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The 2nd rally of the Belgian championship was held on the extreme slippery roads of Tielt, in the west of Belgium.

The battle in group N was a never seen story, and a game of seconds from start untill finish.

Our cars turned out to be the best in speed and liability, which gave us a big success.  4 of our 5 cars were in the top 4...

2008 group N champion, Stéphane Lhonnay, won this rally in his Evo 9, followed by Colsoul newbie Mathias Viaene and Bob Colsoul.  4th group N was the fastest man of the weekend, but 2 flat tires made Alexandre Romain forget about victory.  But the other drivers are defenitely warned for next rallies.

If youngster Jonas Langenakens wouldn't have got a puncture, there would have been 5 Colsoul cars in top 5.  But due to this problem, he finished 8th group N.

Guy Colsoul Rallysport is very happy with the coming of Mathias Viaene.  Without a lot of testing, Mathias was fast from the 1st stage on.  Something we didn't see too often before, and something that proves that he is the talent that we thought he was.  We are really looking forward to other colaborations with this nice person and very good driver.

Guy Colsoul Rallysport came back with the 2 highest positions in group N from the Omloop van Vlaanderen, a rally counting for the Belgian Championship.

Eddy Snaet brought on of our Evo 10's to victory in group N, which is a remarkable result, as Eddy didn't drive rally for a long time.  Lots of congratulations to Eddy for this result.

2nd group N was Peter Hopmans in a Colsoul Evo 9.  Peter did a very good job for the Belgian group N title, as he is now leading the championship with only 2 rallies to go.  All the Colsoul team crosses the fingers for Peter.

Bob Colsoul was fighting a full weekend in our Evo X group N to win this category in the Terre de Causses, the 5th round of the French gravel championship.

Before the last stage, Bob was in the lead of group N with 1 second ahead of 2 Subaru Impreza cars, and 5th overall position.  But after 7 of 20km of that last stage, Bob had a puncture on a straight line, making him lose more than a minute, and throwing him back to 4th place in group N and 8th overall.

A very dissapointed Bob showed once again that he and the Evo X are capable to win group N, and that is exactly what he will try to do in the next round, the Terre des Cardabelles on October 10th and 11th.

An onboard video of the Terre de Causses can be found in the Media section

After a couple of years of being non-active, Eddy Snaet decided to participate once more at his 'home-rally', the regional Staden rally.

Eddy did better than just coming back, he finished 2nd overall, behind the unbeatable Paul Lietaer in his Subaru WRC.  And he was way ahead of other Lancer drivers with more driving during the last years.

Bob's brilliant season in France suddenly got less good.  In the rally he loves so much and won overall last year, the Terre de Langres, Bob was forced to retire after the 1st stage.  A broken gearbox command cable was unreparable after the stage.

Due to this result, it will from now on be way more difficult to win the group N title this year.  From the next rally on, the Terre de Causses, Bob will try to use all the potential of our Evo 10 to get back in the lead of the championship.

Stéphane Lhonnay and Chris Van Woensel both drove Evo 9 cars.  Stéphane unfortunately had to retire very close to the finish, being 7th overall.  And Chris finished 14th overall and 4th group N, after years and years of not driving on gravel.  Pictures of them can be seen in the Media section.

The 3rd round of the French gravel championship was held in the French town Die.  The rally is known for his twisty mountain gravel stages.

The night before the rally and on the 1st day, heavy storms reached the rally region and changed the nice gravel into very slippery mud.  Mud combined with the twisty mountain stages, made the rally suddenly a very dangerous one.

Bob Colsoul did what he had to do, and went from 3rd place overall in the championship to 2nd place, 1 point behind Belgian WRC driver Bruyneel.  But Bob remains firmly in the lead of the group N championship.

Bob finished this rally in 4th position and 2nd group N, only 10 seconds behind group N victory.  Not bad considering it is the first time our Evo 10 is driving in the mud, and all the settings for this surface had to be discovered.

Valence based Eric Mallen finished 9th overall and 4th group N, a result he is very happy about, as Eric is driving only one rally per year.  To bring the car to the finish without any damage is almost like a victory, as only half of the crews reached the finish line in these difficult conditions.

