As the 2025 Kroon Oil Belgian Rally Championship approaches, we caught up with some of the top drivers to get their thoughts on the upcoming Rally Van Haspengouw. The now-traditional opener to the season sees 3 loops of four stages over one day.
The crews will tackle 137km against the clock on narrow, fast tarmac. These roads always offer unforeseen challenges to and a good way to wake up to the new season.
We are expecting the day to be warmer than usual, with central Europe experencing a warm spell right now, some 15 degrees warmer than a week ago. Rain could also come, so the conditions will be quite unpredictable.
Patrick Snijers, a Belgian Rally legend and a crowd favourite in his Porsche, shared his perspective on the challenges ahead: “It’s quite fast, but there’s a lot of dust, so we will see. You’re not allowed to make mistakes. So there’s no abandon the top speed, so we only allowed to 200 kilometers an hour, and then, yeah, in some parts, you can gain some seconds with the top speed, but that’s canceled now, so we have to pay attention.”
The former champion, Vincent Verschueren who is no stranger to success on these narrow Belgian roads, also weighed in after the recce: “Well, then it was very tricky, very tricky. And, you know, then in one hour the sun came and it was drying very, very fast. Temperature was rising. And, yeah, the stages in the afternoon were very, very dry and Sandy. So it’s very different the two things.”
Newcomer Thyrsa Eertmans, who is running with the RACB team this year, shared her local perspective: “Haspengouy was always a tricky rally even though these are my local road. So there are some tricky parts where you may surprise yourself with this. There are a lot of dust on the road, so it’s slippery.”
This rally is shaping up to be a true test of skill and adaptability for the drivers. Stay tuned for more updates as the 2025 Belgian Rally Championship gets underway.
