ELST – Hans Weijs Jr scored an impressive second J-WRC victory in last weekend’s Rally Germany. By winning the ADAC Rallye Germany, based around Germany’s oldest city Trier, Weijs Jr. leaps from seventh to fourth in the championships standings.
Right from the start on Friday Weijs Jr and his Belgian co-driver Bjorn Degandt deployed a stunning pace. “We tried to put the pressure on to our opponents from the beginning”, Weijs explained his tactical plan. And when the competition started to make mistakes the Dutch-Belgian crew slowly but surely developed a relaxing buffer of over two minutes at the end of the first leg.
The next day, said to be the toughest with two passes over the grueling 48 kilometers long Arena Panzerplatte, Weijs Jr could control the rally from a leading position. And still the 23 year old Dutchman succeeded in expanding his lead to an impressive 5 minutes over Aaron Burkart. Weijs Jr seemed to be in a class of his own because, although he didn’t take any unnecessary risks at all, the competition could not match his pace. On the opening stage of the last day in the Mosel vineyards the young Dutchman encountered a small problem with the brakes of his Citroën C2. “We had to bleed the brakes at the end of the stage. But it wasn’t a serious problem”, he said afterwards. The final four stages were completed and after the closing Circus Maximus stage in the heart of Trier the lead had grown to a staggering 5 minutes and 19 seconds.
“This rally is my home event seen in WRC terms. I can’t drive any closer to my hometown in the J-WRC. So I really wanted to win this one. And when all the plans you think of before the event work out, you’re overwhelmed with joy. And yet it was a real tough and difficult rally on the second and third leg. Our lead was that clear that we only could lose the rally if we lost our concentration. In Germany every little mistake could be the end of your event. Luckily for us we made no mistakes and the car never missed a beat”, a very happy Weijs Jr said after the finish.
Result J-WRC ADAC Rallye Deutschland
1. Hans Weijs/Bjorn Degandt (NL/B, Citroën C2 S1600)
2. Aaron Burkart/André Kachel (D, Suzuki Swift S1600) + 5:19,1
3. Karl Kruuda/Martin Jarveoja (EST, Suzuki Swift S1600) + 11:12,7
Classification J-WRC after Germany:
1. Aaron Burkart (D) 58 pt
2. Karl Kruuda (EST) 51 pt
3. Kevin Abbring (NL) 46 pt
4. Hans Weijs Jr (NL) 43 pt
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