News
Silence after the storm
The morning leg started with one of the longest stages of the race, the second leg started with THE longest stage of the rally, i.e. Hollebeke (28.82 km).
Where a storm was blowing through the ranks this morning, we have to say it was really calm this afternoon on the Geko Ypres Rally 2012. Only few things really jumped out, amongst which the exit of Mathieu Arzeno (Citroën DS3 R3T) in Hollebeke. He was trying to get about ten seconds back on Martin Kangur (Honda Civic Type R). The Estonian now has a very comfortable lead in the 2WD class, more than 2 minutes ahead of Melissa Debackere (Citroën DS3 R3T).
Oleksandr Saliuk (Ford Fiesta S2000) was the next one to go off. He had run a perfect race so far getting his car home in sixth… until he got things very wrong on the Kemmelberg. Juho Hänninen (Škoda Fabia S2000) has been complaining that is engine was cutting out on SS13 (Kemmelberg). Despite this issue, he still went 0’’1 faster than Freddy Loix (Peugeot 207 S2000) who was second on this stage. When coming into servicing, the Finn didn’t seem too worried anymore. Interesting is that our two leaders, who are separated by 30 seconds, keep up the same story everywhere: the Finn confirms he is lifting off and “Mister Ypres” keeps saying he is really gunning it.
Ninth place Andreas Aigner (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) still leads the Production class. No change in the Ford Fiesta-camp where Xavier Baugnet and Tiebhault Radoux remain in the lead, being about 45’’ apart.
The drivers will now run through the first three stages of this morning again (Heuvelland, Vleteren-Krombeke et Watou). They have covered about half the distance for the day and there is another 100 km of stages left, more than enough to give us a few more surprises…
SS10 – Hollebeke 1 (28.82 km)
1. Hänninen : 15’54’’6 ; 2. Loix : + 4’’1 ; 3. Snijers : + 17’’6 ; 4. Tsjoen : + 21’’6 ; 5. Flodin : +27’’4…
SS11 – Lille – Eurométropole 1 (8.47 km)
1. Hänninen : 4’22’’5 ; 2. Loix : + 2’’8 ; 3. Tsjoen : + 3’’9 ; 4. Snijers : + 6’’6 ; 5. Flodin : +7’’7…
SS12 – Show Wasquehal (1.88 km)
1. Loix : 1’20’’6 ; 2. Hänninen : + 2’’7 ; 3. Snijers : + 3’’5 ; 4. Aigner : +3’’6 ; 5. Tsjoen : + 3’’7…
SS13 – Kemmelberg 1 (13.39 km)
1. Hänninen : 7’38’’3 ; 2. Loix : + 0’’1 ; 3. Snijers : + 5’’0 ; 5. Flodin : +5’’9 ; 5. Tsjoen : + 7’’9 …
After SS13
1. Hänninen-Markkula (Škoda Fabia S2000) : 1:44’53’’3
2. Loix-Vanneste (Peugeot 207 S2000) : + 27’’1
3. Tsjoen-Chevaillier (Škoda Fabia S2000) : + 1’40’’6
4. Snijers-Gitsels (Mini Coutryman RRC) : + 2’18’’1
5. So?owow-Baran (Peugeot 207 S2000) : + 3’51’’6
6. Flodin-Bergsten (Ford Fiesta S2000): + 4’46’’3
7. Barrable-Loudon (Škoda Fabia S2000) : + 5’55’’8
8. Verschueren-Vanassche (VW Polo S2000) : + 6’15’’2
9. Aigner-Ertl (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) : + 7’12’’3
10. Langenakens-Beernaert (Peugeot 207 S2000) : + 7’13’’2
…
Leaders
SS1 : Mikkelsen ; SS2 & 13 : Hänninen.