Geko Ypres Rally

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Originally Posted by RS

What happened to the tv programme last night? Grrr. It's supposed to be on again this morning and then the magazine programme this evening so I will try again!

Some positives and negatives of this rally for me:

+ Great performance of Freddy Loix and the new Evo Skoda
+ Thierry Neuville maturing (last year he was perhaps faster but crashed)
+ Competitive entry with guys at the front pushing very very hard
+ Eurosport TV footage I have seen so far was excellent
+ New Evo Skoda looks nicer :)

- Sarrazin and Hanninen's early crashes. Would have expected both to challenge for a podium.
- Proton's engine failures. Would have bee nice to see one of them sneak into the top 10 at the end.
- Mikkelsen's pace a bit disappointing. Very hard to say though how much was him, how much was the car and how much the tyres.

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I dont find Mikkelsen pace diappointing at all.
-Its his first event on tarmac since Costa Brava last year.
-He has never driven Ypres before which is important if you shall fight in top three.
-Local knowledge is important(It was three belgians in the top 4)
-He has never driven the Fiesta on Tarmac
-Its Hankooks first tarmac event with the Fiesta
-He is young, became 21 last week.

His goal before the event was a sixth place.

Everyone in his team is satisfied.

My photos from yesterday

http://foto.zita.be/5624954789

Neuville drove impressive, and will with enough money (again) reach far !

My photos are online! :)

http://www.rallymedia.nl/images/2010...uville%201.jpg

http://www.rallymedia.nl/images/2010...sowicz%204.jpg

http://www.rallymedia.nl/images/2010...opecky%205.jpg

Click for more!

The video will follow today ;)

MY VIDEO OF THE GEKO YPRES RALLY :

http://www.rallyandraces.com/index.p...010&Itemid=121

GREAT EVENT !

http://www.rally-mania.cz/fotogaleri...17d578a3f9.jpg

http://www.rally-mania.cz/fotogaleri...e4b87c939f.jpg

http://www.rally-mania.cz/fotogaleri...d028f8b226.jpg

http://www.rally-mania.cz/fotogaleri...bbdf778020.jpg

More photos from 2nd leg from Roy HERE ;)

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Originally Posted by VFTS

I dont find Mikkelsen pace diappointing at all.
-Its his first event on tarmac since Costa Brava last year.
-He has never driven Ypres before which is important if you shall fight in top three.
-Local knowledge is important(It was three belgians in the top 4)
-He has never driven the Fiesta on Tarmac
-Its Hankooks first tarmac event with the Fiesta
-He is young, became 21 last week.

His goal before the event was a sixth place.

Everyone in his team is satisfied.

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The end result was good for sure, but I still find the pace disappointing. It's not that the performance was that bad, I just expected more from him...

I'm sure it will go better on gravel events.

Turkisch 207:
http://www.autosportforum.be/showthr...l=1#post196952

Before that happend I saw them passing on Heuveland with the rear windscreen broken and a missing rear wing.

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Originally Posted by HaCo

Turkisch 207:
http://www.autosportforum.be/showthr...l=1#post196952

Before that happend I saw them passing on Heuveland with the rear windscreen broken and a missing rear wing.

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That looks really bad, I hope they are ok - at least physically

Just returned, great rally. Hope to go back again next year! Big thanks to our Belgian friends for guiding through very nice and really fast places :)

Kris Meeke said on local Belgian radio that he felt he had no chance with Peugeot this season. He said that he wouldn't have spoken about the speed of car if there was some Peugeot driver faster than him but there has been none so far. I think that it's quite obvious already for some time but hearing that on public means that he really is very disappointed.

By the way works Skoda were running reasonably longer gears than others, especially Ford.