After a particularly exciting opening night, the order was immediately turned upside down on Saturday morning. Leader Christophe Baillet was not completely focused, while Yves Deflandre clearly attacked on the closed road stages. The Porsche driver took over the lead from the Frenchman, who went straight just before the lunch break in Frasnes-lez-Anvaing and made a further error later on. It was enough to drop back to fourth place. Things would get even worse for last year’s winner in the afternoon, because in the very last corner of the last RT of the day, the Escort slid wide into a concrete block with the left front. It broke the suspension, and it resulted in an additional 13 minutes service time taken at the first service. After which, Christophe Baillet, who was driving with Patrick Lienne for the first time, finally threw in the towel, even though he is still in fourth place in the rankings. Yves Deflandre starts the final day with a comfortable 52.1 second lead on Michel Decremer and Jennifer Hugo. “I don’t think I’ve ever had such a big lead here,” said leader Yves Deflandre. “Although we’re both a bit sick, we were a lot sharper this morning thanks to the right medication. It was a great stage, but we’ll have to stay focused, said Yves Deflandre, who decided tonight not to be the first to open the course on the final day. For the first time in the history of the Ypres Historic Regularity, the Top 10 after Leg 1 were allowed to choose their starting position for the second stage. Yves Deflandre chose the second starting position, just like the morning. Michel Decremer, his closest pursuer, opted for the fourth starting position. A cautious choice, after last year, when snow made the Early Bird Stage on the final day extra treacherous. Decremer starts in the wake of Kurt Deklerck, the Porsche driver with whom he is in a duel for second place. Together with Aswin Pyck, he follows 11.5 seconds behind the Opel of Michel Decremer.
Until the very last test, Christophe Baillet was also still in contention for the podium, because he followed 9.9 seconds behind Deklerck, but the Frenchman will not start on Saturday. Father Geert and son Cédric De Jaeger thus move up to fourth place. The Porsche duo drove an excellent Saturday stage, but on the predominantly dry course, the competition did not make errors either. Moving up proved difficult.
Johnny Delhez, who opted for different winter tires today, enjoyed himself with his Ford Escort Mk2. He moved up to 6th place, ahead of Michael Demortier, who chose the 8th starting position with his Porsche 924S “because he also started on that plate today and was able to make up two places”. Just to say that Michael Demortier wants to move up even further in the rankings. Lieven Lannoye also has that ambition with his Porsche 911. He is also only 4.6 seconds behind Demortier. Vincent and Benoit Legenne are in 9th place with their well-known Opel Commodore, after a navigation error just before the afternoon break cost a lot of time. On the dry course, Mario Varrewaere dropped back to 10th place due to a lack of power, which was also their starting position on Sunday morning. Varrewaere’s Nissan Sunny completed a flawless second stage, while Daniel Reuter (electronic problems), Jean-Philippe Wanne (clutch cable), Rik Dumortier (loss of power) and Vincent Vandeputte (defect on Friday evening) lost a lot of time due to mechanical problems. Who will start first on Sunday? That honour goes, slightly forced, to the 11th in the rankings, Gaetan Van Calster, who is participating in the Ypres Historic Regularity for the first time. With Philip Deplancke, Eddy’s navigator last year Snaet, he has a top navigator. The duo is looking forward to the unique challenge of opening the course.
Furthermore, we note a great 13th place for father and son Dupont in their small Mini Cooper, in the wake of the Porsche of Daniel Reuter and for the German Jörg Pohlemann. Finally, we mention a great 17th place for Agris Stanevics and Uldis Hmielevskis who came all the way from Latvia to participate in Ypres with a Lada 1500S. “We have already driven a few races in Belgium, such as the Legend Boucles @Bastogne and the Ostbelgien. That is why we wanted to try Ypres, especially because here we get the chance to drive on the tracks where the WRC top drivers have also driven. Our Lada may not be that fast, but it is a very strong machine that dates back to the Soviet era. Unfortunately, there is no snow, like we have in Latvia, so now we are missing some horsepower,” said navigator Uldis
The final day starts very early as usual, with a first RT shortly after 7am. After an intense morning, the winner is expected back in Ypres around noon.
