日: 2022年8月21日

Ott Tänak stormed has won Ypres Rally Belgium to seal back-to-back FIA World Rally Championship victories.

The Estonian driver, co-driven by compatriot Martin Järveoja, inherited the top spot late on the penultimate day when Hyundai i20 N Rally1 team-mate and long-time leader Thierry Neuville understeered off the road and into a ditch, shattering the Belgian’s hopes of a repeat home win. 

Tänak – winner of Secto Rally Finland earlier this month – carried an 8.2s buffer over Elfyn Evans into Sunday’s final leg, which comprised four short and sharp asphalt stages in the Flanders region. 

Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 star Evans was not willing to give up without a fight. He flew to fastest times on the two opening stages, but was still unable to make any major gains on the leader. 

It was a similar story in the afternoon and, despite outpacing his rival by 2.2s in the finale, the Welshman was unable to overhaul Tänak, who took the spoils by 5.0s.

Tänak’s success means he now trails championship leader Kalle Rovanperä – who rolled his Yaris out of contention on Friday morning – by 72 points. The 21-year-old Finn salvaged five Wolf Power Stage bonus points and remains on track to become the youngest WRC champion in history.  

The Manufacturers’ championship situation remains unchanged, with Tänak’s Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team squad still 88 points adrift of leaders Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.

“To win here is a big surprise for us – more or less the same as it was in Finland,” said Tänak. “We didn’t expect it from anywhere basically, but somehow we were able to pull it together during the rally.

“It’s great to see that some results are coming, but there is so much we can improve and we could still be a lot stronger, so there is still some work to do,” he added.

For Evans, it was a case of what could have been. He gave away valuable seconds on Friday when a slow puncture forced him to run a wet weather tyre in dry conditions. He was also lumbered with a 10s time penalty for arriving late to SS8. Without that, the outcome could have been different. 

Esapekka Lappi made it two GR Yaris cars on the podium – securing a lonely third at the end of a trouble-free weekend where a wrong-call tyre selection on Friday was the only real bump in the road. 

He trailed Evans by 1m36.6s but held a comfortable 1m46.9s advantage over fourth-placed Hyundai youngster Oliver Solberg, who netted a career-best result to banish all memories of his early retirement last time out. 

Solberg was initially locked in a tight scrap with M-Sport Ford World Rally Team’s Adrien Fourmaux. However, the Puma driver crashed out on the penultimate stage, enabling those behind to gain a position. 

Over two minutes back was Takamoto Katsuta, who continued his consistent run of form to take fifth overall in another Yaris. Although transmission and hybrid unit faults plagued the Japanese driver, he has now finished inside the top six at every round since Sweden in February. 

Rally2 cars completed the top 10, with FIA WRC2 victor Stéphane Lefebvre leading the charge in a DG Sport Citroën C3 Rally2 ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen (Toksport WRT Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, Yohan Rossel (PH Sport Citroën) and Chris Ingram (Toksport Škoda), who won the WRC2 Junior division. Armin Kremer took WRC2 Masters glory, while Jan Černý topped FIA WRC3 in a Ford Fiesta Rally3.

Drivers are back on gravel next month for the legendary EKO Acropolis Rally Greece. The event is based in Lamia and is scheduled to run from September 8-11.

World Rally Championship

Ypres RallyWRCSEASON 2022SportRallies1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2022Ypres Rally01Sunday, August 21, 2022 – 4:03pmSunday, August 21, 2022 – 4:03pm

Formula 1’s long-awaited return to the city of Las Vegas in Nevada is likely to see a significant…

The post Vegas gambling on charging high price for F1 weekend appeared first on F1i.com.

George Russell had already established a reputation for exceeding expectations in qualifying while driving for Williams, frequently making…

The post Russell rates maiden pole as his best lap in F1 to date appeared first on F1i.com.

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali insists that the sport’s move to new circuits such as Saudi Arabia, Miami…

The post Domenicali: I am not selling the soul of Formula 1! appeared first on F1i.com.

Frédéric Vasseur insists that Sauber remains as committed as ever to its current partnership with Alfa Romeo, despite…

The post Sauber committed to Alfa Romeo despite Audi rumours appeared first on F1i.com.

Michael Schumacher’s 1998 race-winning Ferrari F300 left two people very happy at the end of the day at…

The post Ex-Schumacher Ferrari F300 brings in big bucks in Monterey appeared first on F1i.com.

