The 47th edition of the TAC Rally will be held in and around Tielt on Saturday 9 April. The third round of the Kroon-Oil Belgian Rally Championship promises to be very exciting, because due to the lack of a number of tenors, there are several outsiders who want to seize their chance. The youngsters take up the gauntlet. After two years of absence due to the pandemic, rally will be held in Tielt again on Saturday.
The concept of the TAC Rally will be maintained: three loops of four special stages (Schuiferskapelle, Ondank, Oosthoek and de Poelberg), in which the stage of the Oosthoek has been largely changed, supplemented with a fourth pass at Schuiferskapelle and the Poelberg. The tarmac is still extremely slippery and treacherous, especially in rainy weather.
As far as the poster is concerned, we will certainly get a different winner than in the previous races, because Stéphane Lefebvre is not in the party, nor are Adrian Fernémont, Ghislain de Mevius and Gregory Munster.
Those who are there a great chance to shine, like Gino Bux. Gino Bux is the revelation of the season.
The 32-year-old pilot defended the colors of the RACB National Team in 2014 and 2015. His very first race in the national tricolor was the TAC Rally 2014. This year Gino Bux has moved up to the top class with a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo and, moreover, he has an absolute topper with Nicolas Gilsoul as co-driver. It was not for nothing that Gilsoul was with Thierry Neuville for ten years.
After two podium places, Gino Bux is aiming for the victory in Tielt and the corresponding leading position in the championship.
Or does Vincent Verschueren, winner in 2017, the year of his Belgian title, keep the victory in Flanders. The VW pilot, also this year navigated by Filip Cuvelier, wants to start the season with a good result in the Polo GTI from GoDrive.
Sébastien Bedoret has raced in the Skoda livery since 2018, but this season he switched to a Ford Fiesta from the DVLS team. After an early engine breakdown in Vresse-sur-Semois, the third of the 2019 BRC wants to start again with success. Let us not forget that Bedoret already finished second in Tielt in 2019.
New Hyundai for Cracco Pieter-Jan Michiel Cracco also opens his season on the smooth asphalt of the TAC Rally. After a good season, with the Belgian victory in the historic WRC round in Ypres as the absolute highlight, Cracco switches to a Hyundai i20, the car with which Grégoire Munster finished second in the South Belgian Rally.
The 22-year-old Maxime Potty has switched to a Citroën C3 Rally2 this season. Together with Renaud Herman, the former circuit racer has started the season strongly, earning him 5th place in the BRC.
Niels Reynvoet, navigated this season by Diederik Pattyn, hopes to put the bad luck that haunts him behind him and get back on track with the great results he achieved in 2020 in the Orfys Skoda Fabia. In his second season from Ghent, Nicola Stampaert wants to set good times with his Ford Fiesta Rally2 in the region of his team Scratch Motorsport from Pittem.
Bert Coene wants to score well in his own region with his Ford Fiesta. He seems to have a shot at winning the Master classification, although Johnny Poelmans has also set his sights on that championship.
In the last instance, the German Dennis Rostek also registered with a Skoda Fabia Rally2. He will discover the stages of the TAC Rally, but the 49-year-old German, last year 6th in the German championship, does not lack experience.
Another very interesting participation is that of Patrick Snijers. The four-time winner of the TAC Rally will debut Stock-Depot’s Ford Fiesta Rally3. For spectacle we can certainly count on the fast GTs, including the Porsche 997 GT3 of Tim Van Parijs, who wants to show that he remains the reference among the Porsches.
He will compete against the Porsches 991 GT3 of Henri Schmelcher and Robin Maes, who will make his debut with the car he rents from Gunther Monnens. The fourth GT is Stefaan Prinzie’s Alpine A110.
Clio Trophy and BMW M CupWith more than 20 cars at the start, the M Cup will take care of a large part of the spectacle. All tenors are present, including champion Tom Ceuppens, multiple champion Franky Boulat, Loïc Pirot, Patrick Diels, the winner of the Hesbaye heat, Wim Muilwijk, regional rider Thierry Cokelaere and above all a very motivated Kurt Braeckevelt, who wants to shine in front of his own audience with his M3 E36.
Even more M-power can be found in the Historic BRC with the fast M3s of Bjorn Syx, Pieter-Jan Maeyaert and Danny Kerckhof, competitors for the HP-rich Opel Ascona 400 of Paul Lietaer. In the Historic BRC, however, Christophe Kerkhove is in the lead with his beautiful Porsche 911. In Rally4 Gilles Pyck makes his debut as champion in the Clio Rally Trophy with the Renault Clio Rally4. He will compete against Jonas Dewilde (Peugeot), Maxime Decock (Opel Corsa) and Jorim De Bel (Ford Fiesta). The Renault Clio Trophy Belgium also opens its season in the TAC Rally with 11 identical Clios Rally5 at the start, led by Benoit Verlinde, who already battled for the title last season. With a nice starting field in Historic and a very strong peloton in the 2WD Trophy, it will be a very spectacular 47th TAC Rally.
