YATES IS FIRST BRIT TO WIN IN WE R VI K
First multi-venue win for chester field driver.
Rhys Yates became the first British driver to win the Rally van Wervik in its history after he and co-driver Elliott Edmondson clinched outright victory on round three of the MSA Asphalt Rally Championship in their Skoda Fabia R5.
Yates, who contested the event as part of his preparations for the Ypres Rally in the British Rally Championship, led the compact 60 stage mile event, which contained four loops of three stages, from the start – setting four fastest times to finish 41.1 seconds ahead of Guillaume de Mevius/martijn Wydaeghe (Peugeot 208 T16).
The fastest driver was Kevin Demaerschalk in his Citroen DS 3 WRC, but a mistake on the loop stage by co-driver Lara Vanneste was met with a hefty time penalty, which put them out of contention.
“We didn’t expect to win, not at all,” said Yates of his first multivenue rally win, in his fifth season of rallying. “After the first stage Elliott and I were laughing that we’d taken the stage win, because we really couldn’t believe it – and it just went on from there.
“We were here to get better in Belgium, so each stage I just wanted to drive better and be more comfortable. We didn’t have any moments, it all felt comfortable from start to finish, and that’s good for my confidence going forward.”
Yates’ CA1 Sport stable-mate David Bogie took second-placed Asphalt Rally Championship points in seventh overall, as second to sixth were occupied by locals.
The 2011 British Rally champion lost time early on, and he and co-driver John Rowan were soon back on the pace in their Fabia R5.
Wayne Sisson/max Freeman have taken the lead of the Asphalt Championship after three good scores from three rallies in their Mitsubishi Lancer E10 – after several of their title rivals suffered disastrous trips to Belgium.
Jason Pritchard led the series going into Wervik, but he and co-driver Phil Clarke were soon out after clutch failure in their Ford Fiesta S2000.
Beating them to the crossChannel ferry home were Damian Cole/jamie Edwards, however, after their Fiesta RS WRC picked up an incurable misfire on the first loop of stages.
Phil Turner/ian Meakin were a magnificent third overall in the table, but a suspected broken trackcontrol arm meant their Escort Mk2 understeered off the road and into a ditch on SS2, ripping the front-right wheel off.
There was a very close battle for the final Asphalt Championship podium position, with just 10.8 seconds separating third from fifth. Daniel Harper did just enough to recover from a bad start, which involved a major overshoot at a junction and a messy U-turn, to bag third and 12th overall in his Mini John Cooper Works WRC.
A very impressive Belgian rally debut for Barry Groundwater/ Neil Shanks yielded fourth, just seven seconds behind in 13th, in their Lancer E10, while Sisson was a mere 3.8 seconds behind them in fifth in the Asphalt points and 14th overall.
Adrian Spencer’s Subaru Impreza WRC had undergone a major rebuild since the Manx and was now back on song. He and co-driver Matt Daniels took sixth, but only after spectators helped them out of a ditch, which cost them a minute. Just behind were William Creighton/liam Regan, another crew using the event as an Ypres warm up in their Peugeot 208 and scored 29th overall. Top MSA Asphalt R2 was Jerseyman Ed Fossey in 39th.
Round four of the Asphalt Championship is the Down Rally on July 21.