Fernando Alonso has been talking about the ways that he seeks out and exploits every possible advantage over…

The post Alonso ‘does everything he can to destroy his rivals’ appeared first on F1i.com.

Ott Tänak is the new Ypres Rally Belgium leader after home hero and long-time pacesetter Thierry Neuville crashed into retirement on this afternoon’s penultimate stage.

Belgian Neuville had been in front by 17.2s with two stages of Saturday’s second leg remaining but a crash on the penultimate stage handed the initiative to his fellow Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team driver Tänak, who will carry an 8.2s advantage over Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Elfyn Evans into Sunday’s final leg.

Tänak, driving a Hyundai i20 N Rally1, briefly took charge after the opening Reninge test this morning but was quickly swept aside by Neuville as a rear differential issue hampered his progress during the morning.

After pulling 17.2sec clear of his colleague, Neuville looked all but set for a repeat victory on his home WRC round, but his challenge unravelled 6.4 kilometres into the Wijtschate stage when the Belgian understeered into a deep ditch on the outside of a left-hand corner.

Spectators were quickly on scene to extract the car, but Neuville pulled over just 1.1 kilometres down the road with damage.

His exit means Tänak is on course for his second-consecutive victory, having triumphed just a few weeks ago on Secto Rally Finland.

“Obviously in the morning we were struggling with the transmission, but at lunchtime we were able to change it and in the afternoon it was working,” Tänak said. “It was just a different setting and it took me some time to adapt to it, but in the end I got used to it and started to trust it more.

“Tomorrow will be far from easy – I think it will be a big push in the morning. Elfyn is doing a good job and it will not be easy for him, but let’s see. It’s still a relatively long day tomorrow,” he added.

Back at service, Neuville explained that he was simply caught out by a patch of loose gravel which had been pulled onto the road after his route note crew had driven through.

“It was basically full of dirt from the cars in front,” he said. “We had nothing in the pacenotes and we weren’t aware it would be so slippery, so we got caught by surprise and understeered into the ditch.”

Evans was able to close in on Tänak during the morning loop but lost ground later in the day once his rival had made changes at the mid-leg service. He’s more than one minute clear of GR Yaris Rally team-mate Esapekka Lappi, however, with the Finn filling the final podium spot after a drama-free day.

Hyundai pilot Oliver Solberg is almost two minutes further back in fourth overall. The young Swede has been in a close duel with M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1-driving Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux, who day two ended 14.3s behind after being lumbered with a 20sec time penalty for arriving late at the start of SS15.

Both drivers moved up the order early in the day when Craig Breen, who had been running fifth, rolled his Puma into retirement after running wide through a left-hander on the Dikkebus stage this morning.

After plummeting down the order with a transmission fault on Friday, Takamoto Katsuta fought back to take sixth overall. It wasn’t an easy day for the Japanese as a hybrid unit issue left his Yaris intermittently lacking extra boost.

FIA WRC2 drivers complete the overnight top 10. Category leader Stéphane Lefebvre is seventh overall in his DG Sport Citroën C3 Rally2 folllowed by Andreas Mikkelsen (Toksport WRT Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo), Yohan Rossel (PH Sport Citroën C3 Rally2) and Grégoire Munster (Hyundai i20 N Rally2). Munster heads Chris Ingram in WRC2 Junior, Armin Kremer remains in front of local legend and 11-time Ypres winner Freddy Loix, while Jan Černý is the driver to beat in FIA WRC3.

Gus Greensmith is more than 18 minutes adrift of the leaders after haemorrhaging time in the morning. The Briton’s Puma left the road on SS10 and he had to limp through two stages with a broken rear brake disc.

Sunday’s closing leg is drastically changed from 2021 and takes place entirely within the Flanders region having headed southeast to Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps last year. Double runs of Watou (12.36 kilometres) and Kemmelberg (13.31 kilometres) are separated by a 20-minute service halt in Ypres, with the second pass of Kemmelberg forming the bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage. Watou 1 is due to begin at 08h43 CET with the Power Stage set to start at 13h18.

World Rally Championship

Ypres RallyWRCSEASON 2022SportRallies1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2022Ypres Rally01Saturday, August 20, 2022 – 7:59pmSaturday, August 20, 2022 – 7:59pm