Story: Evan Rothman
Pictures: IRC Series
Returning to the high speeds and dangerous corner-cutting of the asphalt-surfaced Geko Ypres Rally, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) makes a welcome trip to mainland Europe for another thrilling showdown in Belgium this weekend.
After the rough and demanding Rallye d’Italia-Sardegna earlier this month, the recent winners and Championship leaders Juho Hanninen/Mikko Markkula (Skoda Fabia S2000) will be attacking the specialised asphalt roads to edge even further into the Championship lead ahead of rivals Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Peugoet 207 S2000) and teammates Jan Kopecky/Petr Stary (Skoda Fabia S2000).
The Geko Ypres Rally, held in the northwest corner of Belgium, is an event like no other. The rally stages consist of long straights and 90 degree junctions, and lining these narrow and bumpy farmland roads are drainage dicthes and telegraph pylons waiting to nab the unwary. Known for its changing weather conditions and constant surface changes, the drivers and co-drivers will need to be fully committed to their tasks at hand to reach the final finish of this technically challenging event. This event also attracts tens of thousands of spectators to each stage, and with the 2010 IRC Championship drawing no less than 25 S2000 entrants for this weekend, the rally fans will be in for a special treat!
Local knowledge and experience play an integral role in setting quick stage times on Ypre Rally: knowing where to cut corners; knowing when to avoid cutting corners; when to hit the brakes when entering these corners and how much corner speed to carry into and out of the corners. Driver commitment is essential!
The rally’s HQ is the town of Ypres (Ieper in Flemish), and also hosts the Central Service Park to the 100-plus entrants. Both legs of the rally run into the night and the atmosphere in the town is electrifying. A Shakedown Stage will take place on Thursday evening, and crews then kick off the event proper on Friday afternoon with two loops of three stages south of Ypres. The first car is due to reach the overnight halt at 22h00.
For the second leg, the rally heads west with two all-new stages (Proven-Vieteren and Watou), and crews then head back to the service in Ypres.
The lunchtime stages use roads around Ypres with the famous Lille-Eurometropole Stage taking place at 16h00.
After another service, the morning’s stages are repeated once more in the afternoon, with the final runs through Langemark, Dikkebus and Heuvelland stages being held late into the evening on Saturday to finish at 22h40.
In action this weekend will be Belgian rally stars Freddy Loix and Patrick Snijers. Loix is a five-time winner of this event and will be piloting a factory Skoda Fabia S2000 here. Snijers, now 52-years-old, will be out to upstage his younger rivals on his favourite event. He will be competing in a privately-entered Peugoet 207 S2000.
Also on the entry list is Stephane Sarrazin (Peugeot 207 S2000), who finished fourth on Rallye Monte Carlo at the beginning of the IRC season. Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot will be making their factory Proton R3 Rally Team’s 2010 IRC debut here, and Scot Alister McRae will partner him, while 18-year-old Welshman Tom Cave will drive a semi-works Proton Satria Neo S2000 this weekend.
Lets not forget that the Geko Ypres Rally is also host to the fourth round of the European Rally Championship, and the likes of Luca Betti, Corrado Fontana and Michal Solowow will be fighting with the IRCs best for overall rally honours. Toshi Arai will pilot his Subaru Impreza, as will Scot Dave Weston Jnr and local Vincent Verschueren. Daniel Barry and Martin Brady will contest this event in their Barry Motorsport Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, this their third IRC start in 2010.
Andreas Mikkelsen (Ford Fiesta S2000) will also be in attendance, as will Daniel Oliveira. Turk Burcu Cetinkaya will be here this weekend, and will be pushing for a strong finish. Other crews to keep an eye out for are Kris Princen (Renault Clio R3), Pierre Campana (Renault Clio R3), Kevin Abbring (Renault Clio R3), Harry Hunt (Ford Fiesta R2) and Kasper Koitla (Honda Civic R3).
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