Vincent Verschueren takes his maiden Belgian championship win at the TAC Rally
The 2017 Belgian Rally Championship continued last Saturday (8th April) with its third round, the TAC Rally. This event, which took place in and around the town of Tielt, consisted of 14 stages and 162.5km of competitive distance on asphalt roads, which are often narrow and slippery.
There was controversy ahead of the rally after Cédric Cherain, the winner of the previous round, the Spa Rally, was excluded from that event after being found to have been running illegal tyres. This meant that ŠKODA FABIA R5 driver Benoît Allart was declared the winner of that rally, with fellow FABIA R5 driver Vincent Verschueren also being promoted up the leaderboard to second.
And it was Vincent Verschueren, driving a GoDrive Racing FABIA R5, who capitalized on this to boost his lead at the top of the Belgian championship standings after securing a thrilling victory in what is his home event over the weekend.
Ably supported by co-driver Veronique Hostens, this was Verschueren first ever victory in the Belgian Rally Championship and came after his lead in the championship meant that he was the first driver on the road, a disadvantage at this event because tractors often leave a thin layer of slippery dust on the roads.
But Verschueren took everything in his stride to lead from start to finish, winning eight special stages along in the way, in what on paper looks like a dominant victory. But in reality, he was chased all the way by fellow FABIA R5 driver and championship rival Kris Princen, who finished up just 8 seconds behind him.
For Kris Princen, a runner’s-up spot was more than satisfactory after his participation was in doubt at all right until the start of the rally. He suffered a broken rib in the final stage of the previous round, the Spa Rally, and doctors had to assess his fitness before he was allowed to compete. That same crash damaged his car a lot, so for this round he was driving the new BMA car, which Guillaume Dilley piloted at the Spa Rally.
Despite the far from ideal preparations, Princen stayed right with Verschueren throughout, winning the other six stages and finishing just eight seconds behind the winner.
Further down the field, the newly crowned winner of the Spa Rally, Benoît Allart, alongside co-driver Kevin Fernandez and in Team San Mazuin FABIA R5, prepared and run by the Racing Technology team, could only finish in eight position overall on this occasion.
The next round of the Belgian Rally Championship, the Rallye de Wallonie, will take place from 28th to 30th April.
ŠKODA FABIA R5s fill the podium at the Hessen Rallye Vogelsberg
The Hessen Rallye Vogelsberg (7th to 8th April) was the second round of the 2017 German Rally Championship and this year saw a fantastic ŠKODA performance over its 12 stages and 134km of competitive distance as the FABIA R5 filled the podium.
The headlines were all about ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland driver Fabian Kreim who - along with co-driver Frank Christian - continued his astonishing run of form in his home series.
Kreim has now won seven successive German championship events and, having finished second at the Hessen Rallye Vogelsberg in 2015 and leading last year before a mistake forced his retirement, he came into what is his home event with confidence but didn’t have everything his own way.
A slow start saw Kreim placed fifth after the third stage, but victory in the next one lifted him to second at the end of the first leg. He began the second leg with five successive stage wins to climb to the top of the standings, but a puncture on stage 9 cost him valuable time. But victory in the penultimate stage put him back on top and he showed enough in finishing second in the final stage to pip rival Dominik Dinkel to the victory by a margin of just 5.1 seconds.
The win sees Kreim extend his lead at the top of the German championship standings to 28 points already after just two events.
For fellow FABIA R5 driver Dominik Dinkel, driving alongside co-driver Christina Kohl in a car prepared and run by the BRR team for Brose Motorsport, it was a case of so near and yet so far. He held the lead twice during the rally, including with just two stages to go, and won four stages over the course of the event. But crucial lost time because of tyre damage on stage four ended up costing him, and despite winning the final stage, he wasn’t quite able to close the gap on Kreim ahead of him.
Completing the all ŠKODA FABIA R5 podium were Sandro Wallenwein and Markus Poschner. They finished just 38 seconds further back and drove a solid and consistent rally, winning one stage and never dropping out of the top 3 throughout the event.
The next round of the German Rally Championship will be the Rallye Rund um die Sulinger Bärenklaue which takes place on 5th and 6th May.
