Fourth consecutive weekend in a race and this time for the second round of the Belgian championship. Quite tired but this time it was Loubet‘s turn to get behind the wheel of the Puma. For the first time for the French driver of M-Sportwho would do a test for the WRC race in Croatia.
Nice race with nice special stages in beautiful landscapes. The race started with shakedown on Thursday. At first I sat in a small jump waiting for the Puma for quite some time. The first pass of Loubet was “loose” and so I had to wait for the second at the same point. After hours and a lot of walking I left just before the shakedown was over. Check in to the worst hotel I have stayed in Belgium and rest for the next day I would walk to the special stages to find the places I would take pictures. Friday and my walk on the special stages begins. Once again I find that the participants systematically violate the traffic law and several times become dangerous. After I found a few places I took a walk to the service park to see the cars up close and take some pictures.
The race starts on Saturday morning and the program had five passes. Two special stages from two times and the fifth in a different one. I had to watch the first 15-20 rally cars and then change spot. The first pass went quite well but leaving the special stage I was surprised by the huge queue of cars. That’s why in the second passage I had to see fewer cars so that I could park as close as I could to the special stage. Like me, most viewers had the same special stages in their program. It’s a way to see more passes but only the first few cars. Finally, the second pass with good pictures from a point I did not like enough at first but in the end the result was completely different from what I expected.
Third pass and the same special stage as the first pass. That’s where the classic sunshine problem begins. Be in such a place that I can not take good pictures. The problem when passing a special stage through a village is that they do not let you sit in front of houses because it is a private property and as is logical the residents complain. Luckily for me, just before the special stage starts, I see the owner and immediately ask her if I can sit in her yard to take pictures. Fortunately, she was polite and said yes without a second thought. The third pass is mediocre with the sun spoiling my plans once again. Fourth passage, I reach the point and from the cuts a lot of gravel has come out on the road with the result that some drivers have come out opposite the field. Again the same problem with the sun as the car gets lost in the shade of the trees before it appears in front of me. Impressive the passages finally in a very sly spot.
Fifth and last pass in a very nice landscape but for some reason I could not see a very nice spot. Maybe it was the fatigue I had from the previous races. I start constantly changing spots in an attempt to find something interesting. Generally in every race in all passes I never sit in the same spot for all the cars. I like to have different pictures and many times searching I find places that I have not seen in the recce.
The end for the South Belgian Rally with a good result and with many new experiences that will definitely make me better in the future. Next race for the championship was the Tac Rally where I did not go because it is an indifferent race for me and not worth the long journey. In 2013 I had a little experience from this race and since then every time I watch videos or photos I do not find a reason to go. Next race for me will logically be the Rallye de Wallonie 30/4 – 01/05 which is one of my favorite races in Belgium along with Condorz.
