the season. Kris Meeke was in the same boat and was more or less desperate to show that Yves Matton had been right when he hired him. And Ogier? Well he simply wanted to continue the way he started the season: winning. At shakedown this became clear. Ogier and Meeke were joined first, with Mikkelsen, Østberg, Latvala, Neuville and Sordo following at a short distance. The stage was set, the sun was sinking low down and tomorrow they could start the real showdown!

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Disaster strikes For Ogier the rally started badly. The opening stage was the infamous 52 kilometre long Agua de Ore stage.

After 45 kilometres it was game over for the reigning champion. A then unknown technical issue stopped the engine of his VW. Kris Meeke complained of a faulty handbrake for most of the stage. Neuville collected a puncture that destroyed the side of his car. “It was getting quite dusty in the car”, he explained at stage end.

Teammate Sordo doesn’t need to go to the gym this evening. He has been working out during the bigger part of the long stage, as his power steering wasn’t working properly. For Haydon Paddon it was even worse: “After only three kilometres the gear-

box mounts have broken”, he said at the stage end. He proceeded to the midday service where the engineers found a host of other things. A broken exhaust manifold caused his retirement for the day.

The carnage continues Just to remind you: we’re still in the first day of the rally! During lunch there was no rest for the mechanics. All teams had issues and a lot of things had to be repaired. But when the action started again the first casualty of the afternoon was Andreas Mikkelsen. His landing after a jump was harder than planned and a spring in his front suspension broke through the bonnet. The crippled VW came to a stop at the side of the narrow road. Thierry Neuville was the first to be there and could only just pass the stricken car. “I had to give him a little push,” the Belgian confessed. Mikkelsen was not amused. “This is the result of the new rules,” he fumed. “Now the following drivers cannot be warned for a situation like this.” This is not completely true as drivers may be warned for security reasons, by their teams. But perhaps the rules make the teams a bit reluctant to use the radio system. The last victim of the day was Ott Tänak. Again he was stopped by water. This time he went into water splash and broke a wheel from his car on a concealed rock.

Ogier had a technical issue, Sordo had no power steering and Tanak was once again having watery troubles when he hit a stone in a watersplash.

Rally Argentina / Revieww

Latvala attacks With Ogier out of contention, Latvala sees his chance and starts to attack.

On the first stage of the afternoon he reduces the gap to Meeke by 50 %.

He was driving really fast but was helped by a puncture for Meeke. The effort brought him the runner up spot as Sordo is still suffering from his power steering problems. But Latvala also has to suffer. His gearbox does not want to cooperate, causing him to lose time and throwing him back to third place, just behind Østberg, who also had his share of issues, but he survived and brought his team a one-two classification that is quite welcome.

when Hayden Paddon lost control of his car after a jump. The next bend could therefore not be negotiated in the proper way, and he went off, unfortunately in a place where a lot of spectators had installed themselves.

Quite a few were injured. Most of the wounded spectators could be treated on site but six of them had to be hospitalized. Obviously the stage was cancelled.

Bad luck for Sordo Dani Sordo was quite happy as his power steering was now working again. So he was on the way for a good fourth place, even a podium finish was in sight. But then on the last stage an electrical problem stopped his progress. All stages were VW wins Scary Saturday Saturday started without any wind. So today. Ogier won the first one Mikkelsen the others. Ogier was not a happy the dust thrown up by the cars simman. “There was a lot of dust and no ply hung in the air. Kris Meeke was wind that could blow it away. Visibility one of the first and most prominent was almost zero”, he claimed. “But I victims. An approaching bend came guess the others face the same probsooner than anticipated and the only lems,” he added. But his complaints way out was a spin. He managed to were not over yet, as his power steerget back on the right track but lost ing faltered on the San Marcos – Chasome time. Østberg, though feeling racato stage. “On a 40+ kilometre far from well, could close the gap by fifteen seconds. Meeke, now in ‘safety plus stage that is quite a challenge!” he finished his comment. mode’ again lost some time on the next stage as Østberg kept on going, keeping alive a dream result for CitLatvala could not capitalize on Ogier’s deroen.

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Accident The next stage the second passing of Fernet Branca-Capilla Del MonteSan Marcos was stopped quite soon

mise. His miserably unlucky continued when an issue similar to Ogier’s meant he had to retire.

Ogier did not win. Yes, he seems a bit awestruck himself too.

