The Belgian duo Christophe Jacob/Isabelle Regnier, in a Ford Escort RS 1800, maintains the lead of the Historic Rally Fafe—the opening round of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship on gravel—after completing the first half of the second and final stage. Jacob set two fastest times, extending his lead over his closest rival, who is now the Spaniard Jesus Ferreiro Perez (Ford Escort RS 1800), currently 26s behind.
Ferreiro reclaimed second place from Sammarinese Nemo Mazza (Ford Escort RS) on the very first stage of the day (Seixoso), and from then on, the latter fell behind, albeit with a comfortable margin over the fourth-placed driver, Pasi Hapulahti (Volvo 242).
Meanwhile, two retirements occurred due to accidents. The first to go off the road was the Greek driver Nikolaos Pavlidis (Fiat 131 Abarth), who was eighth in the standings, at Seixoso, followed by the Australian Darryn Snooks (Ford Escort RS 1800)—at that time in fourth place—at Montim.
Classification after SS9
1º, Christophe Jacob/Isabelle Regnier (Ford Escort RS 1800), 1h24m30.7s
2º, Jesus Ferreira Perez/Javier Anido Vasquez (Ford Escort RS 1800), a 26.0s
3º, Nemo Mazza/Mauro Marchiori (Ford Escort RS), a 55.5
4º, Pasi Hapulahti/Antti Nordstrom (Volvo 242), a 2m12.5s
5º, Oldrich Kovarik Jnr/Marek Kapic (Skoda Favorit 136L), a 3.20.6
6º, Lukas Schindelegger/Helmut Schindelegger (Ford Escort RS 2000 MKII), a 3.40.1
7º, Siegfried Mayr/Renate Mayr (Volvo 240), a 4.15.0
8º, Manel Arroyo Perez/Miquel Amblas Madriguera (Porsche 911), a 4.49.5
9º, Jordi Pons/Jan Rosa (Porsche 911), a 9.04.7
10º, Thomas Kuebler/Marco Macedo (Mercedes Benz 500SL), a 11.14.8
In the Portuguese Classics Cup, Filipe Madureira (Nissan Micra 1.3) maintained his dominance over José Cruz (Porsche 928 S). Rui Ribeiro (Ford Escort) moved into third place following the retirement of Aníbal Rolo (Datsun 1200), who went off the road in Montim just after having reclaimed the final podium spot.
HISTORIC RALLY FAFE – SCHEDULE
SATURDAY (11 abril)
Reagrupamento (Feira Velha) 12h51/13h01
Parque de Assistência (Praça das Comunidades) 13h08/13h38
PEC 10 – Seixoso 2 14h31
PEC 11 – Montim 2 15h24
PEC 12 – Lameirinha 2 15h52
Parque Fechado (Praça das Comunidades) 16h37
