The 61st edition of the Ardeca Ypres Rally saw a very eventful opening night, undoubtedly partly due to the heatwave which caused additional fatigue among the drivers. Stéphane Lefebvre was trading fastest stage times with Hayden Paddon, but on the final stage in Zonnebeke, Lefebvre deliberately relinquished the lead.
It means that Paddon will, unwillingly, have to open the road during the final day. “I noticed last year that it isn’t that interesting to open the road in Ypres. I held back a bit on the final stage in Zonnebeke, but it just wasn’t quite enough. Otherwise, we had a great opening night,” said the New Zealand leader.
Stéphane Lefebvre enjoyed his successful strategic move. “My co-driver Pieter Tsjoen would never have done it, but I’d rather be the hunter than the prey,” laughed the Northerner, who is employing the same strategy as last year, when he won Ypres for the second time. “I deliberately held back a bit in Zonnebeke. The car felt excellent today. Last year, we arrived at the start at the last minute without preparation. This time, I tried out all kinds of settings during a test. We know what we are doing.”
Third place, just 18.7 seconds behind, is held by Maxime Potty, the fastest Belgian who can stay close to the two international stars. The leader in the Belgian championship wants to compete at the front, but he will not take excessive risks, because after Grégoire Munster’s retirement and Jos Verstappen’s time loss due to his late starting position, Potty has a golden opportunity to make significant gains to his Championship lead.
In the final loop, we lost three key contenders at the front. The Porsches of Cédric Cherain and Kris Meeke both gave up the ghost on the second pass at Zwarteberg. Shortly afterwards, Lander Depotter was caught off guard by an oil slick, causing him to go off the road hard. A great fourth place was gone for the young Skoda driver.
As a result, Vincent Verschueren, who found more grip again in the final loop, has moved up to fourth place, ahead of Bernd Casier, who trails Verschueren by just 4.5 seconds. Bjorn Syx ends the first evening in sixth place. “I am quite satisfied with that, even if more should be possible on some stages. I am looking forward to tomorrow, because that is when my stage, Dikkebus, is coming up,” laughed the driver from Poperinge.
Thomas Martens, a strong 7th with the Hyundai, but he feels the hot breath on his neck coming from none other than Jos Verstappen. The latter showed more confidence in the final loop in his reprepared car, but could not make a dent in the leader’s gap.
Davy Vanneste, who started 32nd, one place ahead of Verstappen, also lost more than a minute this evening, partly due to two mistakes on the opening stage on the Kemmelberg. “I have the impression that I am pushing just as hard as usual, but the times aren’t following. I don’t know if that is purely due to our late starting position,” Vanneste said.
Christophe Merlevede concludes his first evening with the new Lancia Ypsilon, a car he is driving on a dry rally for the first time, in a fine tenth place. “I still have to learn where the car’s limit lies, because it is a lot further than I thought. But you have to discover that, and at these speeds, that is not easy. It requires a mental shift that you have to make,” said the driver from Poperinge.
In any case, the first evening turned into a serious race of attrition, as Quentin Gilbert (off the road), Steven Dolfen (off the road), Melissa Debackere (radiator), Benoit Verlinde (technical problem), and Koen Wauters (off the road) also failed to make it to the end of the opening day.
Grégoire Munster, who went off the track on the very first stage and had to retire. However, he would not sit in the sidelines and the BMA mechanics got him back for the second loop, where he achieved, among other things, the third fastest time on the Zonnebeke stage. “It happened in one of the first corners on the Kemmelberg. I braked a fraction too late, pulled the handbrake, but that caused the nose to swing too far to the inside of the corner. We went on two wheels and on the other side I hit a post and we broke the steering rod. Very stupid and a shame, because our time in Zonnebeke, where I drove my first run, proves that a lot was possible.”
Lander Dhaene continues to lead the Rally4 field. The Opel Corsa driver from Poperinge certainly cannot rest on his laurels on Saturday, as he has only a handful of seconds lead over his closest pursuers Frederic Perrard (Opel Corsa) and Thijs Meirlevede (Lancia Ypsilon). “In any case, I am happy that I just won the ‘Golden Stage’ of the Stellantis Cup in Reninge. It gets me a few new tires,” said Dhaene.
Mathias Ver Eecke (Renault Clio) continues to dominate in Rally 5, while Emilien Allart still leads the Juniors in Rally 6. “For some unclear reason, I lost about 13 seconds on the final stage in Zonnebeke. I still need to check if this isn’t a timing error. But our lead is still substantial enough,” Allart said.
The other RACB promising driver Nolann Lejeune remains second in the standings 27 seconds behind, while the battle for third place looks set to be an exciting one between local drivers Timo Collez, Nick Deroo, and Brent Boudrez.
