Belgian Rally News

[dimviii]

really nice photos Tom!

[HaCo]

IMO Loix was not at all at his best in this event, punctures, of the road and generally not that fast as we are used to.
He told in an interview that he was saving the car for next year and there was still a lot of development necessary on the new Fabian chassis.
Looking forward to 2015 BRC, hope everyone finds a proper R5 in time.

[dodge33cymru]

Great photos Tom, thanks for sharing

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I wasn't expecting something less from him.He is top wrc driver.

I agree but he is only in his first full season in the WRC..

And I see WRC.com were impressed at his 'giant-killing' in the R5 car against 2.0 WRC cars:
http://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/novem...3--12-12-.html

[tommeke_B]

Thanks Dimvii and dodge33cymru

Had a great event. Also the most crowded rally I ever visited. Again the organisation failed, by having only 2 stages that started on time, the first stages of both days. Also in crowd-management they failed completely, not enough forbidden areas (or not big enough) and not enough marshalls to handle the (often drunk) spectators. And for time-registration they failed as well. Times of SS4 being cancelled, a stage where Solberg lost a minute and Meeke lost 40s, coincidence??

Anyway, seen a great, spectacular and fast rally. Meeke was very impressive (as anyone can see on the countless videos), but I was surprised to see both Loix (until sunday morning) and Cherain (before he went off) having times so close to him. All 3 had a very similar agressive driving style. Solberg was a little disappointing for me, he looked quite calm, and also his driving line looked very safe. He didn't take many cuts that other drivers (like Meeke, Loix, Cherain, Princen etc) took. It looked like he didn't put a lot of effort in recce and preparation. Also you don't expect a national driver (Princen) to keep up with him. Princen knows the terrain, but still a C4 should be quicker than an older Subaru S12...

[tommeke_B]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnfedL-UoBw - Nice video. Big moment for Loix at 39s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaDU...LFCOHEoW2EjJMx - 11min25, strange way to get stuck...

[HaCo]

Tommeke, I was thinking the same about SS4, big coincidence, although I think Meeke and Solberg are real sportsmen. Somebody must have taken splits.
Really great to see a young guy like Cherain going that fast. In contrary I get more and more disappointed in Verschueren, hope he can improve.

[tommeke_B]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDvj...NQ6BQA84-qx5YA - Onboard with Solberg on SS1.

Onboard with Yves Matton on SS2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWeTq0QNBUA

[MJW]

Tommeke, I was thinking the same about SS4, big coincidence, although I think Meeke and Solberg are real sportsmen. Somebody must have taken splits.
Really great to see a young guy like Cherain going that fast. In contrary I get more and more disappointed in Verschueren, hope he can improve.

From what I understand Meeke and Solberg took the correct course, there was an ambiguity in the layout and many drivers took the shorter loop. The only correct action was to cancel the stage results. Organisers error.

[tommeke_B]

From what I understand Meeke and Solberg took the correct course, there was an ambiguity in the layout and many drivers took the shorter loop. The only correct action was to cancel the stage results. Organisers error.

No, incorrect. Also impossible to take a shorter route, it's not a desert rally. The problem was the time-keeping. From what I heard so many spectators passed in front of the photo-sensors of the flying finish that the system went crazy. Normally there is a back-up system where times are taken manually...