The 25th edition of the Rally van Haspengouw was presented at Droneport in Sint-Truiden on Monday evening. In the location that will welcome the Rally headquarters for the second year in a row, Topspeed Rally Club Haspengouw presented an impressive starting field of 80 teams. It is clear that the tenors had marked the season opener in their diary. That promises for Saturday 25 February!
In the top class, two-time Belgian champion Adrian Fernémont starts as favorite with his Skoda Fabia RS Evo entered by PTR Racing, but let’s not underestimate Kris Princen, with five victories in Haspengouw, in front of his own audience with a fast Citroën C3 Rally2. Cédric Cherain, last year’s GT champion, will start for the first time with a Hyundai i20 N Rally2, making him a formidable contender. And let’s not lose sight of the two great guys with a Volkswagen Polo GTI, vice-champion Gino Bux and the French Belgian William Wagner.
The list of outsiders is equally impressive. Hyundai can count on Bastien Rouard and Charles Munster. Skoda can count on Nicola Stampaert, John Wartique, Marc Timmers and Emile Breittmayer. And especially the Citroën C3s of Maxime Potty, third in the championship last year, and Cédric De Cecco will have a shot at the podium. The other Citroëns are used by the Dutchmen Roger Hodenius and Richard Pex, who took their first steps in their rally career last season.
However, that is not the only spectacle we can expect, because with five fast Porsches at the start, we can certainly expect a few GT3s in the top 10, especially in dry weather. Glenn Janssens will be present again, just like Gunther Monnens, Henri Schmelcher and Tuur Vanden Abeele. New to the GT field is Marvy Henrard, who will wear the number “3” on his 997 GT3 for the entire season.
Behind the GT violence we find a number of fast 4x4s, such as Kurt Boone’s Lancer EvoX R4, home driver Jonas Langenakens’ Lancer Evo7, always good for a stunt in front of a home crowd, and Matthias Boon’s Subaru Impreza. Nico Degroot also starts with a Lancer EvoVI.
The youngsters of the Junior BRC are looking forward to the first duel between Jonas Dewilde and the Brit Fraser Anderson, while young lady Lyssia Baudet will discover the route of the Rally van Haspengouw in the Clio Rally5 in the Belgian tricolor.
With a dozen fast BMWs at the start, the Moood M-Cup will be an important part of the spectacle. With the spectacular rear-wheel drive cars, we are curious who will pull the sheet: Bjorn Syx, Franky “mister M-Cup” Boulat or local specialist Patrick Diels. Or can Loïc Pirot, Philip Lommers, Brecht Hoorne or Frederik Vandeloock provide a surprise? In any case, it will be hard between these brand colleagues.
And then of course there is the battle in the Historic BRC, in which all rally fans are looking forward to the great debut of cycling hero Tom Boonen in the Kroon-Oil BRC. Boonen starts with a Lancia Delta Integrale and his main rivals are probably former champion Dirk Deveux with his Ford Sierra Cosworth, Frank Jorissen with the Opel Ascona 400 in the famous colors of Guy Colsoul and Olivier Breittmayer with his exotic Ferrari 308 GTB.
In short, a starting field to look forward to. The Rally van Haspengouw starts on Saturday at 8.30 am and has 12 special stages. At 8 pm the winner will cross the finish podium at Hangar 66 in Sint-Truiden.
