Aided by his trusted navigator Nico Artois, Quartier cranked up an impressive time of one hour, four minutes and 50 seconds clocking (1:04.50) to grab the top position in the initial leg of the two-day event sponsored by Petron Corporation and Petron Blaze in cooperation with Honda Cars Phils., the official car; SBMA, DOT; Pagcor, Automobile Association of the Phils., Yokohama Tires and Roadwise Motoring School.
Desmet and co-driver Franky Beel, on the other hand, finished the 10-stage, first leg in 1:05.28 followed by local hero Vip Isada and co-driver Robbie Hermoso (1:12.22), Felix Marinas and Charlie Cruz (1:12.34), Carlo Gutang and Choy Mabunay (1:12.58).
Rounding out the top 10 of the Activity Asia Association—organized event were the tandems of Art Guevarra-Ivan Isada (1:14.24), Anthony Halili-Rene Casibang (1:15.21), Kenneth Dominado-Egay Ortiz Luis (1:16.20), Alex Perez-Bryan Chanco (1:16.54) and the Ramon Santiago-Bing Ibaviosa pair (1:18.02).
Desmet and co-driver Beel are Belgium’s 1997 Group N champion while Quartier and Artois hold the distinction as 1999 Group I national champions of Belgium. The two pairs carry racing colors Speedzone.