26 British, Dutch and French rally crews are on their way to Belgium this weekend to compete on the Rally van Wervik, taking place on June 18, which is a round of the Flanders International Rally Challenge (FIRC), the Belgian rally championship for foreign drivers.
Hull rally driver Andy Rowe and his Northamptonshire co-driver Cat Lund will once again be the highest seeded pairing representing Britain, and the Mitsubishi Evo III crew will start the second round of the FIRC leading the Challenge with maximum points, following their sixth place overall on last month’s ORC Canal Rally.
The British crew have clearly earned the respect of the Belgian rally organisers and will head to the border town of Wervik in Belgium as the number five seeds with only two WRC cars and two S2000 cars seeded ahead of them.
Number one seed Bernd Casier will find it a challenge to repeat last year’s win as he is using a Skoda Fabia S2000 car for this event, in preparation for the forthcoming Geko Ypres International Rally, the next round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The S2000 cars generally cannot match the pace of the WRC cars of Melissa Debackere and Paul Lietaer, who must be favourites for overall victory.
Top ten seeded entries:
1 Bernd Casier – Skoda Fabia S2000
2 Melissa Debackere – Subaru Impreza WRC S12
3 Paul Lietaer – Subaru Impreza WRC S9
4 Dominique Bruyneel 4 – Peugeot 207 S2000
5 Andy Rowe – Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 3
6 Davy Vanneste – Citroen C2 R2 Max
7 Tim van Parijs – Porsche 911 GT
8 Victorien Heuninck – Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 8
9 Geert Deauprez – Subaru Impreza WRC S5
10 Matthias Boon – Skoda Fabia R2
For more information, visit www.firc.be and www.scuderiavervica.be or check out www.fastestcat.co.uk and for updates from the event follow @fastestcat on twitter.