This weekend the Rally of Bertrix makes its entry into the Kroon-Oil Belgian Rally Championship. In fact, it is the very first edition of this competition organized by the team of Pierre Delettre, who already used part of the stages for his famous Legend Boucles @ Bastogne.
Partly due to a local cycling event, the timing is rather special with a loop of three special stages on Saturday in the early evening, followed by another two loops of the same three stages on Sunday. The participants can prepare for 121 km at speed on a fast, challenging and natural course.
As far as the starting field is concerned, the first edition of the Rally of Bertrix presents a nice line-up with 67 participants, including the current leader in the Kroon-Oil BRC, Maxime Potty. The Citroën driver already has the maximum in the Cup races, but it is nice that the 23-year-old driver from Hamois does not shy away from the battle.
Cédric Cherain never does that, by the way. The native of Liège wants to break the spell in Bertrix and book his first victory with the Hyundai i20 N Rally2. Both Cherain and Potty will have to watch out for Jos Verstappen, who showed his speed in the new Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 in the Sezoensrally. This track is new to everyone, so this time the former F1 driver will not be at a disadvantage in terms of track knowledge.
For the close places of honor, we tip to John Wartique, who has made great strides since the Rally of Wallonia with the Citroën C3 Rally2, and to Roger Hodenius, who immediately achieved fifth place in the TAC Rally with the new Skoda. Emile Breittmayer would also like to join this group in his Skoda Fabia, just like the group of Tom Boonen, Sébastien Incardona and Emeric Rary. Corentin Dozot wants to taste a Citroën DS3 R5 in his own region. With the Luxembourger Tommy Rollinger in his Peugeot 208 T16, the young man has a nice reference among the R5s of the first generation.
On the natural stages, especially in dry weather, one can look forward to the times of the powerful GTs, starting with the Porsche 997 GT3 of Marvyn Henrard. He is met with resistance from Christophe Daco, who proved to be very fast on this type of track in Vresse, and from Olivier Collard, who will undoubtedly have improved his 997 GT3 after the Wallonia Rally. Amaury Molle takes on the Porsches with the Alpina A110 RGT.
The fans also expect a lot of spectacle and also top times from the local specialist Laurent Mottet, who rented a Peugeot 306 Maxi from Sébastien Loeb for his home rally. Perhaps an interesting playmate for the tenors of the Moood M-Cup, Philip Lommers, Franky Boulat and home driver Loïc Pirot.
Tune in on Saturday in Bertrix, where the first loop of 3 stages will start around 17h30.
The post The first Rally de Bertrix is ready to go! first appeared on RacerViews.com.
