Sun June 29, 2008

 Abarth rattled on tense Ypres The 2008 Ypres Westhoek Rally has seen an extremely tense battle, as we could expect from the IRC series. In fact you could joke that on day1 this looked the most boring IRC round to date. You could have expected that the battle immediately developped between who are thought to b...

Sat June 28, 2008

 Ypres: Quotes and final positions Peugeot Belgium driver Freddy Loix has made history on his home event by becoming the only person to win the Belgium Ypres Rally five times. Loix’s resounding success saw him lead from the opening day in order to clinch a dominant victory....

NEWS JUST IN

 B End - Unbelievable tense finish! @ 08:39 PM - Congrats to Freddy Loix for his record breaking 5th Ypres win. But how tense for Abarth? Basso spins way down the order while Rossetti's attack works as he moves up 3 places on this last stage! Positions 8, 9 & 10 all changed too! Final Positions pending on last time control and scrutineering: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 2h44m40s3; 2nd= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +58s7; 3rd= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +1m28s6; 4th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +1m34s5; 5th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +1m44s; 6th= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +3m22s9; 7th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +4m43s7; 8th= Lietaer/Dejonghe, Mitsubishi, +6m19s5; 9th= Bruyneel/Descamps, Subaru, +6m20s6; 10th= Betti/Barone, Peugeot, +7m42s1

 B SS17 - all open for 3rd @ 08:01 PM - Unbelievable fight! With "only" the 42km stage left, Basso passes Snijers, Rossetti still 6th, but the 3 within 1sec exactly and all 3 just 5sec down on the VW! Positions after SS17: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 2h21m34s7; 2nd= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +1m11s5; 3rd= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +1m42s1; 4th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +1m47s2; 5th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +1m47s9; 6th= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +1m48s2; 7th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +4m09s4; 8th= Lietaer/Dejonghe, Mitsubishi, +5m43s; 9th= Bruyneel/Descamps, Subaru, +5m48s8; 10th= Betti/Barone, Peugeot, +6m24s6

 B SS16 - 3rd to 6th within 7.7sec! @ 06:17 PM - What a fight for the last podium place: 4 drivers in 3 different makes of cars seperated by 7.7sec in a straight fight! Positions after SS16: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 2h16m49s2; 2nd= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +1m15s3; 3rd= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +1m43s; 4th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +1m48s1; 5th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +1m50s; 6th= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +1m50s7; 7th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +4m01s4; 8th= Lietaer/Dejonghe, Mitsubishi, +5m35s3; 9th= Bruyneel/Descamps, Subaru, +5m43s8; 10th= Betti/Barone, Peugeot, +6m22s2

 B SS15 - Snijers,Basso,Luca within 1.6s! @ 05:46 PM - Between 2nd and 6th absolutely everything is open! Positions after SS15: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 2h11m24s8; 2nd= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +1m21s8; 3rd= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +1m44s; 4th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +1m52s1; 5th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +1m53s3; 6th= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +1m53s7; 7th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +3m55s5; 8th= Lietaer/Dejonghe, Mitsubishi, +5m31s4; 9th= Bruyneel/Descamps, Subaru, +5m40s7; 10th= Betti/Barone, Peugeot, +6m16s3

 B SS14 - Not Abarth's rally @ 05:29 PM - Travaglia crashes out, Basso now only Abarth left in top10. But Basso drops behind Casier and Snijers in a straight fight with Rossetti knocking on Basso's rear bumper too! 2nd to 6th places covered by less than 15sec! Positions after SS14: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 2h07m48s2; 2nd= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +1m27s3; 3rd= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +1m43s4; 4th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +1m52s6; 5th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +1m54s5; 6th= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +1m58s; 7th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +3m52s3; 8th= Lietaer/Dejonghe, Mitsubishi, +5m26s4; 9th= Bruyneel/Descamps, Subaru, +5m37s1; 10th= Betti/Barone, Peugeot, +6m12s9