Rally Argentina / Revieww 18/34

Finally it was Meeke’s time to shine.

The carnage is not over Only just less than 33 kilometres were left; with a 38.6 second lead what could happen to a historic victory for Meeke?

Could Latvala bridge the 25-second gap to runner-up Østberg? It seemed quite clear, but it wasn’t. On the menu was the infamous El Condor stage. All in line with the 2015 running of Rally Argentina El Condor proved to be the sting in the tail, or should we say several stings. It all begins with Latvala in a solid third place when he comes to a stop. The same issue that earlier side-lined Ogier now stops Latvala. To make the misery for VW even worse Mikkelsen slides his car into a rock on the PowerStage and cripples his Polo.

Not much later Neuville has an en-

counter with the same rock and he too has to stop. That was the last drama in this event. As expected Ogier wins the PowerStage and the three points connected to that. Sordo proved his current form, throws all his frustrations of this rally into the PowerStage and gains two extra championship points by being the runner up in the stage and Østberg fights his heavy cold and becomes third in the stage. That sums up the last day’s events. Meeke, in safety mode nurses his car into the finish and wins. Østberg makes it a Citroen 1, 2 and Elfyn Evans climbs the last podium step. For British fans this was a fine day. Two Brits on the podium and one on the highest step when was the last time that happened?

Rally Argentina / Round-up

Round-up Volkswagen World Rallyteam Argentina was the worst weekend ever for the German team. The only prize they won was winning the PowerStage, so at least Ogier had something to celebrate: three extra championship points. But that is not what the team has been used to since a long time.

For the other teams this was some consolation: they are not completely invincible after all. Though Ogier was the only one to win something, it did not start well for the Frenchman. On the first stage on Friday it started with a rare technical glitch.

His car sounded like a tractor and the engine was clearly not running well. “A fuel supply problem,� the team said. That solved, another problem caused some delay: a broken power steering. It made victory impossible. Latvala took over

but he did not even make it to the finish. A transmission issue threw him back a bit, then in his pursuit on Saturday he spinned and to top it all of he was faced with the same problem that initially side-lined Ogier.

Mikkelsen did not even make it through the first day. A puncture on Friday was the beginning of a lot of trouble and at a certain moment we saw the right damper of the Polo R. It was pointing through the bonnet, not the usual place for a damper to be. He then retired with power steering failure. He came back strongly the next day by winning the two long stages, but on the final day he hit a rock and had to retire.

As we said, it was not a happy rally for Volkswagen.

Hyundai Shell World Rally Team

Hyundai’s best driver in Argentina was Dani Sordo, at some point he was in second place but then his problems began. One of them seemed to be coming back all the time: power steering, or rather the lack of it. An electrical problem dropped him down the leaderboard on Saturday but on the final day he regained some places by winning the first stage and reaching second on the second running of the stage, then the PowerStage. So apart from the two bonus points for being runner up on the PowerStage he finished fifth over all which brought him seventh place in the championship standings.

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That is still some points away from teammate Thierry Neuville.

Probably Neuville wants to forget about Argentina soon. Already on the first stage on Friday he got a

puncture, which cost him a lot.

He raced back to fourth place but was a bit over-eager to win bonus points in the PowerStage. The rock that kicked Mikkelsen out of the rally did the same for Neuville. So he did not finish. Neuville: zero points.

Hayden Paddon soon found out Argentina is a difficult one. After a mere 300 metres into the first stage on Friday there was a heavy blow that broke a gearbox mount.

This was the beginning of a series of events that ended his rally at midday service. There was simply too much to repair for the service crew. The next day he came back but then he had a horrific crash in which some spectators were injured. Six of them had to be taken to hospital. On Sunday he came back and managed to finish decently on the El Condor stage.

Rally Argentina / Round-up

M-Sport World Rallyeam After Mexico M-Sport dedicated quite some time on rebuilding Ott Tänak’s Fiësta so it could be taken to Argentina for him to compete in.

Both car and driver performed well, initially taking fourth place. Not much later however he encountered a water splash that hid a rock. He hit it and the suspension broke. Again he had to retire in the water. Luckily this time he did not need his scuba gear. When he came back on Saturday he was in ‘ultra caution’ mode but on Sunday found back some confidence to record some good times.

