- The second round of the Motul Clio Rally Trophy is the Monteberg Rally in Belgium
- All seven teams finish the race
- Van de Laar/Krieger (Rally3/4 & General) and Ippen/Bierbooms (Rally5) win
This year there is one foreign competition on the calendar of the Motul Clio Rally Trophy, the Monteberg Rally around Poperinge, Belgium. When visiting our southern neighbors, the Trophy participants can experience completely different tests and gain a wealth of experience.
“It is completely different from the Netherlands,” explains Ben van de Laar. “You hardly have any real straights here, the bends continuously merge into each other, really fantastic to drive,” he beams halfway through the day. “It is certainly not easy, it is a huge challenge, but that is why we came here, we learn a lot from this.”
The Monteberg Rally originated as a hill climbing competition on the namesake Monteberg and slowly developed into a full-fledged rally. For this purpose, the competition has been expanded with tests that are also regularly included in the most famous rally in the country, the Ypres Rally, which recently counted for the WRC and ERC. The tests are therefore of a high level. Super-fast narrow roads with so-called ‘fans’, round bends that merge into each other where real daredevils sometimes cut almost an entire car width through the verge. A mistake is easily made because although the asphalt itself offers a lot of grip, the grass edges next to it and the mud thrown onto the road by cutting are very slippery.
At the start of the competition, the participants immediately experience how treacherous it is. John Coumans starts the rally backwards when he spins immediately on the first test. Ben van de Laar hits a tree stump, causing some damage to the front right and causing him to lose his power steering. However, the Renault Clio offers the option to reset this, so that Van de Laar can continue to steer smoothly on the next test and the damage can be fully repaired during the service.
On test four, Willem Wouter Overbeek leaves the road firmly. “In a long right 4, the rear suddenly came up and when he came down the rear wheel was in the grass, yes then you lost it.” The car slides through the lawn and hits a concrete post at the rear. Although the rear end is seriously damaged, Overbeek can continue his way, he said, at a slightly slower pace. “On the first stages we had a nice battle with Ben, we really rode with the knife between our teeth. But that may not be wise here, we have to go back a bit.”
Esmee den Hartigh and René Bril enter the match with a lot of confidence and are visibly enjoying themselves. “It’s really great riding here, such beautiful tests.” It is also very different for the navigators in Belgium. “It gives me a dry throat, I’m constantly talking. Left 4 into Right 4 into left 6, it goes on and on, beautiful!” Elbert Deij finds it a bit less wonderful at the beginning and cannot yet find the good feeling. Then the times can go fast, navigator Muilwijk explains, “you have to dare here and attack the corners, if you drive here as if you were in the Netherlands and don’t cut, for example, then you won’t get the cadence and then things won’t go well.” come.”
Who has mastered the cadence is Nard Ippen. He also drives the Belgian Clio Trophy and knows how to convert that experience into performance. He is untouchable in the Rally5 class and due to Overbeek’s time loss he even climbs to second place overall in the Trophy.
At the front, Ben van de Laar and Marlon Krieger ride unthreatened to victory. Competition animal Van de Laar is looking for a new goal with the loss of Overbeek and is aiming for a place in the top ten. “Not bad, right in a field of 160 participants?” Certainly not, and Van de Laar does even slightly better by eventually finishing ninth overall and taking the overall and Rally3/4 win in the Trophy. Behind him it is still exciting for second place until the last test. Ippen defends a lead of 16 seconds over Overbeek. “We did some calculations for the last test,” he explains. “We really wanted to ensure that he would not regain those 16 seconds, so we really sat down for it on the last test.” According to navigator Bierbooms, this created a precarious situation, although Ippen himself looked at it somewhat differently. “A little upset where you don’t expect it, and a bump, is part of rallying, right?” he laughs. Ippen ultimately keeps Overbeek behind him and takes a well-deserved second place.
Behind Overbeek, John Coumans enjoyed fourth place overall and second in Rally5. After the first boucle, he noted with satisfaction: “Now it’s really starting to get fun now that we’ve seen the tests.” Regular rival Elbert Deij lost too much time in the first tests to make it difficult for Coumans, who still found himself in the fight for third place. Newcomers to the Motul Clio Rally Trophy, Alexander Derez and Barbara Vromman made a strong debut in the Clio. For years they drove a historic BMW, but this year the desire to drive modern equipment brought them to the Clio. It was already their fifth time in the Monteberg “but it never went as fast as in the Clio,” Derez laughs at the finish. “A super car, I can recommend it to everyone.” Unfortunately it was just not fast enough to take a cup home. Elbert Deij overcame his Belgian competitors on the last test to take the final podium place. Esmee den Hartigh closes ranks as fifth in the Rally5.
The next round of the Motul Clio Rally Trophy is the ELE Rally on May 24 and 25 around Son in Brabant.
Highlights Monteberg Rally
Date: 5-5-2024
Location: Poperinge (B)
Samples: 11
KM: 122
Substrate: Asphalt
Monteberg Rally results
- Ben van de Laar / Marlon Krieger – Renault Clio Rally3;
- Nard Ippen / Mark Bierbooms – Renault Clio Rally5; +4.51.2
- Willem Wouter Overbeek / Christiaan van der Rijsen – Renault Clio Rally3; +4.55.5
- John Coumans / Renaldo Lier – Renault Clio Rally5; +7.35.8
- Elbert Deij / Nadia Muilwijk – Renault Clio Rally5; +8.59.3
- Alexander Derez / Barbara Vromman – Renault Clio Rally5; +9.01.4
- Esmee den Hartigh / René Bril – Renault Clio Rally5; +12.55.9
Dropouts
No
Source: pb Motul Clio Rally Trophy
Photos: pb Motul Clio Rally Trophy
