Nevertheless already during the recce it would be more than clear that this should only be a rally to learn. Copilot Isidoor,”we only arrived on Tuesday evening so we only had Wednesday and Thursday morning to ride down our notes”. With only one pass over the Saturday stages Thibault kept up the pace and stayed free of going off. With a basic car but reliable they managed to finish 79th out of 124 started cars. Thibault,”we reached our goal and that’s to finish to have minimum proper notes. We will see how it develops for this season but if possible I would like to start again next year”.
Also Thibaults father Patrick Spillebeen codriven by Marc Vandemoortele was at the start and hat to experience the Arctic way of rallying, Patrick, ”I really enjoy the stages although with a rear wheel driven car isn’t not so easy. The car is always pouching the front wheels. Because of that on stage 4 I went out of the tracks and arrived in the soft snow and slided slowly in to the ditch…”. They started again on Saturday morning and continued their discovery. Marc, ”Although our mishaps at stage 4 this is without any question a rally to do again. I’m impressed by the tracking system through which our Finish team contacted us directly when we went off to know if everything was ok”. Free from technical problems during the rally thanks to team of Sami Tuohinen and Jukka Koskinen father and son where gathered at the podium for the photo finish.
