Peugeot has already won the Ypres Rally a total of five times and Guy and Phil will be aiming to make it six.
Peugeot’s five Ypres rally wins started back in 2002 and 2003 when Bruno Thiry won the event driving a Peugeot 206 WRC. Three other victories were added to the total in 2007, 2008 and 2009 by drivers of Peugeot’s 207 S2000, including Peugeot UK’s Kris Meeke, who won the rally in 2009.
The rally is based around the historic market town of Ypres in northwest Belgium and the compact nature of the event makes it a big favourite with crews and fans alike.
The uniformly flat, narrow, ultra-fast tarmac stages and countless 90-degree junctions require a special type of driving. Local knowledge is, therefore, a big advantage, particularly knowing where to cut corners – or not – to avoid possible punctures.
Peugeot UK has a good record at Ypres, winning the event in 2009, and will be aiming to repeat this victory when the rally kicks-off late on Friday afternoon. Friday’s action will consist of six stages north and southwest of Ypres.
Day Two will commence on Saturday morning with a total of twelve stages between the crews and the finish of the rally, late on Saturday night.
Before the end of the rally, Guy and Phil will have to complete a total of 287.89 kilometres of special stages and a further 361.98 kilometres of road sections between the stages and the service area in Ypres.
To prepare for the rally, Guy completed two days of testing on similar roads to those found around Ypres to fine tune his Peugeot UK 207 S2000. Having missed the last Ypres rally in 2010 due to injury, this extra testing is a perfect start to ensuring Guy is fully prepared for the fast and tricky Belgium tarmac stages.
“We have only been to Ypres on one other occasion”, comments Guy. “More than anything else, I want to make up for my woes in the Ukraine where I was stopped from fighting for victory by a number of punctures. My recent two days of testing were very fruitful. My Peugeot 207 S2000 will be competitive and, therefore, my objective is to get back into the fight for the IRC title.”
A total of 124 crews will set off at the start of the rally on Friday with a total of nine Peugeot 207 S2000s aiming to be on the top step of the podium when the rally finishes on Saturday evening.