The 12 Hours of Wervik Rally

June 21, 2024 Tim Havermans Wilfried Geerts

VANPARIJS TIM HEYNDRICKX KURT PORSCHE GT 3

In the 12 Hours of Wervik, Jos Verstappen, father of F1 driver Max Verstappen, scored victory with his Skoda Fabia R2. For the Dutchman, as well as for the numerous top national drivers present, this rally was mainly a practice run for the upcoming Ypres Rally. For the drivers competing for the regional championship, it was mainly about picking up precious points.

The race got off to an exciting start. Davy Vanneste opened the scoring with the Hyundai i20 with the fastest time on FP1 but immediately saw Jos Verstappen react. After that, it was leapfrogging as Vanneste and Verstappen battled to set the best times on the tests. Only. the bites Jos “The Boss” took in the times were bigger than Vanneste’s. The local hero saw himself fall back a bit further and further, and already on the second loop, Jos Verstappen was too strong. On top of that, Freddy Loix, with the brand-new Toyota Yaris R2 and Pieter Tsjoen in the co-driver’s seat, also regularly took his scratch and Bernd Casier, with the Skoda Fabia RS R2, joined the battle for the podium places. It eventually led to a clear victory for Jos Verstappen and Renaud Jamoul with the Skoda, ahead of Vanneste with the Hyundai and Casier with the Fabia. Wonderful race also by Kurt Boone, who stranded at the foot of the podium with Pieter Vyncke on the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X but kept behind a horde of Porsches, led by Monnens and the Skoda Fabia of Hodenius.

In the Historics, the question was how Paul Lietaer would perform with the Ford Escort RS. “Polle” immediately took off with seven-mile boots, edging away from a fast Bram Fonteyne on the Volvo and an unleashed Victorien Heuninck on BMW M3. Until…in the third test there were steering problems. Loss of time and position for Lietaer who saw Heuninck take the lead ahead of Fonteyne. But those who know Lietaer know that giving up is not an issue. “The Best of the West” recovered in the subsequent tests and from the third passage at Geluwe, he was again just competing for the fastest times. He also grabbed those in the following five tests (!) and that brought him back to…. second place. But of course the bird had flown, Heuninck won Wervik in the Historics. Then let’s take a look at the Div 1-2, where Stefaan T’Joens and Greet Passchyn made it a demonstration ride with the bridal Evo X. Twelve consecutive best times in twelve tests, please! That, of course, resulted in victory, ahead of the Renault Clios of Derez-Vroman and Boutte-Liefooghe. For the VAS championship, the next appointment is the TBR Rally, in early July, but first rally-loving Belgium and Flanders are of course looking forward to the not-to-be-missed Ypres Rally.