Short Rally Van Moorslede 2025 Report

Last weekend saw Bill Paynter and Andy Hollingham kick off their 2025 season at the Short Rally Van Moorslede, a lightning fast start was sadly cut short as they were forced to retire after the first stage.

The event held in the town of Moorslede and its surrounding areas was the first round of the Flemish Rally Championship and attracted a fantastic entry.

Bill and Andy were looking forward to some familiarity having completed the rally last year in their Subaru Impreza, despite all of the stages being changed for the 2025 edition. Last year the team finished a solid 18th overall, but given the super strong entry this year, they would have to do very well to match that result.

The recce on Saturday went well and the crew were confident in their newly written notes. The car sailed through scrutineering and the team were ready for action on Sunday.

Sunday morning came and the crews were greeted by clear blue skies and sunshine, coupled with very cold temperatures as frost lined the roadside. The Subaru was de-iced in parc ferme, before soft Michelin slick’s were bolted on in a short morning service.

With a roughly 1km road section to the first stage, Bill tried his best to get heat into the tyres and brakes before the start.

The first stage was a great test, with some extremely fast bumpy sections as well as tight and narrow hairpin junctions, with the infamous Belgian ditches waiting to catch out the unwary.

The Subaru Impreza was fast out of the blocks, with the work done over the winter giving the crew an immediate feeling of confidence. It was the best the car has ever felt.

Unfortunately towards the end of the stage Bill got caught out on a cut in a junction. There was a big concrete block stepping down on the inside of the corner. During the Recce the team had marked the corner as a “don’t cut”, but after finding themselves on a compromised line prior to corner entry, Bill made the split second decision to take a risk and drop the car into the cut. The decision was the wrong one. The car got sucked in by the concrete edge of the road, which directed the Impreza straight towards some concrete fenceposts, flattening two on its course. Sometimes you get away with those risks, this time we didn’t.

The car popped back onto the road and only 2 or 3 seconds were lost with the incident, as well as some time getting back up to speed, making sure that the car was all working correctly.

The team completed the stage at speed and immediately went to assess the damage. Damage had been done to the front bumper, headlight, but most importantly to the cooling package, with the radiator leaking coolant. After investigating further it became clear that the pin in the centre of the cooling fan had been pushed into the rad, putting a hole in the radiator.

Bill and Andy therefore had to make the decision to retire the car. The disappointment only grew as the team looked at the stage times and saw that after the first stage, they were lying an incredible 10th overall, even after losing time with the incident.

The pace is clearly there and the work done over the winter has helped us make another step forwards.

The team will now work hard, hoping to repair the car in readiness for its next outing on 4th May, our home event, Rally Monteberg.

Bill would like to apologise to the team for the premature exit from the event, and thank them for all of their efforts, as well as thanking his partners for their continued support-

Speedline Corse

Cleanwheelz

Alltec Seys Autosport Shop

JFDIT Solutions

Roger Clark Motorsport

Atelier Artiek

Rally Art Photography