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The first round of the FIRC was a great success. Thanks for all the
the teams to be there! The english drivers made the biggest turnout, we were also very happy to meet our german friend Heinz-Walter Schewe with his impressive Porsche, Eep Borgers from Holland, and father and son Wattine from France, racing a nice Healey Sprite.
Before the rally, both Schewe and Andy Rowe claimed a top ten
position, not easy regarding the tricky weather conditions, and the
even more tricky flemish roads. Both teams didn't miss their start,
with the german Porsche immediately at the same pace as the
experienced belgian teams of Bruyneel and Mylle, in the same cars....
All went well uptill the 3rd stage, when HW Schewe made a classic
'flemish' error: missed a turn and ditched the Porsche. Altough the
car was hardly damaged, it was impossible to continue the rally since the car was blocked, no way to get it on the road again. Over and out for the german/belgian team, we hope they do better in Wervik next week. The speed is already there, when HW avoids a little mistake such as this, he will be a very serious contender.
Speedwise the same can be said of the nice english duo Andy Rowe and Cat Lund in the pretty much antique Mitsu Evo 3. Most of the flemish drivers thought about ignoring that old jap, very soon all of them were surprised when they saw the stage times. They got even more surprised when they saw their position at the finish. 6th overall simply is a fantastic result, a massive achievement that surprised simply everybody! We hope they will be there on all rounds to show some driving lessons to some with much more powerful cars.
Right behind Andy, John Morgan had a short innocent visit in the
local scenery and decided to cool down a bit with Wervik pretty
close. Guy Anderson had a good run too, avoiding all the typical
traps. They made their very honourful way just outside the top ten, quite a result with 124 teams at the start.
A bit further finished Bill Cook with 'last minute' codriver Nico
Hoflack. After quite a wild run, they finally made up the best FIRC
deal, together with their french collegue Fabrice Wattine. Finishing
both high up in their (historic) class, they are now leading the
current standings at FIRC. With four rounds to go, and the next one next week, it looks like FIRC promises to be a vivid championship, with possibly a surprising winner...
After ORC Canal Rally, some teams will have to repair some cosmetic or mechanical damage, however the organisation is releaved all of the contenders had a nice rallying weekend, and hope te meet you again next year!
FIRC-drivers who want to post their comments on this site: ward@firc.be
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