Tulpenrallye 2015

The story of 2015: Partly on the initiative of new sponsor Athlon Car Lease, the conformity check of the participating cars in the Netherlands, held ahead of the rally, was revived. The prologue at Athlon's premises in Almere was staged on a grand scale and enthusiastically attended by all competitors, and alongside it a number of Athlon's business relations were received during the event. The Tulpenrallye started in Italy for the first time. A splendid start venue had been found in Saint-Vincent in the Aosta valley. On the terrace of the handsome Gran Hotel Billia, the cocktail party with all competitors and officials took place on Sunday afternoon in brilliant sunshine. The organisers were welcomed by the mayor in that same bright sunshine, former winner Rosemary Smith was honoured, and sponsor Firezone Oil announced, together with Brouwers Accountants, that they would supply the competitors with water at the start every day. The Vintage class was well filled this year with 15 crews. Frits Wester and Roelof Hemmen formed the RTL Nederland celebrity crew on behalf of the Red Cross Mappa Mondo. During the rally they collected a donation of 50,000 euros. The town of Saint-Vincent gave the competitors a warm welcome. On Monday morning the caravan set off from the shopping street in brilliant sunshine. After a short run through Italy the competitors were already in Switzerland by lunchtime, after which they drove through France in the afternoon. The route that day was reasonably straightforward, but the last sections through the Portes du Soleil ski area were demanding enough to produce a clear order in every class by that evening. The Hilton hotel in Evian-les-Bains was the headquarters, and on its terrace all the competitors looked back on a fine opening day. On Tuesday there was some delay owing to a long tailback on the ring road around Genève. Later that day came superb sections through the Jura. At the end of a long day the crews arrived in Besançon, where dinner was served in the splendid Kursaal. Wednesday was the traditional Vosges day, with fine routes through the region in which the Tulpenrallye has been run most often of all. The competitors enjoyed the beautiful rolling landscape and the handsome mountains of the area. In the evening there was a short excursion into Germany, as the headquarters was in Offenburg, with one more test run just before the finish. On Thursday the route led back into France, taking in a test on the Chambléy circuit on a former air force base and lunch at a golf course in northern France. At the end of that day the caravan arrived at the Alvisse-Parc Hotel in Luxembourg, a venue that has more than once formed part of the Tulpenrallye and of other international regularity rallies. On Friday the route ran through Belgium. After some difficulties with the local authorities following the anniversary edition of 2013, the country had not been used in 2014. On the strength of good cooperation with the BFOV and additional measures, the passage through Belgium went well and fine routes were driven. The competitors were thoroughly prepared for the challenges of Belgian map reading, and in most classes the gaps in the classification remained remarkably small. On Friday evening the caravan was once again received at the Bilderberg Kasteel Vaalsbroek in the south of the Netherlands. In these handsome surroundings the competitors looked back on a fine Tulpenrallye and prepared for the final day. That day ran to Noordwijk and consisted of a number of map-reading sections and several tests on circuits and closed grounds. The most demanding tests were held at the OTCRij military training centre, where a number of very challenging routes had been laid out. The classifications were shaken up considerably here. Lunch was at Firezone Oil in IJsselstein. After an intensive week and the TulpenrallyeSprint in Noordwijk, the competitors were welcomed at the Grand Hotel ‘Huis ter Duin’ by, among others, the Noordwijk flower queen. The 2014 winners Alexander Leurs and Peter van Hoof were of course on the start line to defend their title (Opel Ascona 1.9 SR 1970). Former winners at the start included Hans van Beek (1992 and 1993), with the experienced navigator Jaap Verplanken (Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300 Ti 1969), and Jan Ebus (2002 and 2012) with navigator Thijs Bender (Jaguar XK150 1959). Koen Bender (winner of the 60th Tulpenrallye in 1960) started as navigator alongside René Bender (MG A Twincam 1959). Other serious contenders were the winners of 2009 and 2012: Rinus Sinke and Bart den Hartog (Austin-Healey 100/6 1957). Former route planner Joep Wanders had entered together with Albert Boekel (Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV 1967). Renger Guliker was of course not missing from the start either, with Pim t Hart (Porsche 911T 1969). Among the competitors was Rosemary Smith as well, winner of the Tulpenrallye in 1965. She started with the experienced English navigator Ryan Pickering in an MG. Former WRC driver Stein Johnsen also appeared at the start (Volvo 123GT 1967). Through the week there was a keen battle, above all between the crews Sinke / den Hartog and Boekel / Wanders. On Wednesday the latter crew seemed to take a decisive lead, visiting every route control and picking up only 64 penalty points. On Friday, however, Sinke and Hartog fared better than Wanders / Boekel and won back almost 200 points. With that they laid the foundation for victory. At the Strijpse Kampen it became remarkably tense once more, but all the leading crews missed a number of controls there. Rinus Sinke and Bart den Hartog won the Tulpenrallye for the third time. Marcel Geurts and Alfons Geurts (Aston Martin 15/98 1937) were the winners of the Vintage class. In the other two classes the contest was extremely close all week and the classifications were settled on the final day. Peter and Diederik Struijk (Lancia Fulvia 1600 HF 1971) won the Touring class and Paul Ruys and Robert Mous (Alfa Romeo Giulietta Ti 1964) took first place in the Sports class. The Nations Cup was won by Team NL2, with Charles and Jacqueline Serry, Jan Peter and Yolanda Zijl, and Robert v/d Meijden and Jeroen Sertons.