[WRC] Ardeca Ypres Rally 2022

[Integrale]

You mean that Toksport somehow managed to pursue Lefevbre to take 4 wheels off the road on both passes even though everyone was reminded before the start not to do it and no other P1-driver (WRC+WRC2 top) did it (says so in the stewards decision, I checked Tanak, Rossel, Ingram and MIkkelsen). Epic skills they have.

No, I mean that I can understand Alain Georges if he's upset with the behaviour of the Toksport team. I don't like it as well. You're reading things that aren’t there.

I agree that it was good that they didn't change the results with penalties. If the penaly happened Saturday evening it would be ok but not after everyone is finished. If Toksport timed the decision to happen first after finish they are both nasty and stupid (stupid cause after finish there is much lower chance they will change results), I am not 100% sure when they submitted it.

The two protests were received on Sunday at 12:55 and 12:56. Alain Georges said that he was informed of the protests on the podium of the rally. He initially thought that Lefebvre didn't follow the liasion route or something, so he seemed pretty unaware of what might be the issue.

To follow your conspiracy levels: (irrelevant stuff), just like I don't think Toksport told their drivers not to cut there just so they could penalize Lefevbre (How do you convince Lefevbre to do something illegal?, also Ingram cut deeper than Rossel for example). According to stewards decision they watched the vid of all P1 drivers and nobody cut like Lefevbre. In Ypres just from watching this one stage Lefevbre is much deeper on multiple corners sometimes with 4 wheels off.

What you believe isn’t really what matters. What matters for me is that one of the Toksport team members (Bernt Kollevold) went to a turn to film the competitors of Andreas Mikkelsen. Nobody forced Lefebvre to cut that deep, that’s absolutely right. But I want to add that Ypres Rally has a lot of these places. It’s part of the character of the rally.

If you want to enforce this rule in Ypres all competitors will get penalties. But you can’t really enforce it in a way that treats everyone the same. The FIA or the organisation can’t control it. The only way to enforce it is by complaints. That’s the issue. It’s arbitrary. And to add to that, teams have an incentive to ‘catch’ their adversaries.

So all crews should just follow the rules then, right?

Maybe you guys can understand it with the picture below.

If your conclusion is that DG Sport should’ve filed a complaint for this cut, then that’s exactly what my problem is.

People make the argument that Lefebvre ‘knew it’ and ‘he’s the idiot’. In the Stewards Decisions there’s a reference to the Clerk of the Course Communication 6. This communication was the result of ‘a Manufacturer raising the question of corner cutting before the event’. The Clerk of the Course Communication 6 says: “Furthermore, on the special stages the organisers may erect barriers or any other hindrances where they believe competitors have deviated from the roadway during reconnaissance or the first running of the stages. Any deviation will be reported to the Stewards.”

This is a very general statement. I really don’t think Lefebvre knew about anything. He drove like he always does in Belgium. I’m not sure about that of course, but it doesn’t really matter for me actually.

About the suggestion to put barriers in cuts… I don't think it would be smart if the organisation started putting up blocks or haybales after the recce has finished. I think everybody on this forum understands why.