 'From sunny Tuscany to Le Touquet' Persbericht: ERC
The first Euro Rally Challenge season was completed last month with a big and memorable party in Enschede, The Netherlands. The prizewinners were honored. Erik Wevers, both Dutch and ERC champion, celebrated his titles near his hometown. The number of teams who came to Enschede showed that a great camaraderie has grown between them during the 2008 season. German lady driver and second in Group N, Janina Depping and her team members travelled from Germany to The Netherlands for the occasion. The same can be said about father and son Funch. Together with their service crew the Danish competitors travelled over 700 km in order to attend the party. Mark van Eldik, also one of the Euro Rally Challenge founder, appeared in public for the first time since his crash at Hellendoorn and received a lot of support from everyone. He is still recovering from this horrifying crash, but his passion for rallying has not been lessened. He would love to compete again in 2009.
From Italy to Denmark.
The first Euro Rally Challenge Season has not passed unrecognized to organizers around Europe. No less than 18 organizations from six different countries have made their interest to become one of the six ERC rounds clear. This fact made it a true jigsaw puzzle for the ERC organizers to come up with an interesting and appealing calendar. But all in all it worked out perfectly.
We have had a lot of cooperation from organizers and national federations, says Bart Hissink, Euro Rally Challenge cup coordinator. The German federation, DMSB, have ruled out WRC cars from entering DRS events. But on our request they have given the Thüringen Rallye permission to organize their DRS event including WRC cars. The date of the Thüringen Rallye has been changed to June 12th and 13th especially for us, so we can take part. We also received al lot interest from Denmark. The experiences that were gathered by Michael Pedersen and Hans-Ole Funch have been very positive. The KDAK Rally in Odense also changed its date in order to fit in to our calendar. That meant that, in order to create a slot for the KDAK Rally at the beginning of September, another Danish even had to change date too to make way for the KDAK Rally. In brief there has been a great enthusiasm with all organizers.
The 2009 calendar consists of 6 rallies in 6 different countries. The opening event will be in Belgium with the Sezoensrally (May 22nd and 23rd). This rally, a compact event with some beautiful pieces of gravel in it, and the Dutch round at Hellendoorn (September 19th and 20th), which is the classic Dutch rally and located in a Dutch region where rallying is tremendously popular, have also been on the 2008 calendar.
Entry in advance
The other four events are new to all competitors. The Thüringen Rallye (June 12th and 13th) is being followed by the Rally del Casentino (July 3rd and 4th) in Italy. This is a beautiful Italian event, also part of the International Rally Cup, in the flowing hills of Tuscany. By staging a round of the ERC it can count on a strong field with a lot of WRC cars. On top of that the Rally del Casentino will be broadcasted live by PlayTV, an Italian TV channel and part of the Sky-Group. The Danish round will be held during the KDAK Rally (September 4th and 5th) around Odense. This rally has technical stages in a nice green surrounding. The 2009 season closes in France during the Rally Le Touquet, part of the French tarmac championship. This rally along the French coast is also a true classic and always has a strong field. However the tarmac of the Pas-de-Calais is very bumpy and during the fall it will be slippery and treacherous.
The Euro Rally Challenge will be held in five groups: A, N, R, H and GT. The competition is not solely intended for teams with a WRC, but it is also intended for teams competing with cars in other groups like Group N, GT's, the new classes R2 and R3 or the older Group H cars like the Opel Kadett GT/E of Hans-Ole Funch. Every group crowns its own winners in a separate classification.
In order to take part in the Euro Rally Challenge 2009 entry in advance is required. The entry fee is 300 Euro, which will be refunded after participating in all six events. Classification requires five results. After the completion of the season the winners will be honored during a big party where they will receive their prizes.
18 Danish teams, a Ford Focus and a Subaru Impreza WRC, Clio R3, and...?
The Euro Rally Challenge will have a strong line up for the 09 season. Erik Wevers, René and Dennis Kuipers will drive their Ford Focus WRC06. Mark van Eldik hopes he can re-enter during the season with his Subaru Impreza WRC S12B. Most of the 2008 competitors have expressed plans to compete the 2009 season in the Euro Rallky Challenge again. This means we can look forward to Jan de Winkel with his Clio, Michael Pedersen and Janina Depping, both with Mitsubishi and Hans-Ole Funch. Belgian Pieter Tsjoen has expressed his interest. He is awaiting our calendar and if there is competition enough he will enter for the 2009 season, I can guarantee you that, Bart Hissink said. Hungarian Erik Korda has expressed his interest. He will drive an Impreza S12B WRC. The Danish rally drivers are very excited about our competition. 18 Danish teams are awaiting our definitive calendar to enter themselves. We are assured of an international field, even before we have launched our calendar! I'm sure this field will have some additions in the next weeks.
More information and entry
Bart Hissink: bart@eurorallychallenge.eu
Euro Rally Challenge 2009 Calendar
May 22nd – 23rd Sezoens Rally - Bocholt (BE)
June 12th – 13th Thüringen Rallye - Pössneck (DE)
July 3rd – 4th Rally del Casentino - Bibbiena (IT)
September 4th – 5th KDAK Rally - Odense (DK)
September 18th – 19th Hellendoorn Rally - Hellendoorn (NL)
October 2nd – 4th Rallye Le Touquet Pas-de-Calais - Touquet (FR)
The Euro Rally Challenge 2009 strong points
- 6 events in 6 different countries
- finish on Saturday with a ERC-party in the evening
- all cars admitted: Gr.A incl. WRC, S2000, Gr.N, Gr.H, Gr.R and GT
- classification per Group
- 300 euro entry fee, refunded after participating all events.
- Strong field assured
- Fierce battle on the stages, cameraderie at the servicepark.
- Big Party at the end of the season. |
