The Rally van Haspengouw, the first round of the Jobfixers Belgian Rally Championship, ended the way it ended last season. The very last stage led to an amazing surprise.
Our gallery of the front runners can be found here
Local favorite Kris Princen lost the victory due to a flat tyre. Ghislain de Mevius did not miss the opportunity to take his first victory in the Belgian championship. And that is just the beginning …
Kris Princen seemed on his way to the absolute victory record when he started the 12th and final stage of the Rally van Haspengouw with a 2 “7 lead on his closest pursuer. But, a puncture decided Princen’s fate as he lost 28 “and finished in second place 25” 3 behind.
“There is only one place that counts and that is the first. So, yes, I am very disappointed. Certainly because we didn’t hit anything, but just drove at the unpaved leak at high speed. I would have liked Citroën and DG Sport to have won, “said Kris Princen.
A party was held at the G-Rally Team of Ghislain de Mevius and Johan Jalet. In the end, the driver from Wavre won his first victory in the Belgian Championship.
“This was almost the perfect rally for us,” laughed the son of former rally champion Grégoire de Mevius.
“I have barely tested with our new Fabia R5 Evo, but we drove the fastest time right away. The adjustments were good and I drove clean and efficient on this muddy course. In the afternoon, when it rained heavily, I was perhaps a fraction too cautious, which led Kris to take the lead. In the final test I wanted to keep him under pressure, but I never thought I’d make my first win here. This tastes like more! ”
A lot happened in the last test. Guillaume Dilley, then 7th, gave up on a broken wheel. William Wagner, the French Belgian who clocked two fastest times and who seemed to be on the way to second place, but suffered double puncture, losing both tyres on the final stage. He tumbled to the 6th place.
Adrian Fernémont, the title defender, was able to win third place, despite a flat tyre. “We are doing a good thing with that, although I wasted too much time this afternoon,” said Fernémont.
Grégoire Munster closed his debut with the Hyundai i20 R5 with a handsome 4th place, just 2 “30 off the podium.” The result is very nice and we have made many kilometers to gain experience with the new car. Of course it is a shame that we narrowly grab next to the podium, but I am proud of what we have shown, “said Grégoire.
Vincent Verschueren sent the Volkswagen Polo R5 from GoDrive to 5th place. On the slippery and treacherous course he found difficult traction with the Polo R5. He finished for William Wagner and Guillaume de Mevius, the brother of Ghislain who lost a podium place through a flat puncture. Chris Van Woensel, who returned to his Mitsubishi Lancer WRC after three years, finished in 9th place, ahead of Tuur Vanden Abeele.
Sébastien Bedoret, who lost 13 minutes due to a crash on the second test.
At the Juniors, Gilles Pyck was the fastest, although the margin of 0 “6 was very tight. The Peugeot driver went into the error in the penultimate test, allowing Charles Munster to take the lead. Nevertheless, Munster had to give best final test with a difference of 6 tenths.
Patrick Diels was the best in the M-Cup, ahead of Franky Boulat, while Dirk Deveux won the Historic-Classification in Haspengouw for the 6th time.