Pictures in the 'Media' section.

Bob Colsoul finished 6th overall and 2nd group N in the rally Terre de Provence, 1st round of the French gravel championship. The result wasn't expected, as the main goal was to test different setups during the very first rally on gravel in our Evo 10. The setup of the car at the end of the rally looks promising for the next gravel rally, the Terre d'Auxerre.

More pictures in "Media" section.

Bob Colsoul finished 5th in the first rally of the Belgian Championship, the Tielt rally.  Without a puncture in the last leg, bob would have been 3rd.  A podium would have been great, with 8 WRC cars at the start.  Positive is that Bob and his brother Tom gave a lesson in changing a flat tire, doing the job in less than 2 minutes.

Bob drove the Evo 10 with a 34mm restrictor but with a complete group N engine.  Bob tried different setups and management systems during the rally, and gave very usefull information to the team.  With this information, we know exactly what to do to make the car even faster.

Evo 9 driver Peter Hopmans couldn't have a worse start.  At the start of the first stage, Peter started a bit too motivated, and broke 2 driveshafts.  He had to finish 4 stages like this before going to the service.  Thanks to our efficient diff management, Peter was able to get to the service, where our team quickly changed 2 shafts and the rear diff.  Peter finished the rally without further problems, but lost too much time during the first leg to have a good result.

Next rally will be the 2nd round of the Belgian Championship, the Rallye de Wallonie, where Bob will use the experience he gained during the Tielt rally to make the Evo 10 faster and faster.

The first rally of the year in Belgium is a regional championship rally, the "Rallye de Hannut".

The rally turned out to be a success for Guy Colsoul Rallysport, as the 5 cars finished in top-7 classification.

Bob Colsoul was testing the new Evo 10, and after being in the lead, Bob got troubles with the gearbox command.  After a fast afternoon, Bob was able to finish 2nd overall.  Happy to be at the finish, Bob says:"This was a very difficult rally with a lot of rain and mud, but I am extremely happy about the Evo 10.  Without any testing, I was able to lead the rally for a short while, and do 2 overall best times.  Without my small problem in the morning, it could have been a complete different final classification.  But let's just remember how good the base of this Evo 10 is, we still have a lot of setup and testing work, but the performances are already present.  I like this car!"

Our other Evo 10 was driven by "the boss" Guy Colsoul, who decided to participate again after 13 years of non driving.  Guy says:"I am 62 years old, and I still have the need to drive fast.  And the public road is not a place for doing that."  Guy finished this rally in 5th position and liked it so much he will do more rallies this year.

Local Jean-Yves Laruelle finished 4th in our Evo 9.  Yves van Colen was 6th, and Peter Hopmans was 7th overall, both in Evo 9 cars.  For Peter it was a good test for the rest of the season, as he will participate at the Belgian Championship.

The "Rallye de Hannut" was also the scene of a big drama, as a spectator got killed after a crash.  Guy Colsoul Rallysport would like to send its support to the family and friends of the victim.

Tom navigated Gerard de Rooy in the truck category during the last Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile.  The team is proud to be the only one that was able to follow the speed of the Russian Kamaz trucks untill the finish.  With only 2 fourth times and all the others stages in top 3-ranking, Gerard, Tom and Marcel were the most consistent truck team.  Amazing pictures can be found on www.dakar-derooy.com.

The last round of the Belgian championship is traditionnally the most busy weekend of the year for Guy Colsoul Rallysport.  With 8 cars driving, Guy Colsoul Rallysport was again the biggest team of the Condroz Rally.

Stéphane Lhonnay did what he had to do, and offered to Guy Colsoul Rallysport another Belgian group N title.  Yves Matton and Cedric Verhees finished in the top-20 overall as well.

Newcomer David Cambrésier finished in the top-30 overall, which is a fantastic result for his 1st Condroz in a 'big' car, especially in the extreme bad and difficult weather conditions of this year.

Franco Arlotti drove our first Evo 10, it was as well the very first time that this car drove in Belgium.  Franco lost over 10 minutes in a ditch, but finished the rally without any mechanical problems.  The Evo 10 is a very promising car, and it will be tremendously quick after the planned testsessions in November and December.

