Harskamper concludes debut for South Racing in third place
Mitchel van den Brink and Bart van Heun made quite a showcase in the Dubai Baja. Contrary to an earlier report, the young Harskamper finished third in South Racing's Can-Am.
''That we still ended up third in the end makes us very satisfied,'' said Mitchel, who returned to his familiar address in Harskamp this morning.
,,We enjoyed a rally with beautiful stages through the dunes. We can compete with the top. However, we could have done more,'' said Mitchel about the rally that counts for the World Cross Country Championship.
On the initiative of the experienced Dutch rally driver Erik Loon, Mitchel van den Brink got the chance to drive the Dubai Baja with the Can-Am factory team. The Portuguese team from South Racing is leading in the SSV class and brought six Can-Am baby carriages to the start.
Mitchel van den Brink and navigator Bart van Heun more than lived up to their “election. With third place, the duo was allowed to take to the podium. With multiple Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah and Spaniard Edouard Pons alongside him, the 22-year-old Van den Brink could call himself South Racing's strongest driver.
'We drove a strong rally'
Despite the excellent third place, Van den Brink looks back on the two stages in the dunes of Dubai with mixed feelings. ,,I am satisfied, but there really could have been more. Unfortunately the technique let us down a bit. Still, we made a nice showcase on our debut in the T3 SSV class. We drove a strong rally and can compete with the top.''
In Saturday's stage, Van den Brink had to settle for fourth place. ,,We had to deal with a technical failure. After some hiccups with the power we recorded the fourth time.''
In the final stage, Van den Brink and Van Heun quickly made up a lot of ground. ,,We caught up with Edouard Pons after only 21 kilometers. Pons was our competitor and was third. After the fuel stop we also passed Khalid Aljafla. who was second.''
The duo in the Can-Am seemed on their way to second place, not very far behind the ironclad Al-Attiyah in a lightning-fast Taurus. ''We were several minutes behind Nasser, despite driving with a broken muffler from the beginning of the stage. Unfortunately it broke 40 kilometers before the finish, so we took a shorter route to the finish. That did result in some penalty time.''
'Competition was really strong'
At the end of the stage, Van den Brink was still able to take third place on the podium. Competitor Aljafla did not reach the finish line and so Pons moved up to second place and Mitchel and Bart got the third position. ,,The competition was really strong and the Tauruses were impossible to keep up with on the fast parts. We made up the difference in the dunes, where the Can-Am comes into its own.''
For Mitchel van den Brink, the outing in the baby carriage was extra training. ,,This was a very nice preparation for the Dakar Rally, which we will of course drive with the truck. It's nice to hear that the people of South Racing have also become enthusiastic. Perhaps that will open doors for next year to drive a more extensive program. But that's something for later.''
Automatic translation of the Dutch version
Source: Eurol Rallysport
Text: Berry Kamphorst
Photo: MMphoto
