Early exit for Hermen Kobus

28-04-2014

"A broken valve spring"
Rallye de Wallonie - 25-27 april
This weekend the Rallye de Wallonie, the third round of the Belgian Rally Championship, was driven in the Belgian city of Namur. Hermen Kobus and Erik de Wild had to defend their second position  in the standings of the championship. Unfortunately, the Ford Fiesta S2000 was eliminated in an early stage as a result of engine failure on the 2nd super special…

The rally started very well for Hermen and Erik; on the first super special stage that was driven on the top of the historic Citadel of Namur, they opened the rally with a fourth stage time overall only 2.5 seconds behind leader Freddy Loix. A surprising start knowing that 11 WRC cars, 3 S2000’s 2 R5’s and more than 10 fast R4 cars participated during the 31st edition of the Rallye de Wallonie.

Nevertheless, on the opening stage of the Saturday morning in Mohiville, Hermen and Erik had to set their Ford Fiesta S2000 aside.



“I was under the impression that the engine did not produce the power that it would normally produce. A few seconds later, I heard a strange sound coming from the engine which made me decide to put the car aside of the road. Apparently, a valve or a valve spring has broken though further research towards the condition of the engine will need to confirm this hypothesis.”

“For our title chances, this early exit has big consequences because not one peeling result is admitted in the present championship. Further research will have us decide what to do with the next round of the Belgian Rally Championship, the Sezoensrally around Bocholt. In any case we will be back before the 19th of June to participate in the Geko Ypres Rally.”