3 cars didn't get to the finish.  Giancarlo Davite broke the transmission in the first stage and had to drive 2 more stages like this.  This resulted in too much dammage to repair.  Yves van Colen went off the road twice in his first 'Lancer-rally', and couldn't continue after hitting a wall and losing a rear wheel.  Guy Colsoul Rallysport's hope on an overall podium, talented French Bryan Bouffier, went off the road in the first stage, and lost a lot of time.  As there was too much dammage to the car due to this accident, Bryan and Colsoul Rallysport decided to step out of the rally at the end of Day 1.  A huge dissapointment for the French driver and for the complete Colsoul team.

Richard Frau finished 7th overall in the last round of the French gravel championship, the Terre de Vaucluse.  He was 3rd group N.  This result means that Richard finishes 4th overall in the championship and 2nd group N.  The best result so far for our Evo 9 driver.

Bob Colsoul did not start in this rally, as the Terre de Vaucluse was held during the same weekend as the Condroz Rally in Belgium.  Bob finishes the French Championship being 7th overall and 4th group N.

The one before last round of the Belgian Championship, the Rally van Haspengouw, is the Guy Colsoul Rallysport homerally.  And it couldn't have been closer, as the rallycenter was localised in the Colsoul buildings.  A cooperation that worked perfect.

Bob Colsoul drove his first Belgian Championship rally in 2008, as he is not allowed by the federation to drive the Evo 9 group A in Belgium.  This rally, bob drove an Evo 8 group N with a 34mm restrictor.  This is why his result is so brilliant, Bob finished 2nd overall with is 'big group N' on the 2nd position, in between Belgian title candidates Hubert Deferm (Impreza WRC S10) and Melissa Debackere (Corolla WRC).  This performance shows the federation that not a hugely expensive car is needed to perform, but a proper drive.

Stéphane Lhonnay finished 4th overall and won group N in our Evo 9.  While Colsoul newcomer and young talent from our own city Jonas Langenakens finished 7th overall in his Evo 6 group A.

In the Criterium part of the rally, Steve Matterne won for the 2nd consecutive year, after exactly one year of non-driving.  Unfortunately Jean Yves Laruelle went into a ditch on the very last section of the very last stage, and lost his third place overall in the Criterium.

But after all, a very good result in a very wet rally, where group N's showed to be spectacular as well.

The Terre de Cardabelles, the one before last round of the French gravel championship was a nightmare for Bob Colsoul.  Bob started well, and was inv6th position overall in the middle of the 1st day.  This was a good position, as he had startnumber 2 and had to clean the roads for the other competitors.  But in the 4th stage, Bob attacked too hard in a rough section and suffered from a puncture.  This puncture damaged a brakehose, and Bob lost 7 minutes.  Altough he was in 50th position at the end of day 1, Bob decided to start day 2 to have fun and amuse the spectators.  On day 2 Bob set stagetimes among the 5 first overall drivers, and won 28 places to 22nd overall in the Evo 9 group A (a normal group N with 34mm restrictor).  Anyhow a rally to forget as soon as possible.

Evo 9 group N driver Richard Frau had a very good start of the rally, and was competing with the best in group N.  But on day 2, Richard didn't find the proper rythm, lost some places and finished 8th overall and 4th group N.

The Terre de Causses, 5th round of the French Gravel Championship was a rally to forget for the Colsoul brothers.

After winning the 4th round, the Terre de Langres, Bob was forced to retire in the 5th stage with broken spark plugs.  The dissapointment was huge because Bob was leading the rally, which shows that his Langres result wasn't a one shot.  The combination Evo 9 group A and Bob Colsoul starts to look like a winning combination, and Bob can't wait to be at the start of the 6th and most beautiful round, the Terre de Cardabelles.  After the retirement in Causses, the championship can be forgotten for Bob, so he will be able to drive in Cardabelles without any stress, and try to go for victory again.

In group N class, Richard Frau had a brilliant start of the rally in our Evo 9, and was leading for some stages.  But unfortunately Richard couldn't keep that position and finished 5th overall and 3rd group N.  Another podium for Guy Colsoul Rallysport in France.

