56. Renties Ypres Rally Belgium 2021

[denkimi]

To me Ypres is too tricky to count much on "home advantage". I wouldn't be surprised to see Ogier or Evans winning, actually I'd say I expect yet another Toyota win.

Quite the oppositie.

There are many hidden traps that can take someone out, but that can't be spotted in recce. In many placed you just need to have previous knowledge to push to the max. There are places where you brake on grippy asphalt, only to get on slippy asphalt midturn without it looking any different. You can't know that by doing recce alone.

I would also not be suprised to see ogier win here. But then again, this is no rally where the strength of the rear suspension matters. Either you stay on the road and nothing happens, or you go to far and end up in the ditch.

[focus206]

Quite the oppositie.

There are many hidden traps that can take someone out, but that can't be spotted in recce. In many placed you just need to have previous knowledge to push to the max. There are places where you brake on grippy asphalt, only to get on slippy asphalt midturn without it looking any different. You can't know that by doing recce alone.

I would also not be suprised to see ogier win here. But then again, this is no rally where the strength of the rear suspension matters. Either you stay on the road and nothing happens, or you go to far and end up in the ditch.

I'm not talking about Belgian competitors in Rally2 that ran Ypres many times, I'm talking about Neuville. Does he know Ypres well enough to have an actual "home advantage" over Ogier and Evans?

[mknight]

The i20 Rally2 looks much better than on test for sure, even though we can't see straight from front.

- green covers the part just in front of the hood
- Kowax sticker breaking the huge bumper side

[mknight]

Østberg already said last month I think (does feel like a long time since Estonia), that he'll go to Greece, Finland & Spain so obviously that meant skipping Ypres. I'm also guessing they might already know that Ypres definitely won't be in next year's calendar so they rather skip this one and save some of their budget for another event.

Yes, but as I wrote he picked Greece (which is on gravel and he drove there before) over Ypres which is on tarmac that he is historically not so good at.

As a sidenote I didn't see he plans Spain, the WRC2 rules are a bit unclear to me on the "overseas" rally requirement. It seems that it might only apply to those that compete in WRC2 "teams" competition in which case it wouldn't apply to Østberg.

Picking Spain over Ypres is easy since he has driven in Spain multiple times.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Recce shots from this morning - still pretty damp with puddles in places:

[EstWRC]

credit https://www.facebook.com/RallyandRac...00070000093130

[EstWRC]

[denkimi]

I'm not talking about Belgian competitors in Rally2 that ran Ypres many times, I'm talking about Neuville. Does he know Ypres well enough to have an actual "home advantage" over Ogier and Evans?

This will be his ninth ypres rally. Of course it's not like princen who is doing his 22th, but it will make a difference i believe.

We'll see in a few days.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Rally Ypres manager Alan Penasse told a journalist that he thinks many WRC2/3 drivers have been 'scared off' by the event's tricky reputation.

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/the-r...testing-ypres/

[Mirek]

This will be his ninth ypres rally. Of course it's not like princen who is doing his 22th, but it will make a difference i believe.

We'll see in a few days.

On the other hand he didn't look very comfortable in his prior starts which rarely went smooth for him.