Wervik Rally 2025 Report

Scott Barnes and Bill Paynter sadly retired with a mechanical failure after a strong start on the recent Rally Van Wervik.

After great success at the ORC Canal Rally, just three weeks before, the team were excited to get back on the stages and show what they could do in Wervik. After Scott bagged 2nd in class on last year’s event, the pair would be looking to go one better this year, although faced with strong competition, including the beautiful ex-factory Citroen C2 S1600 of Steve Coussaert and Kurt Declerck, it would be no easy task. Added to this, the baking Belgian sunshine, it would be a real challenge on the fast Wervik stages.

The Peugeot 106 Rallye was seeded at Car 29, on a very strong entry list, with a lot of Belgium’s big names using the event as a pre-Ypres Rally test. The event would see 120 crews do battle on 140km’s of stages throughout the day on Saturday.

Scott and Bill had a productive recce day on Friday, with Bill’s knowledge of the event from the driving seat coming in handy to identify some of the hidden lines through the famous Belgian cuts. With the sun shining and temperatures above 30 degree’s it was looking like it would be a real physical test in the car.

Overnight stormy rain on Friday night cooled things slightly, and moisture remained at the sides of the roads, meaning that muddy cuts would likely be on the menu on the first loop.

With ambient temperatures again rising, Scott opted to go straight onto a medium tyre setup for the first loop of three stages.Stage one, Geluwe, didn’t get off to the best of starts. With the stage being lapped, with the merge right after the start line, the start marshal will often hold you on the line if another car is coming, in order to avoid traffic on the stages. For Scott and Bill, the countdown had begun, and they were ready to launch into the stage. That was however until at the last second (literally) the start marshal changed his mind, and mid- launch Scott was told to haunt. Fortunately Scott saw this immediately and stopped the car, before the timing beam was broken. A further 15 seconds passed, before the Peugeot 106 Rallye was sent into the stage.

Initially, Scott struggled with confidence, with the 106 feeling unsettled. Egged on by Bill, the pair found form and pushed on for the second lap of the stage. In the end a really good drive from Scott, posting 18th fastest time. The time was good enough to put Scott 3rd in the overall Flanders International Rally Challenge order, but ahead of rivals Weatherley/Layland in their Citroen C3 Rally 2. In the class battle, the time appeared excellent, taking over 30 seconds out of the S1600 Citroen.

Onto the next stage, Wervik, where the team again were right on the pace from the start. On one particular corner, there was a cut through a field which Bill had identified for Scott to use. Mr Barnes however seemed to take this to the absolute extreme, sending the little Peugeot all four wheels through the field, scattering crops as he ploughed on through! Perhaps not the optimal line, but spectacular for sure.

Around half way through the stage however, the great start to the event would quickly come to an end. Sadly on a square junction, a failure in the front left hub meant that that Peugeot became sidelined and could go no further.

As a silver lining, the team were very lucky with where this failed, on a very slow junction, with a flat run off into a field on the outside, meaning that no further damage was sustained. If this had let go on one of the Wervik rally’s very fast sections, it could have been a completely different story.

The car should be an easy fix and will be back for the next round of the championship, the Staden Rally in August.

Scott would like to say a big thank you to his partners for their continued support and help with getting the car fixed up and ready to go again.

Our video from the event is on YouTube now, so check out the @bprally YouTube channel for our story from the event.