Guy Colsoul Rallysport annually takes several cars to the Rallye de Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise.

This year, Bob Colsoul finished 4th overall and 3rd group A behind a 206 WRC and Impreza S10WRC.  Bob won the A8 category and the "Guy Colsoul Rallysport Challenge", this is a price that is sponsored by Guy Colsoul Rallysport for the best 3 Mitsubishi drivers.

The N4 category was a full Colsoul podium, with Stéphane Clair winning, Dominique Jullien 2nd and Franco Arlotti 3rd.  Stéphane Clair and Dominique Jullien were as well 2nd and 3rd in the Colsoul Challenge.  Stéphane finished 6th, Dominique 9th and Franco 20th overall, which means 3 Colsoul cars in top-10 result.

The rally was a test for our more evoluated group A Evo 9, that is allowed to drive in France, but unfortunately still not in Belgium.  The test was very positive with 2 2nd overall times during the rally.  Bob will probably continue driving this car in France.

Picture by ribcc.com

Guy Colsoul Rallysport brought 5 cars at the start of the Belgian round of the European Police Rally Championship.

There is no better result possible than 1st, 2nd and 3rd overall...  Dominique Jullien won the rally in our Evo 9 group A, Erkki Vikman (Finland) finished 2nd and Alain Renkin ended 3rd overall and 1st group N.

2nd group N and 5th overall, only 2 seconds behind 4th place (and a Colsoul top-4) was Franco Arlotti, doing a good move for the European Championship.

The result could have been better, but unfortunately Christophe Castermans was forced to retire with our Evo 8 group A.  He was 2nd overall before leaving the rally.

Sunday May 4th, 23.30h

Melissa Debackere finished 3rd overall in the regional Monteberg Rallysprint on Saturday and 6th overall in the national rallysprint on Sunday.  The very first female driver in a Colsoul car was not used to drive group N, as she is usually driving a Corolla WRC, but did nevertheless a fantastic job.  This 2-day sprint is a test for bigger rallies later this year, and Melissa found her perfect suspension and diff setup of our Evo9.

We are looking forward to continue working together with this very professional, talented and very nice person.

Sunday April 27th, 18.47h

Fantastic result in the Rallye de Wallonie.  Alexandre Romain finishes 1st group N in his first rally in the Lancer Evo 9 group N, just some seconds ahead of group N championship favourit Stéphane Lhonnay.

They finish 3rd and 4th overall, which gives us a fantastic weekend result.  7 cars out of 8 got to the finish, only a crash in France stopped us from having a perfect 8 on 8.

Also the results were brilliant, 1st and 2nd group N in Rallye de Wallonie, 2nd overall in Rallye de Wallonie Criterium, and 4th group N in France.

Sunday April 27th, 18.36h

During the final day in France, Bob Colsoul continued to attack.  But a puncture on the first stage and a small "off road" on the 5th stage moved Bob back to 6th position overall and 4th group N.  Attacking very hard with even a group N best time on the last stage, didn't help Bob to get back the 3rd place in group N, only 2,1 seconds away...

After all a very good result.  Next round of the French gravel championship is Terre de Diois in the end of June.

Sunday April 27th, 10.30h

After the 1st day in Rallye de Wallonie, Stéphane Lhonnay in our Evo 9 is leading by far the group N category.  Other Colsoul driver Alexandre Romain had a puncture, but is pushing the maximum to get the 2nd place in group N.  Final result tonight.

In the criterium category, Dominique Jullien finishes only 2 seconds behind the winner Bouts.  One stage more would have given us the victory in this category.  Other Colsoul results are: Laurent Leonard 4th, Marc Streel 7th, and Stéphane Damis 20th after 2 punctures...

Saturday April 5th, 23.15h

The 2nd round of the Belgian championship was nightmare for group N championship leader Stéphane Lhonnay in a Colsoul Evo 9. The bad weather made the roads extreme slippery and stéphane didn’t manage to stay on the road.

