The Kroon-Oil Belgian Rally Championship 2021 started in the Semois region, where the participants discovered the magnificent special stages of the South Belgian Rally. Just like in 2020, Ghislain de Mevius was the strongest in the opening game of the season. The Skoda driver won after an exciting duel with Adrian Fernémont, who finished second ahead of Kris Princen.
11″ in the first round of four stages, 22″ after the second loop and finally a 29″9 victory over Adrian Fernémont, the defending champion. Ghislain de Mevius dominated and controlled the South Belgian Rally 2021.
“I like this course, with very natural, long and fast corners, many blind situations and tests with a lot of height differences. I like driving tight lines and our Skoda was optimally set up for that. I especially made the difference on the fast test of Bellefontaine, a stage with many corners. This is a nice season opener. I hope the race stays in the championship. Now comes Ypres, where we will not only compete against the Belgian top players, but also against the tenors of WRC- 3. I’m already looking forward to it,” said winner Ghislain de Mevius.
Adrian Fernémont, who has already raced the Rally de la Semois six times, started to win, but had to settle for second. “We had a good test session, but apparently it wasn’t enough. Ghislain was very strong today. I don’t know where he always got the seconds that made the difference in Bellefontaine,” said Adrian Fernémont.
Frenchman Nicolas Ciamin gave up after the second test. The Citroën driver could have played an important role as he was fastest on the opening stage, but a driveshaft failed him. Teammate Kris Princen was third, but at 1’23”. “Third place was the maximum on this very fast and difficult course. Ghislain and Adrian knew the tests from previous participations, while I had to constantly improve the notes because we prepared our notes too carefully. This course turned out to offer much more grip than we are used to,” said Kris Princen.
After Grégoire Munster’s sortie, the fourth place at 1’38” went to Maxime Potty, who made a lot of progress with the Ford Fiesta Rally2. Fifth was Pieter-Jan Michiel Cracco, who was very satisfied: “After almost 2 years not to have driven, this achievement is certainly a boost. I’m very happy with the speed we had, without much competition rhythm.”
Bastien Rouard finished 3″2 further in 6th place after a good race, followed by Eric Cunin, who found that a Skoda Fabia Rally2 is a lot more physical than a Skoda Fabia WRC.
The Top 10 was completed by Tobias Brüls, ahead of Jean-Philippe Radoux and Junior winner Charles Munster, also winner of the Stellantis Rally Cup. Glenn Janssens Benoît Verlinde was the best in the Clio Rally Trophy Belgium, while Geoffrey Leyon was the fastest in Historic. The Criterium was won in Vresse-sur-Semois by Patrick and Thomas Jamar with their BMW 325i.
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