Belgian Rally News

[EightGear]

The main reason is because organisers pay the big names to enter. Remember last year Loeb was there. Also I believe Matton is a member of the organisation (not sure). But of course it's still quite a big rally, after Ypres the most important event in Belgium.

[stefanvv]

From spectator point of view it is spectacular Rally, always with lot of mud

[tommeke_B]

@Eightgear, you're wrong with the organizers "pay the big names". For example some sponsor on the Citroën's is a big competitor of sponsor of the organisation. Yves Matton is NOT a member of the organisation, but he lives in the region. For sure Yves Matton is helping and is sealing the deals with sponsors and Citroën Belgium. Peugeot is "car-sponsor" of the event by the way.

Some background information about Rallye du Condroz:


After Ypres this is by far the biggest event in Belgium, and in number of spectators I'm sure that it's much bigger than Ypres. This weekend the weather will be relatively good for the time of the year. Last time it was similar (2011, year of the fatal accident) there were an estimated 120 thousand spectators. For many sponsors (such as Skoda, Citroën, Peugeot) this is THE event of the year, and commercially at least as important as Ypres. Also the Rallye du Condroz is covered on TV at least as much as Ypres. Last year 2 stages went live on tv, which is unique for a national rally.

Rallye du Condroz has been a big event for a long time, in the early 2000s there have been editions where Condroz had a entry list that wasn't any less than Ypres. The event has had coëff 10 (20 was the biggest, for those who remembered, then you had 10, 5 and 2 if I'm not mistaken) in the European championship. I'm convinced that without the competition of Ypres (being in the same country) Condroz would have been a big international event. Since 2006 the event counts for Belgian championship only, but never lost it's popularity. But still, being out of any international championship, they still keep the same "international" itinerary like an ERC event has. They have a shakedown the day before the event, and 2 full days of rallying. This year the event covers 22 stages (11 different each driven twice), enough for 243km of special stages. The length in km SS has always varied between 235 and 285km SS, which makes it longer than the average ERC event.

The only thing I don't like about the event is how poorly it is organized. Some stages are delayed sometimes in Condroz (in Wallonia in general in fact), also the safety measures for spectators are very poor (last years it improved a little, but not enough).

[EightGear]

Ok my bad, thanks for the explanation.

[mousti]

Ok my bad, thanks for the explanation.

Matton is indeed not part of organisation but is member of the club who organises it. But it's like Tom said many sponsors bring those big names to Huy, in the 90's we had Delecour, Aghini and many other big stars to Condroz Rallye.

[noel157]

Tom, Mousti, has Matton any connection to MyRacing?

[Mirek]

I think that the letters MY mean Matton Yves

[mousti]

I think that the letters MY mean Matton Yves

Yes he is founder and boss of MYracing and formerly known as ProRace.

[makinen_fan]

Yes he is founder and boss of MYracing and formerly known as ProRace.

Out of interest which drivers (at least outside Belgium) are racing with MYracing? I find it bizarre is that Yazeed is part of MYracing, everyone else is using Citroen right?

[nafpaktos]

Very poor performance during the tests from petter.some people support that he should be be on the wrc.i think the videos from the test is the answer.he really disappointed me!