The final day of the 6th Ypres Historic Regularity went to plan for most, with the exception of a technical headache for Kurt Deklerck and Aswin Pyck. The order at the front did not change, although Deklerck kept it exciting until the end with a spluttering engine. Yves Deflandre and Yves Noelanders now have an enviable record, as they have achieved their third victory in six Ypres Regularity outings.
We asked them about their secret. “There is no secret, but because we have driven together a lot, we are attuned to each other and we are both very focused during the entire race. That is not easy with long RTs of more than 40 km. Furthermore, our Porsche was reliable again and we now know the way of thinking and the type of traps of Bjorn and Jens Vanoverschelde, who map out the course. On Friday morning we were both not well due to the flu, but with the right medication we were able battle through, launching the attack on Saturday to take back the lead. What a great weekend,” said Yves Deflandre, who emphatically congratulated our two World Rally Champions, Thiery Neuville and Marijn Wydaeghe, on the podium.
Michel Decremer, who was second, just 1.1 seconds off the lead on Friday evening, finished in second place with his Opel Ascona 400, together with Jennifer Hugo. “Was there more in it? Well, because of that penalty time we fell back a bit, but I have to congratulate Yves because they drove very strongly. I am very happy with this 2nd place, my best score in Ypres. Jennifer, my co-pilot, did a perfect job. And congratulations to the organization. We drive about 15 races of this genre per year at home and abroad and Ypres is certainly in the top 3 of the most beautiful and best organized races,” said Michel Decremer, who also congratulated Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe in passing. They met during a dinner after their respective victories in Monte-Carlo.
Kurt Deklerck had a very exciting final day. apparently he had put bad fuel in his Porsche 914/4 on Saturday evening. “After a few kilometers, the engine suddenly started spluttering. We completed the first RTs like that, but it got worse and worse. I am happy that the engine held up until the service team could help us. Fortunately, we were able to maintain our third place. “I have to say that the level was exceptionally high again this year,” said the Adirack boss, who also stood on the podium in Ypres in 2022.
Christophe Baillet, last year’s winner and the leader after the first evening, broke the suspension of his Escort on the last RT on Saturday evening and, unfortunately , he had to forfeit for the final day. Geert De Jaeger, navigated by his birthday son Cédric, moved up to fourth place this morning. Last year’s second place finisher lost a little ground on Friday evening due to a bad calibration and after that they did their best to not drop further from the lead. However, he had to be satisfied with fourth place.
Johnny Delhez, who will drive the speed rally in Spa next week with his Ford Escort Mk2, was happy with fifth place, his best result ever in Ypres. With that he finished ahead of Michael Demortier with his Porsche 924S. Vincent Legenne steered his Opel Commodore to 7th place, ahead of Mario Varrewaere in the Alcatel Nissan Sunny, father and son Guy and Olivier Dupont and Gaetan Van Calster, just in the top 10 in his first participation in the Ypres Historic Regularity. In addition, he had the challenge of opening the course on the final day.
“And I immediately understood why some competitors did not want to start at the front. Because there are no tracks, it is difficult to estimate the grip. But anyway, we enjoyed ourselves for three days on the beautiful roads around Ypres, where I have often come to watch the rally. With Filip Deplancke I had a very experienced co-driver next to me.”
In addition to the Regularity, there was also an Ypres Revival on Saturday, a tour in which more than sixty cars also participated. They enjoyed the most beautiful tracks on which rally history was written in the Ypres Rally.
