Spa Rally Deflandre-Gengoux and Jacobs-Frankenberg lead the field on Saturday evening
The Spa Rally Classic, final round of the national VHRS championship, delivered a magnificent opening leg on Saturday, with the competitors in VHRS 65 and VHRS 50 facing each other over two sets of four special stages turned into regularity tests.
From the very first loop, two crews broke away at the top of the VHRS 65 standings. Championship leaders Yves Deflandre and Baptiste Gengoux (Porsche 911) were locked in combat with René Georges and Romain Lahaye (Volkswagen Golf GTi I). After a solid first RT, Michael Bartholemy and Patrick Lienne (Ford Escort Mk1) fell back, overtaken by Koen Verlinde and Bjorn Clauw (Volkswagen Golf GTi II), Dave Cuynen and Jens Vanoverschelde (BMW 320i), as well as Frenchman Christophe Baillet teamed with Belgian Jean-Marc Piret (Ford Escort Mk2) at the end of the opening loop.
The afternoon was limited to three RTs following the cancellation of the Wanne stage. Yves Deflandre and Baptiste Gengoux confirmed the morning’s trend, ending the day with a 34.55-point lead over René Georges and Romain Lahaye. This means the title fight continues, with 234 points for the Porsche crew against 224 for the Volkswagen pair…
“It was really tricky, slippery and completely torn up by the BRC competitors”, explains Yves Deflandre. “But those are the conditions we particularly enjoy. In the Chevron RT, we put in a strong performance that allowed us to create a bigger margin. Compared with René and Romain, the situation is simple: we have to finish no more than one place behind them. Which means that for now, everything is running smoothly...”
Behind the leading duo, another fierce duel is raging, with Dave Cuynen and Jens Vanoverschelde on 77.89 points, while Koen Verlinde and Bjorn Clauw have 78.87 points. The provisional top six is completed by Michael Bartholemy and Patrick Lienne (96.53 points) on one hand, and Christophe Baillet and Jean-Marc Piret (155.26 points) on the other.
In VHRS 50, where the titles have already been secured by Patrice Simon and Christian Bernard, the Porsche 912 of Felix Jacobs and Frank Frankenberg immediately took the lead, followed this morning by the Lancia Delta HF Integrale of Vito and Roberto Conego. Teaming up this time with Michel Thibaut in the Mazda 323, Christian Bernard held third spot provisionally after the first four RTs. The situation was more complicated however for Dirk Van Rompuy and Pablo Cracco (Porsche 911), who were not really up to speed and lacked precision.
The duo turned things around in the second loop, managing to set the best performance in RT7 Trois-Ponts Show! No worries for Jacobs and Frankenberg, who returned to Spa with a 25.26-point lead over Michel Thibaut and Christian Bernard, now back up to second position! The Thibaut family is doing well overall, with Gilles, accompanied by François Souka, sitting third on 63.33 points.
The afternoon, however, proved more difficult for another family, the Conegos, who made a crucial error in Fays Show, sending them tumbling down the order.
Tomorrow, the Spa Rally Classic will tackle the same major challenge as the BRC competitors, with three runs through the very tricky Theux and Ster stages. Place your bets…
