ERC - 2013 | Round 6 - Geko Ypres Rally, Belgium

Geko Ypres Rally, is the sixth round in the European Rally Championship, 2013. The historic city of Belgium woke up to the rumble of the rally cars at the service park, and its countryside. The narrow and fast asphalt roads, with corners at tricky places and lined by the deep and grassy drains, makes no room for surprise moves. Not just that, the drains have hidden concrete culverts at places, if upon a slightest moment, can rip-off a wheel or smash any part of the car - with no remorse.

The rally is not new to the championship, nor to the competitors. Local talents from here have made it to the top level rallying, for example; Thierry Neuville. However, it will be Freddy Loix, the local star who has won the event 7 times earlier and will be one to watch.

Practice & Qualifying was held on Thursday, and as expected Freddy Loix went the fastest and chose to start first on Day 1, while Craig Breen was second fastest will start on #2 position, and Bryan Bouffier was third quickest and takes start position no.3.

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Day 1 - 28^th, June 2013

The new Generation  Rally cars, Ford Fiesta R5 & Peugeot 208 T16 were the first two cars that took start, with Thierry Neuville & Kris Meeke piloting their cars, respectively. After the zero cars sweeped the roads clear, it was the first car - Skoda Fabia S2000 driven by Freddy Loix that took to the road, Breen, Bouffier & others followed him soon. Hayden Paddon had a scare, when he went off the first corner into the potato fields and lost quite a bit of time.

It started to rain in the meantime, making the already tough roads treacherous - if not easy. The cars that were on the down order were the most affected due to the mud drawn onto the road with the passage of the cars before, hence, plenty of drama.

After a quick service, SS4 resumed

Molly Taylor retired on the opening stage of the final day, SS5, says, "I have no words! Took a big cut and a wheel dragged us into a ditch on the inside. Thats where we stayed. Gutted that our rally is over."

At the end of day 1, it was Freddy who kept lead, while Bryan Bouffier who stood at second. However, on the third place, it was the New Zealander, Paddon who took the advantage of Breen's misfortune.

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Final Day - 29^th, June 2013

Rally leader, Freddy Loix started the final day with a bit of a caution, after nearly a minute and a half nobody would like to fall out of the rally. However, he kept his top position with not much slippage in time and took home the rally win.

Hayden Paddon, retires off the rally, after a bizzare high-speed crash in SS14, luckily nobody was hurt. Craig Breen explains after SS18,  "There is a big gap but there is a big stage. It's very muddy in some places," and finishes the rally in third overall taking the final podium step.

Bryan Bouffier makes a good run and finishes in the second spot at the end of the final stage SS20.

Top five positions [results courtesy: fiaerc.com]

POS	NO	DRIVER CO-DRIVER	ENTRANT CAR			TOTAL TIME [PEN]	DIFF 1ST PREV
1	5	Freddy LOIX (BEL) Frederic MICLOTTE (BEL)	SKODA MOTORSPORT SKODA FABIA S2000			2:32:19.4	-:- -:-
2	6	Bryan BOUFFIER (FRA) Lara VANNESTE (BEL)	PEUGEOT 207 S2000			2:33:40.4	+1:21.0 +1:21.0
3	1	Craig BREEN (IRL) Paul NAGLE (IRL)	PEUGEOT RALLY ACADEMY PEUGEOT 207 S2000			2:34:11.9	+1:52.5 +31.5
4	22	Andy LEFEVERE (BEL) Andy VANGHELUWE (BEL)	AUTOSTAL ATLANTIC MITSUBISHI LANCER EVO X-R4			2:38:55.8	+6:36.4 +4:43.9
5	18	Hermen KOBUS (NLD) Erik DE WILD (NLD)	FORD FIESTA S2000			2:39:00.6	+6:41.2 +4.8