 B SS13 - Alen in trouble! @ 05:02 PM - Anton Alen has droped well outside the top10 again after losing 4min in this stage. Problem not known yet, please check back on this SS13 just in. Positions after SS13: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 1h54m01s7; 2nd= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +1m21s6; 3rd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +1m37s1; 4th= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +1m38s4; 5th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +1m52s7; 6th= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +2m01s9; 7th= Travaglia/Granai, Fiat Abarth, +2m55s; 8th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +3m29s; 9th= Betti/Barone, Peugeot, +4m56s9; 10th= Lietaer/Dejonghe, Mitsubishi, +5m00s3

 B SS12 - Vouilloz & Casier swap places @ 03:09 PM - In the long Heuvelland stage Basso passed Casier's VW, but is no further in his points challenge. Betti and Higgins both slowed with small mechanical gremlins. Positions after SS12: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 1h45m46s2; 2nd= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +1m19s7; 3rd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +1m20s1; 4th= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +1m27s5; 5th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +1m46s; 6th= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +2m01s; 7th= Travaglia/Granai, Fiat Abarth, +2m45s8; 8th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +3m11s6; 9th= Alen/Alanne, Fiat Abarth, +3m28s; 10th= Betti/Barone, Peugeot, +4m16s

 B SS11 - Loix eases to household lead @ 02:11 PM - I think for the first time in IRC history we have no top10 change in a stage. But its only 3sec between 2nd & 5th and the 42km Heuvelland next! Positions after SS11: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 1h22m49s3; 2nd= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +1m14s8; 3rd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +1m15s4; 4th= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +1m17s8; 5th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +1m28s7; 6th= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +2m02s5; 7th= Travaglia/Granai, Fiat Abarth, +2m32s3; 8th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +2m36s1; 9th= Betti/Barone, Peugeot, +2m55s3; 10th= Alen/Alanne, Fiat Abarth, +2m59s7

 B SS8 - Rossetti 6th, Casier 3rd @ 11:31 AM - Good battles, VW takes the leading Abarth by 0.5s, Rossetti moves from 10th to 6th by 0.1s! Positions after SS8: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 1h09m08s5; 2nd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +21s1; 3rd= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +1m07s6; 4th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +1m08s1; 5th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +1m22s2; 6th= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Fiat Abarth, +2m05s4; 7th= Sola/Sanchez, Fiat Abarth, +2m05s5; 8th= Travaglia/Granai, Fiat Abarth, +2m13s4; 9th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +2m16s2; 10th= Tirabassi/Gordon, Peugeot, +2m19s5

 B SS7 - watch Rossetti move up! @ 11:06 AM - No changes at the top. Higgins already dropped after a time penalty last night. Rossetti moved back into top10 now, but gap between 7th and 10th is only 8sec and next stage is 26km! Positions after SS7: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 55m22s6; 2nd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +21s4; 3rd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +55s5; 4th= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +58s4; 5th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +1m07s1; 6th= Sola/Sanchez, Fiat Abarth, +1m42s7; 7th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +1m53s5; 8th= Tirabassi/Gordon, Peugeot, +1m55s2; 9th= Travaglia/Granai, Fiat Abarth, +1m56s1; 10th= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +2m01s7

 B SS10 - Vouilloz spins on dramatic 9km @ 00:21 AM - The 9km Watou stage proved extremely dramatic. Vouilloz spins and drops to 4th, but only 5sec off 2nd. To add to Abarth's pain, Snijers sets an excellent time and catches up too. Sola is missing at stage finish, helping Alen into top10. Positions after SS10: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 1h18m05s3; 2nd= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +1m13s3; 3rd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +1m15s5; 4th= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +1m18s2; 5th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +1m25s4; 6th= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +2m04s1; 7th= Travaglia/Granai, Fiat Abarth, +2m28s5; 8th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +2m29s8; 9th= Betti/Barone, Peugeot, +2m50s8; 10th= Alen/Alanne, Fiat Abarth, +2m54s1

 B SS9 - classic Westouter stage @ 00:01 AM - Westouter is an absolute classic, only 6km short but extremely tricky. This time Brice Tirabassi went missing. Positions after SS9: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 1h12m41s; 2nd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +20s; 3rd= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +1m12s9; 4th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +1m13s7; 5th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +1m26s1; 6th= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Fiat Abarth, +2m05s6; 7th= Sola/Sanchez, Fiat Abarth, +2m10s4; 8th= Travaglia/Granai, Fiat Abarth, +2m19s4; 9th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +2m23s7; 10th= Betti/Barone, Peugeot, +2m36s3

Fri June 27, 2008

 Loix dominates Ypres leg1 Freddy Loix sure has been the man of the day on the first leg of the Belgium Ypres Westhoek Rally. He has dominated the second loop of stages in exactly the same way as he dominated the first one. Signing 5 best times, he only missed out narrowly on the perfect run, losing one st...