Elfyn Evans did what he is good at: avoiding trouble at the best possible speed. Whenever he adopts this mode he is successful. In Argentina this was the same. He was driving good times and apart from a little ‘talk’ to Neuville after the stricken Belgian did not make enough room to pass, he seemed to see the hidden rocks that wanted to take off his wheel, he could see through the dust and generally stayed out of trouble. That, and some solid times earned him his first WRC podium and he deserved it!

Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Where it was a bad weekend for Volkswagen, for Citroën it was just like the good old times. The most important thing was that hiring Kris Meeke finally paid dividend. His near perfect drive brought him where his early mentor Colin McRae had predicted him to be: on the top step of a WRC podium. Yves Matton, who also had given the Northern Irishman a lot of trust, was also rewarded. Some critics may say this was an easy victory with all Volkswagens out, but that would be quite inaccurate. Meeke was fast from the beginning and he stayed fast. He had his moments too with a handbrake not working and an engine that suddenly stopped but he did not lose his cool before he was on the podium when tears as well as broad smiles followed in rapid succession. The reactions in (especially the British) press were overwhelming and the fans could not stop Twittering and Facebooking about their hero and his well deserved and granted victory.

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Meeke’s strongest contender was Mads Østberg. Again technical issues hampered the Norwegian and on top of that he was so ill that he had to ask his co-driver Jonas Andersson to take the wheel on road sections.

Nevertheless he kept on fighting on

the stages and secured the first onetwo result for Citroën in a long time.

Still he was not entirely happy. Due to the technical glitches he claimed he lost some 45 seconds. At the end of the day he was just over 18 seconds behind Meeke…

In Argentina Khalid Al Qassimi once again was the third driver of the team.

In terms of WRC appearances he lacked some experience. The last time he was in a WRC event was in Spain last year. That together with the fact he never competed in Argentina or in the new 2015 spec DS3 made it difficult. But here again it shows that being cautious perhaps can’t win you rallies, but it can bring you at the finish. Al Qassimi proved that point by bringing his car in, in a very decent sixth place.

Rally Argentina / Round-up 21/34

Jipocar Czech Rally Team Martin Prokop is a cautious driver he has to be, as he is driving in a completely private team that has to look very carefully at every penny they spend.

This approach earned him fourth place in 2012 in this same rally and in 2015 he did that again. It was probably the last time he was running Fiona the Fiesta as the team is now racing to build a new 2015 spec Fiona for Portugal.

Fuckmatie World Rally Team Lorenzo Bertelli like quite a few other drivers was victim of the Agua de Oro to Ascochinga stage when he hit something making him lose a wheel. He spent the next few days as road sweeper for the other teams finished and in a not so rewarding 19th place.

RK World Rally Team Though part of the hardware made it to Argentina, Robert Kubica himself was not there to compete. Shortly before the start of the event he had to announce he would not be there. His team badly needed restructuring and he had to spend his time on that task. He vowed, however to be back in Portugal.

Rally Argentina / Results 22/34

Overall final classification 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

K. Meeke-P. Nagle Citroën DS3 WRC 3:41:44.9 M. Østberg-J. Andersson Citroën DS3 WRC +18.1 E. Evans-D. Barritt Ford Fiesta WRC +3.27.4 M. Prokop-J. Tomanek Ford Fiesta WRC +6:26.1 D. Sordo-M. Martí Hyundai i20 WRC +10:46.7 K. Al Qassimi-C. Patterson Citroën DS3 WRC +11:19.9 A. Al-Kuwari-M. Clarke Ford Fiesta RRC +16:02.6 D. Dominguez-E. Galindo Ford Fiesta R5 +18:48.2 G. Saba-D. Cagnotti Škoda Fabia S2000 +21:20.6 F. Villagra-D. Curletto Ford Fiesta S2000 +25:19.6

Rally Argentina / Standings 23/34

2015 FIA WRC Drivers’ Standings 1.

Ogier 84 2. Østberg 51 3.

Mikkelsen 47 4.

Evans 41 5.

Meeke 35 6.

Neuville 35 7.

Sordo 30 8.

Prokop 26 9.

