THE STORY OF 2002
In 2002, the pace was slowed down a bit because it wasn’t entirely clear how many days of rallying the participants preferred. The start was planned for Tuesday after the technical inspection of the participating cars on the boulevard in Noordwijk and a reception offered by the Municipality of Noordwijk on Monday. The route was once again designed by Hans Brinkman and André Jetten.
After starting in Noordwijk, the participants headed towards Luxembourg for the first overnight stop. The route passed through familiar rally locations in Chaam, Brabant, and Eijsden, Limburg, with fewer passages through Belgium to allow participants to reach France more quickly. The route had to be adjusted on the second day when it became clear that part of the Giro d’Italia route was on the same roads. Riquewihr in the French Vosges was included again in the route, and here, participants covered the last meters of the second day through the historic center of this picturesque town. Dinner took place above the city gate in Riquewihr that evening. The third day entirely passed through the Vosges, incorporating all the well-known Tulpenrallye cols. The fourth day consisted of a relatively simple morning section, but the “Ardennes offensive” in the afternoon was very challenging. Saturday featured a difficult route in the morning, and due to heavy local traffic during the Pentecost weekend, many participants experienced delays. An unexpected “tulip chart free route” in the Netherlands provided additional challenges, and on the way to Noordwijk, participants stopped in Utrecht at sponsor Fortis Bank for lunch.
Key participants included Eddy van den Hoorn, Bert Dolk, Renger Guliker, Jan Ebus, Karel Westerman, Frans Zapfe (Germany), Peter Pratt (UK), Barry Weir (UK), and Rolf Lie (Norway).
After the first day, the rivals from the 2001 edition, Dolk-Rorife and Ebus-Berkhof, were once again in the lead. However, on the second day, Ebus lost time, allowing Dolk-Rorife to regain the lead by the end of that day. On Thursday, Dolk dropped out when he encountered a herd of cows, causing his Volvo’s clutch to burn out. Other teams also accumulated points on this day, allowing Westerman and Roosenboom to take the lead at the end of day 3. They maintained the lead on day four, with Ebus-Berkhof arriving at the finish in Waveren with a broken gearbox. They seemed unable to continue. After much phone calling, Jan Ebus eventually found another gearbox 600 km away in Germany. It was brought to Belgium and installed in the Mercedes overnight. When other teams made mistakes on Saturday and van den Hoorn-Smeets clocked in at the wrong location, Ebus and Berkhof won the 49th edition in the red Mercedes.
