The ORC Canal Rally was the first real confrontation between the three R2 crews of Pex, Weatherley and Quigley. With bright sunshine and clean stages, the weather certainly wasn’t going to spoil the fun. On top of that, ORC is familiar territory for all three teams. Unfortunately, the duel everyone had been looking forward to never truly materialised. Pex/Preda blasted out of the blocks and immediately took the lead. Sean and Colin Quigley were able to follow nicely, but kept their heads cool after last year’s heavy crash, which abruptly ended their season. Weatherley/Layland also lacked race rhythm in their first Belgian event of the year and decided to build up gradually.
We saw another spearhead performance in the Historics. Davies/Parry had set their sights on repeating their victory from the Salamandre, even though the opposition in ORC was of a tougher calibre. Top machinery or not, the M3 immediately placed itself at the front of the Historic field. Anderson/Martin came up just short, but braced themselves for a fierce fight with Barnes/Paynter. The opening stages went smoothly for everyone, but halfway through the rally the gremlins began to pick their victims. Thorne/Webb struggled with a stubborn intercom, while Bristow/Sayer and Freeman/Williams had already disappeared from the competition.
Meanwhile, there was no stopping Pex/Preda. The team overshot at one point, but without major time loss. The Quigleys, however, lost time behind the stranded Porsche of Meulders. In their chase to recover those lost seconds, they too went straight on and couldn’t get the Fiesta restarted immediately, costing them even more time. Shortly afterwards, Weatherley/Layland suffered a puncture and saw their hopes for a strong finish evaporate. Packer/Thomas were quietly sneaking towards the top twenty on their ORC debut, but they too were forced to retire. A shame, as the team seemed on course for a fine result.
Davies/Parry would ultimately dominate the Historic section, not only in FIRC but overall, no less! The locals had no answer to the rapid M3. Even legend Paul Lietaer must have been surprised, as he also had to concede to Barnes/Paynter in the final standings. Yet another top performance from the 106 crew, who have a sizeable Belgian fanbase. Anderson/Martin narrowly lost out to the Peugeot but still finished a fine second FIRC Historic ahead of Thorne/Webb. Without the intercom issues, even more might have been possible. Gavin Smith/Vincent ran their own rally but made up for their Salamandre retirement, while namesake Allan Smith/Purdy fared less well due to differential problems. Allfrey/Fellowes, finally, contested their first rally with their newly rebuilt 205 GTi and despite starter motor and fuel supply issues, once again managed just like last year, to beat local driver Ver Eecke in the… Porsche GT3!
Clear winners across the board, with an untouchable Pex/Preda who narrowly missed out on second place overall. Barnes/Paynter also faced no real opposition in 2WD, just like Davies/Parry in the Historics. But things can go very differently: our sympathy goes to the extremely unfortunate Garry Elswood, who, together with co-driver Ian Harden, suffered a broken power steering belt on the way to the event. Impossible to steer, impossible to repair. After six hours waiting for recovery, the hastily rented replacement car also gave up! As you read this, the team is still in Belgium while their car is being repaired. No rally for them, but at least an unexpected Belgian holiday, something positive after all.
Only two weeks to go until the Rally of Wervik celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. See you then!