2017 Hessen Rallye Vogelsberg
2017 Tour de Corse
2017 Lavanttal Rallye
Vincent Verschueren takes his maiden Belgian championship win at the TAC Rally
The 2017 Belgian Rally Championship continued last Saturday (8th April) with its third round, the TAC Rally. This event, which took place in and around the town of Tielt, consisted of 14 stages and 162.5km of competitive distance on asphalt roads, which are often narrow and slippery.
There was controversy ahead of the rally after Cédric Cherain, the winner of the previous round, the Spa Rally, was excluded from that event after being found to have been running illegal tyres. This meant that ŠKODA FABIA R5 driver Benoît Allart was declared the winner of that rally, with fellow FABIA R5 driver Vincent Verschueren also being promoted up the leaderboard to second.
And it was Vincent Verschueren, driving a GoDrive Racing FABIA R5, who capitalized on this to boost his lead at the top of the Belgian championship standings after securing a thrilling victory in what is his home event over the weekend.
Ably supported by co-driver Veronique Hostens, this was Verschueren first ever victory in the Belgian Rally Championship and came after his lead in the championship meant that he was the first driver on the road, a disadvantage at this event because tractors often leave a thin layer of slippery dust on the roads.
But Verschueren took everything in his stride to lead from start to finish, winning eight special stages along in the way, in what on paper looks like a dominant victory. But in reality, he was chased all the way by fellow FABIA R5 driver and championship rival Kris Princen, who finished up just 8 seconds behind him.
For Kris Princen, a runner’s-up spot was more than satisfactory after his participation was in doubt at all right until the start of the rally. He suffered a broken rib in the final stage of the previous round, the Spa Rally, and doctors had to assess his fitness before he was allowed to compete. That same crash damaged his car a lot, so for this round he was driving the new BMA car, which Guillaume Dilley piloted at the Spa Rally.
Despite the far from ideal preparations, Princen stayed right with Verschueren throughout, winning the other six stages and finishing just eight seconds behind the winner.
Further down the field, the newly crowned winner of the Spa Rally, Benoît Allart, alongside co-driver Kevin Fernandez and in Team San Mazuin FABIA R5, prepared and run by the Racing Technology team, could only finish in eight position overall on this occasion.
The next round of the Belgian Rally Championship, the Rallye de Wallonie, will take place from 28th to 30th April.
ŠKODA FABIA R5s fill the podium at the Hessen Rallye Vogelsberg
The Hessen Rallye Vogelsberg (7th to 8th April) was the second round of the 2017 German Rally Championship and this year saw a fantastic ŠKODA performance over its 12 stages and 134km of competitive distance as the FABIA R5 filled the podium.
The headlines were all about ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland driver Fabian Kreim who - along with co-driver Frank Christian - continued his astonishing run of form in his home series.
Kreim has now won seven successive German championship events and, having finished second at the Hessen Rallye Vogelsberg in 2015 and leading last year before a mistake forced his retirement, he came into what is his home event with confidence but didn’t have everything his own way.
A slow start saw Kreim placed fifth after the third stage, but victory in the next one lifted him to second at the end of the first leg. He began the second leg with five successive stage wins to climb to the top of the standings, but a puncture on stage 9 cost him valuable time. But victory in the penultimate stage put him back on top and he showed enough in finishing second in the final stage to pip rival Dominik Dinkel to the victory by a margin of just 5.1 seconds.
The win sees Kreim extend his lead at the top of the German championship standings to 28 points already after just two events.
For fellow FABIA R5 driver Dominik Dinkel, driving alongside co-driver Christina Kohl in a car prepared and run by the BRR team for Brose Motorsport, it was a case of so near and yet so far. He held the lead twice during the rally, including with just two stages to go, and won four stages over the course of the event. But crucial lost time because of tyre damage on stage four ended up costing him, and despite winning the final stage, he wasn’t quite able to close the gap on Kreim ahead of him.
Completing the all ŠKODA FABIA R5 podium were Sandro Wallenwein and Markus Poschner. They finished just 38 seconds further back and drove a solid and consistent rally, winning one stage and never dropping out of the top 3 throughout the event.
The next round of the German Rally Championship will be the Rallye Rund um die Sulinger Bärenklaue which takes place on 5th and 6th May.