Latvala 19 10. Tanak 12

2015 FIA WRC Manufacturers’ Standings 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Volkswagen Motorsport Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT Hyundai Motorsport M-Sport WRT Jipocar Czech National Team Volkswagen Motorsport II Hyundai Motorsport N Fuckmatie WRT SRL

101 85 85 71 32 15 9 3

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Rally-eMag / Shorts

TAC rally

Third round of the Belgian Rally Championship

Words: Steven van Veenendaal; Images: PR

Ahead of the TAC Rally, round three of the Belgian Rally Championship, Freddy Loix played down his chances. “I have done some test work last week, so I have a rhythm, but that was in an R5 and WRC, on a loose surface. So I will have to flick the switch now that I am back in the Fabia S2000 and on tarmac again. It will be tough to compete with the R5 cars here because their torque advantage gives them an edge accelerating out of the many square corners here. “ It’s clear that Freddy can’t wait until the new Fabia R5 arrives, but for now he will have to make due with his vast experience and the Fabia S2000.

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Rain Dark clouds loom over the service park before the opening stages causing a lot of worried faces and frantic discussions within the teams about which tyres to fit. Kris Princen expects the wind to clear the skies before too much rain can fall, but Freddy Loix is not so sure and decides to fit a soft compound. It would soon turn out to be the right call. Loix’ weatherman skills are evident as the rain does fall and creates havoc up front. In only the second corner of the rally the first frontrunner, Vincent Verschueren, hits trouble as he slides his DS3 R5 off the road and beeches it. Despite the help of spectators it takes nearly three minutes to get back on the road. To add injury to insult not much later he brakes a driveshaft and loses another three minutes in the process.

Keeping a good pace ‘Fast Freddy’ Loix though, is once again driving around with his characteristic grin. His tyre choice enabled him to immediately open up a lead and after just four stages he leads the pack by nearly a minute. From that point forward really it is all about staying concentrated, not make any mistakes and consolidate the lead. “We knew the rally was far from over so we kept a good pace throughout the remainder of the stages.”

Kris Princen tried to reel Loix back in but never really got back in position to challenge him again.

So after sixteen stages Loix can once again spray the champagne. Lefevere takes a very solid third in his Mitsubishi ahead of the Fiesta R5’s of Cornelis and Becx. Van Parijs brings his spectacular Porsche 997 GT3 home in sixth.

Final result: 1. Loix – Gitsels Skoda Fabia S2000 2. Princen – Kaspers Peugeot 208 T16 3. Lefevere – Vangheluwe Mitsubishi Evo X 4. Cornelis – Debaeke Ford Fiesta R5 5. Becx – van Barschot Ford Fiesta R5 6. Van Parijs – Heyndrickx Porsche 997 GT3 7. Vandenberghe – Maes BMW 130 8. Demaerschalk – Eelbode Citroën DS3 R3T 9. Stouf – Erard Porsche 997 Carrera RS 10. Verschueren – Hostens Citroën DS3 R5

1:34.13,1 +25,9 +1.40,4 +2.15,7 +3.35,3 +5.08,6 +6.26,8 +6.44,4 +7.09,7 +7.50,2

Rally-eMag / Shorts

Fourth round of the Belgian Rally Championship

Words: Steven van Veenendaal; Image: PR

Just like the previous rallies of the Belgian Rally Championship, the Rallye de Wallonie provided plenty of action. Unfortunately there was also another dispute between the event organizers and the front-runners, leaving a sour aftertaste.

New kid on the block Good news came ahead of the event when Stephane Lefebvre announced that he will partake in the remaining rounds of the championship. The reigning JRWC and WRC3 champion will drive a DS3 R5 and his ability was immediately on display as he snatched an early lead. His rally ended not much later as the differential of his car broke during the second loop of stages. It is however clear that the Belgian Rally Championship has added another top driver to its roster who is likely to fight for the top honours throughout the remainder of the season.

Amortizing cars The tricky conditions (read: very wet near the end of the rally) caught out a lot of drivers. Michiel Becx though, had a rather spectacular off. Breaking into a corner his Fiesta R5 suddenly started aquaplaning and slid of the road. The nose of the car gripped into the mud, sending it into a flurry of pirouettes. Although the car looked pretty battered, the damage was mostly superficial and Becx remained rather cool under the situation.

“Amortizing cars is also a part of rallying. If you can’t do that, you can’t enjoy the sport!”

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rallye de wallonie

The dispute Up front Freddy Loix was locked into a battle for victory once again, this time with Cedric Cherain. For most of the event Cherain held the upper hand but once the rain started to fall near the end, the power difference between Cherain’s R5 and Loix’ S2000 became of less importance. Loix sensed the opportunity and managed to pass Cherain on the very last stage of the rally.

