Maxime Potty and Renaud Herman have taken their third victory in the Belgian Rally Championship 2023. After the Rally van Haspengouw (2nd place, but maximum score in the BRC), the South Belgian Rally and the TAC Rally, Maxime Potty and Renaud Herman increase by their Citroën C3 Rally2 from PH Sport their lead in the championship.
“Really, it was exciting. Especially the end of the race. It was very fast. Due to a mistake, Cédric Cherain came back to 0″2 with four stages to go, but I never had a critical moment… even though it went very quickly,” says Maxime Potty, sparing with his emotions as always.
After authoritarian leader Cédric De Cecco had to retire from the first stage on Sunday morning due to an engine failure, Potty took over the lead, but Cédric Cherain put pressure on him.
In the final, Cédric Cherain was the big loser, because he left the track at high speed in the same place as Thibaud Mazuin a few hours earlier. Statement for the Hyundai driver who did a bad job in the championship. In the particularly intense final sprint, Sébastien Bedoret finally did the best thing. He took second place. A result that he did not think possible on Saturday morning.
“Certainly not, given my lack of rhythm and knowledge of the car. On the penultimate test I lost power for a moment, but after a double “reset”, the breakdown was suddenly resolved and I was able to finish the last test in a normal way ,” said Bedoret. This time he had luck on his side. That could not be said of Niels Reynvoet, who was in a duel with Bedoret the entire match. Reynvoet lost a wheel on the very last special stage. The Citroën driver reached Jambes on three wheels… The sports regulations of the BRC and the sports code are clear on this point. A hard… exclusion followed for the sympathetic and talented East Fleming.
As a result, John Wartique, author of a nice forcing at the end of the race, which eventually saw him finish 0″6 ahead of Romain Delhez, was able to take third place on the podium. A nice reward for the circuit racer who is increasingly leaning towards rally work. Fourth place Romain Delhez’s performance is also a stunt, as the Porsche driver dominated the GT category all weekend.”Some stages favored the Porsche, but others certainly didn’t. Certainly the last two tests on Sunday, with some unpaved sections, were not favorable for our 991 GT3. I really had to fight. And yesterday on the Citadel I lost 35 seconds on two passes to my direct competitors, because our Porsche only has rear-wheel drive. Anyway, the car was ready this weekend and I had fun!”
Christophe Verstaen was also happy with how the match went. He took a nice fifth place in the sub-toppers of the top class Rally2. He finished ahead of Emile Breittmayer (Skoda) and Tobias Brüls (Citroën C3). There was less luck for Junior Planckaert, who had to retire in the final round. Olivier Collard, 2nd in RGT, could have taken advantage of this to finish in the Top 10, but the Porschist received a 5-minute penalty for an irregularity in the marking of the tires (as was the case with Corentin Fiasse last night). That dropped Collard to 12th place.
There was also a great performance from Tom Boonen, who crowned his debut with a Skoda Fabia Rally2 with a place in the Top 10, despite an impressive slide against a straw bale. Bastien Rouard (Hyundai), who had expected a lot from his home rally, had to be satisfied with a place in the top 15 due to punctures and a sortie. A meager consolation prize.
In Rally4 there was a convincing victory for Steve Fernandes (Renault Clio), while Emile Tollet (Porsche) was fastest in Historic.
