There was high drama on the Geko Ypres Rally’s eighth stage when Kris Meeke rolled into a retirement on a high-speed right-hand bend. The Peugeot UK driver was closing on leader Freddy Loix when he crashed for the second rally in succession. Both Meeke and co-driver Paul Nagle were uninjured, despite their 207 Super 2000 suffering extensive damage.
Meeke’s retirement means Loix now leads by almost 30 seconds from Škoda Motorsport team-mate Jan Kopecký. Rising Belgian star Thierry Neuville moves into third in his 207 with Bernd Casier fourth in another Fabia. Andreas Mikkelsen is fifth in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000.
Overall positions after SS8:
01) Freddy Loix 1h08m35.9s
02) Jan Kopecký +29.7s
03) Thierry Neuville +58.5s
04) Bernd Casier +2m07.6s
05) Andreas Mikkelsen +2m30.2s
06) Patrick Snijers +2m46.5s
– Credit: www.ircseries.com