This was the 1st rally of the championship for Bart Dujardin in another Colsoul Evo 9. As his last rally was over half a year ago, Bart needed some time to get in the proper rythm, and after a strong 2nd half of the rally, he finished 2nd group N. This means that in 2 rallies, Colsoul Rallysport has got 1 golden and 1 silver medal in group N.  Not a bad championship start.

Sunday April 6th, 18.30h

During the 2nd day of the Terre de Provence, 1st round of French gravel championship, Richard Frau climbed from 5th to 3rd position overall in our group A Evo 9, but at the end he lost his podium position and finished 4th overall in his 1st rally in group A configuration.

Bob Colsoul didn’t manage to win positions and remained 10th overall and 5th group N. But he takes the points of 3rd group N position for the championship. So, after all, not a bad championship start after one of the most difficult rounds.

Serge Garosi stayed as well on 14th position and 8th group N, a good result for the Frenchman, who is actually doing only a few rallies per year.

3 cars at the start and 3 at the finish is the good result of this very rough rally in which a big part of the competitors are forced to retire because of mecanical dammage.

The first rally of the 2008 Belgian Rally Championship started worse than ever.  During a test before the rally, Belgian champion Larry Cols crashed very badly in his VW Polo Super2000.  Larry was seriously injured and will need a long revalidation, but unfortunately Larry's engineer, Hans Goudezeune, got killed in this accident.  Guy Colsoul Rallysport would like to express their deepest emotions to the parents of Hans, as well as support Larry's parents in the difficult moments to come.

IRC-entered Freddy Loix won the rally with a Peugeot Super2000 in front of Guy Colsoul Rallysport driver Kurt Heckters.  Last time Kurt drove a Colsoul car was 10 years ago with the Evo 4.  So without any particular test, the least thing that can be said is that Kurt did a fantastic job and got the best result possible.  He did this in his known style, which is as much sideways as possible.

Stéphane Lhonnay finished 1st group N in his first rally with the recently achieved Evo 9.  Stagetimes that got better at every stage, and giving no chance to his opponents by driving fast and without errors will give him a lot of confidence for the 2nd rally of the season.

In Rally Criterium, the smaller brother of the Belgian Rally Championship, Guy Colsoul Rallsport driver Michel Lentz finished 2nd.  This means that two 2nd overall positions and a group N victory is the brilliant result for us at the 1st championship rally.  Our congratulations to the drivers.

The first round of the 2008 FIA World Rally Chhampionship is traditionally the Monte Carlo rally. Guy Colsoul Rallysport brought five evo 9's to the start of this rally, and unfortunately the rally started in the worst conditions for our team. On the very first stage, group n favourit Richard Frau hit a 250kg deer and destroyed the front of the car. Thanks to superrally regulations, he restarted on day 2 with a 10 minutes penalty. And after a brilliant come back with 4 group n best times, Richard finished 4th group n.

The victory in group N was - after a thrilling race - for Colsoul driver Patrick Artru, in his first rally in Evo 9. Patrick did a fantastic job on his 4th Monte Carlo rally and drove without any mistakes.

Other Guy Colsoul Rallysport driver Ludovic Cluzel made the party complete with a 2nd group N place. We are extremely happy and proud with this result, as this was the very first rally in a Lancer for Ludovic.

Other Colsoul drivers were Miguel Baudouin and Jérôme Aymard who reached the finish line in top-10 group N results. Miguel lost a wheel on day 3, and Jérôme crashed badly on the same stage. But thanks to superrally and perfect servicework, they both restarted on the final day.

So after not one single mechanical problem, with 5 top ten results, and especially the 1st and 2nd position, Guy Colsoul Rallysport proudly still owns his place among the top of the world in group N.

2 Colsoul cars in the top-10 of the first 2009 IRC round is a fantastic result.  This year's Monte Carlo Rally was the most difficult one in years, with dry, icy and snowy roads troughout all the stages.

The 2 Colsoul Rallysport cars were driven by French drivers Romeyer and Artru, and they finished 6th and 9th overall.  And we are very happy they are the first non S2000 N4 cars, as these "lower budget WRC" cars are still in the group N category.

Congratulations to these drivers who made the right choice by driving our cars, as not one single mecanical failure appeared during the rally.