Thinking he had won the event by just over a second, Loix set out towards the finish ramp. On his way there though, he encountered a blocked road. After some time Loix found a deviation route but he arrived at the finish two minutes late. Although Loix was not to blame for the blocked road, the organizers concluded he could have taken a more assertive approach in deviating from the route to pass it. The 10 second time penalty was therefore not withdrawn and Loix dropped to second overall, behind the winner Cherain, who admitted that of course this was not the way he had wanted to win the event.

Final result: 1. Cherain – Leyh 2. Loix – Gitsels 3. Bouche – Fernandez 4. Allart – Surson 5. Verschueren – Prevot 6. Leonard – Bultot 7. vd Wauwer – Marnette 8. Fernandes – Kirvel 9. Martin – Louette 10. Serderidis – Miclotte

DS3 R5 Skoda Fabia S2000 Ford Fiesta WRC Skoda Fabia WRC DS3 R5 Subaru Impreza WRC S9 Porsche 997 GT3 Peugeot 207 S2000 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 DS3 R5

2:19:31,7 +8,7 +12,6 +15,2 +2.48,2 +6.56,1 +7.12,6 +9.32,4 +9.47,3 +9.49,7

Rally-eMag / Shorts

rally van putten Words: Steven van Veenendaal; Images: Erik van ‘t Land

The second round of the Dutch Rally Championship brought the crews to the town of Putten for an almost brand new event. The ‘Rally van Putten’ was held for only the second the time and part of the Dutch Championship for the first time. The organizers took the opportunity to revamp the existing stages and add new ones to provide a new and very diverse challenge to the competitors.

After a dominant win at the season opening Tank S Rally, Jasper van den Heuvel was labeled as ‘the man to beat’ but expected to face stiff competition from Hungarian Tobir Erby, Arjen de Koning, Piet van Hoof and Kevin Kooijman. In the end though, it turned out there was very little anyone could do about van den Heuvel’s pace.

Just prior to the event Piet van Hoof had to withdraw due to illness and was replaced by his, almost equally quick, nephew Sander van Hoof. The experienced Henk Vossen, co-driven by the also very experienced Eddy Smeets also took to the start in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. Right from the word go van den Heuvel showed everyone around who’s the boss in the Dutch Championship at the moment.

Winning stage after stage, van den Heuvel

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Second round of the Dutch Rally Championship

rapidly expanded his lead taking away any excitement from the battle for the victory.

Behind him though, the fight for the remaining podium spots was on. De Koning, Kooijman, van Hoof and Erby frequently swapped positions between them and it was anyone’s guess who would come out on top as ‘best of the rest’.

On stage three though Kooijman had to retire and two stages later Erby suffered a hard crash. This paved the way for Arjen de Koning to claim the runner-up position ahead of a delighted Sander van Hoof, who doesn’t get many opportunities to run rallies in the potent group A Mitsubishi Lancer. Henk Vossen took fourth ahead of Timo van der Marel who powered his little Opel Adam R2 around the stages in spectacular fashion and beat Kevin van Deijne in the battle of the front wheel drive cars.

Final result: 1. van den Heuvel – Bakker Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 2. de Koning – Verbaeten Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3. van Hoof – Jacobs Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 4. Vossen – Smeets Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 5. van der Marel – Smart Opel Adam R2 6. van Deijne – Scholtalbers Renault Clio R3T 7. Altena – Aaltink Opel Manta i200 Gr. S 8. Klippel – Dockx Nissan 350-Z Challenge 9. vd. Heijden – v. Gerwen Peugeot 208 10. Borgers – van Ovost Opel Astra

1;15:02,3 +2.51,8 +3.10,0 +4.34,2 +7.00,1 +7.32,4 +7.50,5 +8.56,1 +8.56,1 +10.47,7

Rally-eMag / Erik’s Epic Encounters

Erik’s Epic encounters This month Erik van’t Land provided us with the WRC pictures. Just like Bas, he also encounters lots of stuff directly related to the rally’s action. Here’s a selection of the encounters.

In Argentina, everyone’s a photographer... ...or a model The things you have to put up with as a rally driver..

Coincidence?

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I think not...

Uhuh, that’s very interesting guys... yeah... very... interesting But first...

Let me take a #selfie

No matter how unlucky his season started...

Latvala is such a cheery guy, always up for a laugh

Who’s hungry?? @#$@*#&$!!! Sun!!

Cheers babe

The Handsome One. Getting his run on!

see you next time...