The wait was long, but for the first time in four months, the World Rally Championship (WRC) returns to asphalt. the rally d’Ypres (Belgium) offers 20 specials drawn in the Belgian plains from Friday August 19 at 10:16 am.
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On this second day of racing in Belgium, there will be eight new stages on the program on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., covering nearly 135 km of route. The crews will pass through Reninge (15 km), Dikkebus (14.2 km), Wijtschate (15 km) and Hollebeke (22.3 km), the longest stage of the rally, before the loop is repeated in the ‘afternoon.
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On Friday morning, Kalle Rovanperä was the victim of an impressive road accident on the second special of the event! The Finn, then race leader, rolled several times. The crew is unscathed but could not leave before Saturday morning due to damage to their car.
The stage local rolled up its sleeves on Saturday morning. Thierry Neuville showed the muscles and adopted a great pace on the first loop of the day. At the end of the four morning specials, the Belgian is still leading the rally d’Ypres, now more than 16 seconds ahead of his nearest pursuer, Ott Tänak. The native of Saint-Vith passed the second at the end of the morning, setting the two best times on SS11 and on SS12 to escape at the head of his home race.
The Estonian lost a lot of time on the last two stages. Less comfortable than his teammate and suspecting a transmission problem on his Hyundai i20 N, the 2019 world champion finds himself threatened by Elfyn Evans for 2nd place. The gap at the start of the second loop is only 5 seconds, while the Welshman picked up a good pace on Saturday morning.
For M-Sport, Saturday morning was a disaster. Craig Breen, disturbed by a bale of straw moved when Adrien Fourmaux passed before him, fell into a ditch and found himself on the roof. SS10 was then interrupted under red flag, since the Ford was badly positioned and even started to catch fire. Greensmith and Lappi came to the aid of the M-Sport driver to put out the fire, which was fortunately not serious.
Overall ranking after SS12:
Program you sSaturday August 20:
10h13 : ES9 – Reninge 1 (15 km)
11h08 : ES10 – Dikkebus 1 (14,2 km)
12h00 : ES11 – Wijtschate 1 (15 km)
12h55 : ES12 – Hollebeke 1 (22,3 km)
15h13 : ES13 – Reninge 2 (15 km)
16h08 : ES14 – Dikkebus 2 (14,2 km)
17h00 : ES15 – Wijtschate 2 (15 km)
17h55 : ES16 – Hollebeke 2 (22,3 km)