Ypres Rally Belgium Archives

Another WRC win for Hyundai’s Ott Tanak in Ypres Rally Belgium

The Hyundai Motorsport team scored another WRC victory at the Ypres Rally Belgium as Ott Tanak took his Hyundai i20N Rally1 to win with a 5-second margin. The Estonian driver, co-driven by compatriot Martin Jarveoja, inherited the top spot late on the penultimate day when his team-mate and long-time leader Thierry Neuville understeered off the road and into a ditch, shattering the Belgian’s hopes of a repeat home win.

Tanak, who had also won the last round in Finland earlier this month, carried an 8.2-second buffer over Elfyn Evans (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) into Sunday’s final leg, which comprised 4 short and sharp asphalt stages in the Flanders region. Although Evans did not make things easy for the leader, with two fastest time times on the opening stages, he was still unable to close the gap.

Tanak’s success reduces the gap with championship leader Kalle Rovanpera. The Toyota GAZOO Racing driver got nothing from this rally as he rolled his hybrid rallycar out of contention on Friday morning. The 21-year-old Finn was, however, able to collect 5 Wolf Power Stage bonus points and, with 72 points, remains on track to become the youngest WRC champion in history.

The two Hyundai wins have not managed to take the team any higher and the Manufacturers’ championship situation remains unchanged. The Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team remains behind Toyota GAZOO Racing WRT with an 88-point gap. In third is the M-SPORT Ford World Rally Team, 191 points behind the leader.

“To win here is a big surprise for us – more or less the same as it was in Finland,” said Tanak. “We didn’t expect it from anywhere basically, but somehow we were able to pull it together during the rally. It’s great to see that some WRC results are coming, but there is so much we can improve and we could still be a lot stronger, so there is still some work to do.”

For Evans, it was a case of what could have been. He gave away valuable seconds on Friday when a slow puncture forced him to run a wet weather tyre in dry conditions. He was also lumbered with a 10-second time penalty for arriving late to SS8. Without that, the outcome could have been different.

Rally2 & Rally3
WRC Rally2 cars also finished within the top 10, with FIA WRC2 victor Stephane Lefebvre leading the charge in a DG Sport Citroen C3 Rally2 ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen (Toksport WRT Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, Yohan Rossel (PH Sport Citroen) and Chris Ingram (Toksport Skoda), who won the WRC2 Junior division. Armin Kremer took WRC2 Masters glory, while Jan Cerny topped WRC3 in a Ford Fiesta Rally3.

Public debut of hydrogen-fuelled Yaris
The public debut of the Toyota GR Yaris H2 concept took place on the stages in Belgium, and was completed by Toyota rally legend Juha Kankkunen driving the Power Stage ahead of the competitive field in the hydrogen-fuelled car.

The rally was the first time for Toyota to drive an under-development hydrogen-engine vehicle on public roads outside Japan. The GR Yaris H2 served as a testcar and ran ahead of a Safety Car that confirms safe conditions before the start. After driving the GR Yaris H2 himself on Saturday, Team Founder Akio Toyoda had the chance to ride alongside Kankkunen.

Ott Tanak wins Rally Finland to give Hyundai Motorsport maiden victory

Belgium’s 56-year old Ypres Rally finally included in World Rally Championship

Belgium will become the 35^th country to host a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) when the 2021 Ypres Rally Belgium is run. This should have happened last year but the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the 8^th round of the 2021 WRC and will take place next week (August 13 – 15).

Rally started in 1965
The Ypres Rally is not new and was in fact first run in 1965, 8 years before today’s WRC began. The event started one year after the town’s historic Market Square was chosen as a location for a time control during a Rallye Monte-Carlo concentration run. Since then, it has grown in stature, being a round of the European Rally Championship.

It is an asphalt rally and driving precision is a vital ingredient for a success. The farmland roads around Ypres are narrow and twisty, with many tight junctions. Brake too late or push too hard and a diversion into one of the many drainage ditches is often the result.

Corner ‘cutting’ is also commonplace, which results in mud and other debris being dragged onto the road. In the event of rain – a constant menace – an extremely slippery surface is created with the challenge multiplied on cobblestone sections.

New to most competitors
As well as being a new addition to the WRC calendar, Ypres Rally Belgium is new for many of the World Rally Car competitors. Only Thierry Neuville (who is from Belgium) and Craig Been have competed in Ypres before. Having won in 2018 and 2019 respectively, the Hyundai team-mates will be expected to set the pace when the 20-stage event begins.

“I’m really looking forward to Ypres. It hasn’t been in the WRC before but it’s a really legendary event that everybody in rallying knows about. In the test, we could already see that the conditions are tricky. Normally, the drivers are taking really big cuts and there is a lot of mud and dirt on the road, so the conditions can be really demanding and changeable,” said Kalle Rovanpera, winner of the last round in Estonia. “One of the key points going there for the first time will be to know where the grip is and to see how we can include that information in our pacenotes.”

Current WRC positions
The current positions in the WRC have TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s Sebastien Ogier topping the chart. Having won 4 of the 7 rounds this year, the Frenchman has a 37-point over team-mate Elfyn Evans, with Neuville 15 points further back. Ogier is set to benefit from running at the front on the first pass through Friday’s sealed-surface stages, which are expected to be in a clean state.

With the WRC2 championship top five either not competing in Ypres or not eligible for points, several rivals have the opportunity to make up lost ground in the title chase. They include Nikolay Gryazin, who was a competitor in the ERC Junior Championship when he made his one and only Ypres start to date in 2016, plus Jari Huttunen and Oliver Solberg. The Nordic pair will be giving the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 its competition debut.

In WRC3, which has attracted 19 entries, Frenchman Yohan Rossel will be aiming to extend his lead at the top of the standings but faces strong opposition from a number of leading local drivers, many of whom have extensive Ypres knowledge. Among them are former Ypres winner Pieter Tsjoen, whose last WRC appearance was as a co-driver in Rallye Monte-Carlo in January, Belgian champion Adrian Fernémont and current Belgian championship leader Ghislain de Mevius.

The route
Located in the Flanders region of northwest Belgium, legs one and two follow ultra-compact routes north and south of Ypres respectively and comprise tight and twisty farmland roads lined by drainage ditches and telegraph poles. Following morning Shakedown, 8 stages – including the classic Kemmelberg complete with a cobblestone climb – are scheduled on Friday from early afternoon until late evening. Hollebeke, the rally’s longest stage at 25.86 kilometres, is run twice on Saturday August 14, while Dikkebus and Watou are among the Ypres favourites to also feature on day two.

The deciding leg on Sunday is all-new and located some 300 kms to the east with roads in and around the famous Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, home of the Belgian F1 Grand Prix, providing the challenge. While they are more flowing in nature, they are not to be underestimated.

New Rally1 category with hybrid technology for World Rally Championship in 2022

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