At the start of the 60th ConXioN Omloop van Vlaanderen, the weather seemed to be trending in the positive direction, but the participants soon faced rain. The rainy weather made for an unspent race start with lots of turns and surprises. Four drivers split the fastest times on the five tests scheduled on Friday evening. Adrian Fernémont opened first, 1″9 ahead of Sébastien Bedoret and 2″2 ahead of Kris Princen. Then Bedoret and Kevin Demaerschalk were fastest on the 8.2km of Beveren, 0″8 ahead of Fernémont, who did remain leader until the first return to the service park in Roeselare. Just before the Zoning, it started to rain brighter. The competitors looked at each other and hesitated which tyres to choose.
"When it rains, I think you should put rain tyres," Lara Vanneste, Kevin Demaerschalk's co-pilot, launched categorically. The passage on the Zoning proved her absolutely right. Kevin was 4″5 faster there than the surprising Niels Reynvoet. Vincent Verschueren conceded 5″, despite rain tyres, and the rest even more. On the two final tests, slicks might have been a better choice though. In any case, Demaerschalk took the lead ahead of Fernémont by 3″6 difference. But, on the next two tests he could not confirm.
"I was held up by a slow empty runner at the back," he told us. "Perhaps I hit something on the Zoning. As we didn't have a rain tyre with us as a spare, we pumped extra air into the tyre each time before the last two tests. It held out until 3km before the finish of the final test. I think we lost at least 15″... The Fiesta is really good in bad conditions!"
Fernémont took advantage to clock a 2nd scratch on De Ruiter and take the lead with 0″1 difference. On the final trial, he was only beaten by Verschueren, but he did finish the day as leader with 8″8 lead over Demaerschalk and 12″4 over Ghislain de Mevius.
"I took the gamble to stay on slicks after the first two tests and it worked," laughed Fernémont. "On the Zoning I was cautious, but on the other two tests it went well. Only Verschueren was able to beat me on the last test, thanks to his rain tyres. I love this course. You have to be very precise here."
Ghislain de Mevius was also very happy with his 3rd place: "This is not my favourite course, but I like the variety. I'm having fun because it's an exciting battle at the front. Up to this point it's going extremely well."
Vincent Verschueren, 4th, was relieved: "After the first lap, I noticed an oil leak. But, we had to continue without service until the end of the day. I didn't think we would make it. It all started badly as I had the engine stall at the start of FP 1 and we were on hard slicks. A catastrophe on the first two tests. Fortunately, the oil leak turned out to be from a cap that was not closed properly."
After his scratch on FP 2, Bedoret was hoping for more than 5th place after the first day, 19″4 from Fernémont: "The start of the race was good, despite the lack of grip on slicks," he told us. "But, after that I made two mistakes. We went straight and lost 13″. Very unfortunate, because I could have been 3rd."
"That second mistake was my fault," Thomas Walbrecq, the navigator, confessed honestly. "We had counted the poles as landmarks and I didn't see a pole. As a result, we braked too late."
One of the biggest casualties of the evening, however, was Kris Princen, who was only in 7th place 23″ from the leader. "The car is uncontrollable," felt the Limburger. "It behaves erratically. I can't attack like this. Even when I put a minimal boost, it doesn't go." Kris was even preceded by PJM Cracco, who would have been third without a slide on the very last test. Niels Reynvoet, 9th, was another pleasant surprise from the race start. He was very happy with a 2nd and a 3rd chrono. Pieter Tsjoen (night blindness problem) and Bob de Jong (who regretted he had stayed on slicks), were less happy. And what to say about Patrick Snijers, who was counted out on FP 2 due to a rear tyre puncture and an open rear train. Despite two punctures, Andy Lefevere is in first place among the Porsches in 12th place. Two places ahead of Stefaan Stouf, leader in Historic, by 13″9 ahead of Bjorn Syx. Bedoret was by far the fastest driver in TER, but Steve Fernandes does best for the title by staying well ahead of Stephan Göttig. Timo van der Marel put his Opel Adam R2 between them, leading in R2. He is ahead of the Juniors, as usual, with Gilles Pyck and Tobias Brüls starting the race well anyway. Gunther Monnens leads the M-Cup in 17th place overall.
Three more rounds of five tests are scheduled for Saturday, good for 163 km against the chrono. Remains to be seen if the weather remains changeable
(Photos by BRC Media)
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