 Loix dominates opening leg in Ypres Local hero Freddy Loix has got his ambition to become the first person to win the Ypres Rally five times off to a flying start. After six opening stages, the Peugeot Belgium driver holds a 21.9-second advantage over his team mate Nicolas Vouilloz....

 Loix tops Ypres shakedown Peugeot Belgium driver Freddy Loix was quickest at the pre-rally shakedown in the village of Nieuwkerke - but only by 0.4 seconds from Peugeot Italy´s Luca Rossetti....

 Ypres Rally TV times The Ypres Westhoek Rally, third round of the 2008 IRC, gets underway late this Friday afternoon and it looks set to be another fascinating battle for victory with a packed entry list of top S2000, Grp N and R3 cars. Ypres will also see the 2008 debut on the Eurosport-backed serie...

NEWS JUST IN

 B leg1 - Drama for Rossetti & Kopecky @ 09:27 PM - Unbelievable dramatic end of the day. Loix for the first time didn't win a stage, making it 5 out of 6. But the drama: Rossetti's IRC winning streak has likely ended after dropping 90sec to 11th place! Worse even the fate of Kopecky, who rolled out of the rally! Positions after leg1: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 47m06s2; 2nd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +21s9; 3rd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +49s; 4th= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +52s7; 5th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +59s9; 6th= Sola/Sanchez, Fiat Abarth, +1m19s; 7th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +1m35s9; 8th= Travaglia/Granai, Fiat Abarth, +1m39s5; 9th= Higgins/Kennedy, MG, +1m39s9; 10th= Tirabassi/Gordon, Peugeot, +1m44s2

 B SS5 - One more stage to go for leg1 @ 08:37 PM - Janos Toth spun and lost 40sec. 40sec is enough to drop from 9th to 16th. Positions after SS5: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 35m25s8; 2nd= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +19s; 3rd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +22s5; 4th= Kopecky/Stary, Peugeot, +33s4; 5th= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +37s1; 6th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +37s5; 7th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +44s7; 8th= Sola/Sanchez, Fiat Abartht, +53s3; 9th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +1m08s5; 10th= Higgins/Kennedy, MG, +1m10s3

 B SS4 - Loix wins every stage @ 08:18 PM - Sorry for earlier FALSE news on the MG retirement, for some reason she never showed up in the results. Positions after SS4: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 29m45s4; 2nd= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +15s7; 3rd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +21s3; 4th= Kopecky/Stary, Peugeot, +28s2; 5th= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +29s7; 6th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +31s1; 7th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +37s8; 8th= Sola/Sanchez, Fiat Abartht, +42s3; 9th= Toth/Tagai, Peugeot, +55s1; 10th= Higgins/Kennedy, MG, +57s1

 B SS3 - Dramatic long stage @ 07:00 PM - Fontana and Isik gone missing in this 22km Langemark stage. Higgins in the MG moved into the top10, but Alen down in 17th. Positions after SS3: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 23m38s5; 2nd= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +12s6; 3rd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +17s3; 4th= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +20s8; 5th= Kopecky/Stary, Peugeot, +22s6; 6th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +23s9; 7th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +30s3; 8th= Sola/Sanchez, Fiat Abartht, +32s1; 9th= Higgins/Kennedy, MG, +41s8; 10th= Toth/Tagai, Peugeot, +44s6

