[ERC] Geko Ypres Rally (19. -21.06. 2014)

[dimviii]

[SS20] Hollebeke 2
Jan CERNY (PEUGEOT)
Rolled half way into the stage, both crew fine.

[dimviii]

Stéphane Lefebvre started the final stage leading the ERC Junior category after overhauling Andrea Crugnola for top spot on the penultimate run. Despite completing the entire stage with the bonnet resting on the windscreen of his Peugeot after it flew open at the first corner, he finished tied on time with Crugnola and takes the win on countback by dint of winning the opening stage. Jan Černý rolled into retirement on the final stage while a broken driveshaft leaving the start ended Marijan Griebel’s hopes of a podium and allowed Chris Ingram to take third place behind Crugnola in a dramatic finish

[Wim_Impreza]

Congratulations to Freddy Loix/Johan Gitsels and Škoda for the 5th victory in a row in Ypres. For most people they were favourite and then again they win, great.

Cédric Cherain finally had some luck in a good car and finished in a well deserved 2th place. Wiegand isn't that slow as some people think. He showed this again this weekend.

Star of the rally for me is Luca Rossetti. We knew he is very fast, but with a private Škoda, only his second time in Ypres - he was winner in Ypres in 2007 - and his first rally of the season with this car, he impressed me a lot. He was the whole rally at the same pace as Loix, which says it all. What a pity of his mistake in SS6.

[giù tutto!]

Amazing battle in JERC and all in all the top drivers in R2 squad are outstanding!

Is Max Vatanen really the son of Ari?

[RS]

Star of the rally for me is Luca Rossetti. We knew he is very fast, but with a private Škoda, only his second time in Ypres - he was winner in Ypres in 2007 - and his first rally of the season with this car, he impressed me a lot. He was the whole rally at the same pace as Loix, which says it all. What a pity of his mistake in SS6.

Me too! I have always been a fan of Rossetti but I was a little surprised how fast he was now he is getting older and has been away from ERC/IRC for some time. Hope to see more of him this year.

[Wim_Impreza]

Amazing battle in JERC and all in all the top drivers in R2 squad are outstanding!

Is Max Vatanen really the son of Ari?

It is indeed incredible that 2 JERC drivers have exactly the same time at the finish of the rally.

Yes, he is.

[dimviii]

Geko Ypres Rally @gekoypresrally · 1 λεπ.
Colin Mcrae flat out throphee for @KevinAbbring Congratulations Kevin. #ypresrally

[Jarek Z]

Star of the rally for me is Luca Rossetti. We knew he is very fast, but with a private Škoda, only his second time in Ypres - he was winner in Ypres in 2007 - and his first rally of the season with this car, he impressed me a lot.

I'm a fan of Rossetti as well and was impressed by his stage times just like you, but it wasn't Rossetti's second time in Ypres for sure. He was there at least 4 times:
2014 - 5th place
2011 - 8th place
2008 - 3rd place
2007 - 1st place

[RS]

Not yet.. the car is fast.. but extremely unreliable. Remember that M-Sport also had a lot of mechanical failiures at the beginning and they had huge amount of cars testing everywhere in the world.

Did they? I don't recall seeing many videos, it seemed quite rushed out to me!

I guess MSport had the benefit of experience with the Fiesta WRC though which must have helped them at least a little.

[HaCo]

We were lucky so many cars survived day one (and stage 1), which is not always the case for Ypres. Unfortunately things changed in the first loop of the second day with Lappi, Pons and the 2 Peugeots. What a shame for Abbring, he deserved a win here. If you can put Loix behind in a such a fashion on Belgian (Ypres) stages you've showed true potential. I hope he gets a lot more opportunities in the future!
Last stage was also amazing, again, we saw Lefebre with the hood up, we saw Tsjoen pushing for stage win, we saw Cerny going into a field (not the roll), Kobus and Wiegand were still battling for third.

For the Belgian championship things are looking good as well. If Tsjoen can improve his pace (no doubt), Casier as well (no doubt) and maybe Verschueren as well we will have a fantastic field of RC2 cars and hopefully great battles will come with it.