BMA had entered two teams for the Omloop van Vlaanderen, the seventh round counting towards of the Kroon-Oil Belgian Rally Championship. Pieter-Jan Michiel Cracco and Jasper Vermeulen (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) finished fifth. From a purely mathematical point of view the West-Flanders driver had hoped for more, but in his learning process with the Hyundai he has taken a great step forward this last weekend. For a large part of the race Charles Munster and Pascaud Loris (Opel Corsa Rally4) lacked confidence due to the constantly changing weather conditions and lack of grip. And yet Munster still managed to finish second in the Stellantis Cup and third in the Junior BRC. Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka (Hyundai i20 Rally2) were absent in Roeselare. Later this week they will be tackling the Rally of Greece.
Two weeks after the Ypres Rally the Omloop van Vlaanderen was being organised in Roeselare. Both rallies are organised a mere 24 km from each other, and yet both are entirely different. The Omloop roads are known for not always having the best grip. That in combination with the ever-changing climatic conditions gave concern for numerous drivers last weekend. That was also the case for Pieter-Jan Michiel Cracco who a few minutes before the start swapped his slicks for rain tyres. “This made for a difficult start. There was hardly any grip and the car did not handle the way I wanted it to. I nearly made a mistake at one moment but managed to correct it in time. During the final run on Friday evening the windscreen steamed up, making visibility almost zero. After five stages the rally was already over for us. The gap with fourth place was considerable, as was the lead I had over my closest pursuer. So on Saturday we started experimenting and no longer looked at the rankings. We successfully tried out some set-ups and in the second loop we produced a second and twice a third best time. The Hyundai is a fabulous machine but because it is so competitive it is also a complex car. It is so sensitive to the setup that it is a pity to fathom why it is less so. One should be able to mathematically work out what the bends and corners are like. At the end of the rally I am satisfied with this fifth place. Everything I have learnt here I will be taking with me to the East Belgian Rally”, Pieter-Jan Michiel Cracco commented.
One week after the Terre de Lozère Charles Munster needed to make the switch from gravel to asphalt. The first rain in weeks caused the grip to change constantly. “That rain was not good for the confidence. The special stages were a great deal harder, offered limited grip whereby I had no confidence in the car. Those difficult conditions made us look for solutions. Actually, we did that throughout the entire event. Staying calm, driving my own rally and not allowing circumstances to get in the way. Enjoying it is something else, but this is also part of the learning curve I am going through. Looking for a better setup paid off. Towards the end everything started to go better and if you look at the end result objectively then it was a good race. I finished second in the Stellantis Cup and third in the Junior BRC, whereby I score many points in both championships and make a fair amount of progress in the rankings.”
Later this week Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka will be competing in the Rally of Greece. After the Monte Carlo, the Rally of Croatia and the Ypres Rally this is their fourth WRC Rally of the season.
