2017/18 Lovan RC Challenge Rd1 – Report
The opening round of the 2017/18 Lovan RC Challenge kicked off this past weekend at their new location, which is a bit closer to the Belgian coast and the French boarder. The redesigned track measures 35x18m and it is laid out using the popular ETS carpet. 71 sign-ups made for a competitive field and a good amount of entries for a Belgium race. The weekend started off on Saturday with six rounds of 4-minute heat practice, reseeding and the opening qualifier. In the EFRA Touring Modified class young Liam van de Wouwer made a first impact as did Remi Callens, Hush Ragout and Guillaume Guffroy.
In the Touring Stock class, run with 13.5T EFRA-legal motors, blinky controllers and tyres not softer than 26 shore, it was an international field of 40 drivers with the top 3 spots being taken by pilots from France, the UK and Belgium. The first highlight in the Formula class was set by Willy Voisangrin, from Kris Vanbleu and Ghislain Mantrand while in 1/12th scale it were Dimitri de Baeker and Ian Bekaert who set the pace. Finally in the Rookie class Seppe van den Berge showed great improvement over the day.
Come Sunday it was time for the three final qualifiers and in the Touring Modified class Remi Callens took the TQ as the only driver with a 21-laps run. In the Stock class two drivers scored a 20-laps run, Sébastien Gibers from France and Giovanni Moguez from Belgium. The 3rd place on the grid was obtained by Willy Voisangrin, who not only was fast in Formula but also in TC Stock. Formula then saw Ghislain Mantrand on P1 from Willy Voisangrin and Bjorn Frederickx. The 1/12th class had Dimitri de Baeker starting 1st and in front of Ian Bekaert and Nicolas Denys. In the Rookie class the starting grid changed a lot, and ultimately it was Kas Ally from Vic Dejaegere and Seppe van den Berge.
In the opening EFRA class A-main it was Remi who showed an impressive performance, taking the win with a 5-seconds margin from Hugo Ragaut and Thomas Stockman. A2 then again saw the TQ holder taking off and never looking back while Guillaume Guffroy had some bad luck, suffering from a body tuck caused by Thomas Stockman, but Thomas showed great sportsmanship and waited to give the position back. In the end Hugo came in 2nd from Liam van de Wouwer, who solved his electric problems. In A3 Remi made it a clean sweep as he took a 5-seconds win from Thomas Srockman and Hugo Ragaut. Overall it was Remi from Hugo and Thomas.
The Touring Stock class had Giovanni Moquez taking the overall win from TQ holder Sebastian Gibert 2nd and Willy Voisangrin 3rd.
In Formula Willy Voisangrin made a clean sweep in the finals as he won all three A-mains as Ghislain Mantrand scored two 2nd places and Kris Vanbleu came in 3rd overall with a 2nd and a 3rd place.
The 1/12th scale finals saw young Ian Bekaert taking wins in A1 and A2 for the overall from Dimitri de Baeker and Nicolas Denys. In the Rookie class Kas Ally took the win in all three finals, while the 2nd place in the first final went to Seppe van den Berge. He showed great improvement from Saturday to Sunday, while Vic Dejaegere came in as 3rd. In the second and the third final, it was Vic that made it to 2nd place and Seppe to 3rd and this was also the podium, Kas Ally from Vic Dejaeghe and Seppe in 3rd.
Round 2 of the Lovan RC Challenge will be held on the weekend of the 19th of November.
Thanks to Kris Vanbleu for the report.
