The penultimate round of the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup Belux was held last weekend in and around Sankt Vith, as part of the East Belgian Rally. In his home race, Tom Heindrichs not only managed to win but with only the final in the Spa Rally still to go, he was also able to take the lead in the intermediate standings.
Three drivers played their ‘Rally+’ wild card in the East Belgian Rally. After the 12 stages on the course, which was very popular with all the drivers of the Opel Corsa Rally4 and Peugeot 208 Rally4 cars, Tom Heindrichs took a spectacular victory.
In the first stage, the youngster from Sankt Vith managed to take first place, a position he would not relinquish afterwards. In total, Heindrichs pocketed 41 points, thanks to his victory, the title of best performer, the ‘Rally+’ bonus and the result of the Power Stage! This important points haul allows Heindrichs to start the final of the Spa Rally as the leader in the standings.
“The stages were very treacherous, with a lot of mud on the road”, says Tom Heindrichs. “But everything went according to plan. The notes were excellent and we knew exactly where we could attack and when to build in a certain margin. At no point did we get into trouble. Thanks to all my fans and the entire team. Winning in front of your home crowd is always fun
If Heindrichs is the big winner of the East Belgian Rally, then Pierre-Manuel Brasseur is the loser. Due to electronic problems, he was unable to use the full potential of his car and the man from Liège had to settle for fourth place. As a result, Brasseur is now in second place in the standings, eight points behind leader Tom Heindrichs. A situation that during the Spa Rally can only be solved in one way for Brasseur: by attacking and winning!
Lander Depotter had an excellent start and was part of the top 3, but then made an atypical mistake on one of the most difficult points of the East Belgian Rally, during the Burg Reuland stage. It meant an immediate retirement for Depotter.
Maxim Decock also made a mistake at the same spot! However, the damage for him was limited to a loss of time of forty seconds. By recording the fastest time in the Power Stage, the ever-improving Decock eventually also completed the podium. He finished 34.6 seconds behind Jonas Dewilde, an excellent second and the fastest in four stages. The young Fleming also won a new national title in the Junior championship in the East Belgian Rally. Congratulations!
After three-quarters of the race, the German Lukas Thiele also had a claim to a podium finish, but three stages from the end he went off the road.
So it was Steven Spittaels and Manuel Merlevede who completed the result of the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup Belux in Sankt Vith. The latter lost some time after a small mistake in the final stage.
It is a two-month wait until the season finale, programmed as part of the Spa Rally 2024. In this rally, unlike previous editions, points can be scored only once. Who will be champion: Heindrichs, Brasseur or Dewilde? To put it with a phrase that is heard in the Spa casino: faites vos jeux!