 B SS2 - Volkswagen ahead of Abarth! @ 06:11 PM - Another stage win for Loix. Abarth has to fight harder. Positions after SS2: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 11m57s9; 2nd= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +6s6; 3rd= Casier/Miclotte, Volskwagen, +6s8; 4th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +8s9; 5th= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +6s6; 6th= Kopecky/Stary, Peugeot, +11s2; 7th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +13s8; 8th= Sola/Sanchez, Fiat Abartht, +14s6; 9th= Toth/Tagai, Peugeot, +16s1; 10th= van den Heuvel/Kolman, Mitsubishi, +19s1

 B SS1 - Top10 within 10sec @ 05:35 PM - Very close fight after 1st stage. Good times for all Kronos Peugeots and Rossetti. Anton Alen 15th, Mark Higgins in the MG 12th. Positions after SS1: 1st= Loix/Buysmans, Peugeot, 6m11s6; 2nd= Rossetti/Chiarcossi, Peugeot, +4s2; 3rd= Kopecky/Stary, Peugeot, +4s4; 4th= Sola/Sanchez, Fiat Abarth, +4s7; 5th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +5s; 6th= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +5s2; 7th= Casier/Miclotte, Volkswagen, +5s4; =8th= Snijers/Soenens, Peugeot, +8s5; =8th= Toth/Tagai, Peugeot, +8s5; 10th= Travaglia/Granai, Fiat Abarth, +10s

Thu June 26, 2008

 KCB Safari Rally 2008 preview Originally the Safari Rally 2008 was scheduled at its once traditional Easter date and as round1 of the IRC 2008. In a spectacular but not nice turn of developments a corrupt December 2007 presidential election in Kenya was followed by a civil war between Kenya's tribes, and t...

 Ypres Westhoek Rally - latest preview The Ypres Westhoek Rally has a very unique layout, very different to any other IRC and WRC rallies we know. So we thought we give it another run down in addition to the very excellent IRC media descriptions....

Wed June 25, 2008

 Ypres Rally Preview The third round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge takes place on the Ypres Rally in Belgium, one of Europe’s most classic and best-known events. The rally also marks the first round of the IRC to be held on asphalt this year – but the Belgian event is far from a ‘normal’ ...

Tue June 24, 2008

 Ypres: BFGoodrich preview The third round of the 2008 Intercontinental Rally Challenge takes crews to Flanders for the Belgium Ypres Westhoek Rally. Formerly known as the 24 Heures d'Ypres, this event has long been one of the flagship fixtures of the European Rally Championship and was first featured i...

 Snijers pleased with first taste of 207 Belgian rally legend Patrick Snijers has tested the Kronos Racing Peugeot 207 S2000 that he will use on the Ypres Rally, his prize for winning the BFGoodrich Drivers’ Team seat for his home round of the IRC this week....

 Betti and Pirelli to compete with 207

Fri June 20, 2008

 Garcia-Ojeda set for two IRC events The Italian 'Power Car Team' announced today its agreement with the Spaniard Enrique Garcia Ojeda for a program established in three rally races. The partnership will start from Sata Rally Acores on 3-5 July, the race is an "IRC supporter event”. ...

Thu June 19, 2008

 Rally Ypres seeding info Note by Rallye-Info.com: Some (including us) may be surprised why Corrado Fontana, without any previous record in Ypres except crashing in SS3 last year, has been seeded N°1, while last year's winner in Ypres and winner of every IRC round 2008, Luca Rossetti is down at N°14. F...

Mon June 16, 2008

 Peugeot young talent hunting for S2000 To find consolation from a disappointing, unsporting WRC Cruise Rally Turkey, I report here of some small happier news I received recently. Although a little on a personal note, the two of the three (the third one being tied to Citroen anyway) talents with the brightest future po...

 Record entry for Rally Ypres 12 Hours before closing the registration list, it looks like the 2008 edition Belgium Ypres Westhoek Rally will be one of the best we have experienced. Normally we should have a good hundred cars at the start. Some entries sure came in at the last moment. This morning, within ...

 Calos Sainz continues Fabia S2000 tests Besides experienced test drivers Jan Kopecký and Raimund Baumschlager, the team recently testing the competition version of the Fabia Super 2000 in Austria included two times world champion Carlos Sainz. The Volkswagen factory driver won the Central European Rally with a Race Tou...