Report on the Rallye Historique Le Touquet 2011

Silver Arrows Racing on the podium in the 13th edition of the Rallye Historique Le Touquet 2011

HERTSBERGE – March 20th, 2011. On March 18th and 19th the town of Le Touquet, situated in the north of France, served as headquarters for the 13th edition of the Rallye Historique Le Touquet for classic rally cars. Not less than 20 teams had registered for this event which is 576 km long and consists of 273 km special stages.

Silver Arrows was present with driver Bart Vanhaverbeke and co-driver brother Frits Vanhaverbeke. Their ambition was to do better than last year when the team had to retire on the first day as a result of a mechanical failure.

On Friday’s program were two sections of three stages separated by a super special on the dam of Le Touquet. With a sixth and two fifth places in the first three stages the Silver Arrows team completed the first section in fourth place at 1min 39s from leader Laurent Bayard with a Porsche 911 Carrera SC.

Bart Vanhaverbeke explains: “We started off with the wrong tire choice as we left the service park on intermediate tyres. However, just before the start of the first special stage it started raining very hard. Moreover, the roads were full of mud so you could hardly see their edges. We therefore agreed to not take any unnecessary risks and take it easy.”

In the second section the team set a fifth, seventh, fourth and a third time and ended the first day in a strong fourth place 3m 52.7 s behind leader Laurant Bayard and only 35s behind Jean-Pierre Levasseur in third place. Bart Vanhaverbeke explains: “In the final stages of the day we attacked, bringing us closer to the leaders. We had a bit of luck at the end of the sixth special stage when we noticed we had a flat tire. We could however finish the stage and change the tyre afterwards without any time loss or penalties.”

For the second day another five stages were scheduled. Meanwhile, the rain clouds had disappeared and a beautiful sun had started shining on the roads around Le Touquet. During the ninth stage Christophe Terriou, at that moment second in the standings, went off road with his Porsche and hit a tree forcing him to retire. As a result Bart and Frits Vanhaverbeke moved up to third place. Their main competitor and winner of the 2009 edition of the event Chistophe Regnier also had to retire with a mechanical problem in the ninth stage. This meant that the team now had a comfortable lead of 2m 32s to their closest rival. The next stages were completed without taking any risks in order to secure their third place. The team even managed to increase its lead on the other competitors.

The first podium of the season was a fact and proved to be a very good achievement. Bart Vanhaverbeke explains: “Winner Laurent Bayard is a local and very experienced. He recently won the Routes du Nord Rally in the modern category. Second placed Jean-Pierre Levasseur has been driving historic rallies for many years and knows his Porsche inside out. With these competitors in mind we are very happy with our third place.”

He concludes: “We are delighted that we have achieved our objectives. The car was perfect and the service team did an excellent job. I look forward to next year’s edition where we will try to keep local driver Laurent Bayard from a third consecutive victory.”

Final standings for the Rallye Historique Le Touquet 2011:
1. BAYARD Laurent (F)/BRIGAUDEAU Loïc (F) – Porsche 911 SC in 2u 7min 59sec
2. LEVASSEUR Jean Pierre (F)/ FOUCRY Michel (F) – Porsche 911 SC at 4min 53,50sec
3. VANHAVERBEKE Bart (B)/ VANHAVERBEKE Frits (B) – Mercedes 500 SLC at 7min 2,1sec
4. RICHE Marc (F)/ DEVULDER Yannick (F) – Volkswagen Golf 1 GTI at 11min 43,8sec
5. PONTIER Francois (F)/ BROGNARD David (F) – Opel Kadett GTE at 12min 38,8sec
Of the 19 cars that started, only 15 made it to the finish.

About Silver Arrows Racing
Silver Arrows Racing is an organization specialized in full service renting of Mercedes-Benz 500 SLC historic rally cars for participation to historic rally and regularity events. Aside from the rally cars the company has a complete infrastructure for the maintenance, transport and storage of the cars before, during and after an event. Silver Arrows Racing focuses on Belgian events but offers its clients also the possibility to take part in international events.
For more information on Silver Arrows visit www.silver-arrows.com

About the Mercedes-Benz 500 SLC Rally car
The Mercedes-Benz 500 SLC rally car participated in its first official rally during the Vuelta America del Sud in 1978 and immediately won 1st, 2nd and 4th places in this 30.000 km long endurance race. Famous pilots such as Bjorn Waldegard, Hanu Mikkola en Andrew Cowan offered Mercedes in the following years many victories and top scores in WRC rally and other events. The car has a 5L V8 aluminum engine with close to 320 HP and has been completely adapted for the rally circuit. Apart from an automatic/semi-manual gearbox with 4 gears the car also has a hydraulic hand brake, Reiger dampers, BBS monobloc rims and a FIA certified roll cage.

Ref. 02/11

For more information and high resolution images contact:
Filip Lecomte
Press Relations
Silver Arrows Racing
pressinfo@silver-arrows.com
Tel.: +32 475 42 93 65