From Hans in Belgium

Thursday, 14 July 2008.  Our first stop is the Shakedown, where we can admire the new Subaru for the first time live.  Round 10 o’clock I tell my friend Ad, who joined me to the rally, that it is time to go to the Service park, because otherwise we would be too late to meet Petter, and that wasn’t an option.  When we arrive in the Service park I walk straight to the Subaru area to find someone who could help us to see Petter.  I approach a woman of the Subaru crew and explain that I have a meeting with Petter.    Then it’s like a dream.  We can enter the Subaru VIP area and there they are.  The 2 Subaru rally cars 2 meter in front of us.  I can’t believe this is happening to me, a very special moment for me as fan of Petter and Subaru.  The next moment I see Petter walking up to me.  I can feel my heartbeat going up.  I ask if he can sign a picture of me and Petter that we took last year.  Of course that wasn’t any problem.  We talk about the shakedown, the new car and at the end I also wish him a lot of success for the rally.  I also have to wish him good luck from Per Eklund, for whom I am a mechanic during the ERC Rallycross races in Belgium and Holland.  Because next year there won’t be a WRC rally in Germany, I ask Petter which rally we should go to in 2009.  As expected his answer is rally Norway.  Then it’s time to go for Petter so we say goodbye.  Maybe next year in Norway????   YES, YES, YES again, because when I come home we start to plan our trip to Norway in February 2009.  Hopefully it won’t be too cold.

Thanks for a great day in the Subaru VIP area, a fantastic meeting with Petter.

See you in Norway next year.

Hans Van Gils
From Belgium