Finally the races started and the first race for this year, the first round of the Belgian championship. The landscape is flat like all the places on the Flemish side of the country with special stages on fast and dangerous farming roads. Photographically, I knew from the beginning that it would be a difficult race because the landscape alone does not have to offer you anything special.
The rally started on Thursday with the shakedown and all eyes were on Jos Verstappen, the father of Max F1 world champion, who made his rally debut. However, the presence of the Frenchman Stéphane Lefebvre, who will claim the championship this year, was also of great interest. After about two hours with strong wind and cold, the rain and hail forced me to leave but at least I had gotten a little taste of the rally.
The next day Friday, i passed 3 of the 4 special stages as one of them was completely indifferent. I had a hard time finding some good spots and my only hope was that the next day it would be a little wet so there would be some mud on the road from the corner cuts.
Early Saturday morning with -3 degrees Celsus I started for the first pass. In general, the race was quite difficult for me as I had to change a special stage constantly so that I could see more passes. The weather was good with the result that after the first 2-3 specials the corner cuts are dry and the spectacle is reduced considerably. Eventually I managed to see 5 passages and I had a hard time taking some good photos. The winner of the rally was Lefebvre, who for me is also the favorite for the championship if he does not change something about the races he will do this year.
