Thierry Neuville knows that he is facing his great opportunity to be hooked on the fight for the WRC title. He runs at home and does it on asphalt. The Ypres Rally is the best possible scenario to start the comeback and in the face of a compact event format with the shakedown embedded in the first stage, it was time to come out in tune. And the truth is that the local hero has fulfilled with note. In fact, Neuville set the best time of the shakedown after signing a time of 4: 22.5 on his third pass through the stretch. The Belgian has surpassed by eight tenths to Ott Tänak. For its part, Sébastien Ogier finished third.
The truth is Ypres Rally shakedown has been written in Hyundai code. Thierry Neuville’s first place indicates this, even more so in a longer qualifying stage than is customary in the WRC. With 9.81 kilometers, the Belgian had the best contact. As if this wasn’t enough Ott Tänak managed to get behind his partner’s back with the second Hyundai i20 WRC Coupé, all after finishing eight tenths behind Neuville. For his part, Sébastien Ogier took third place with the first of the Toyota Yaris WRC.
In a shakedown set up on a stretch of long straights and narrow sections in which the riders have been able to gain confidence, Welshman Elfyn Evans has scored fourth place, thus closing the group of ‘favorites’. Always with the permission of a Kalle Rovanperä who has just won the Rally Estonia and finished in fifth position. Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet was sixth, with Adrien Fourmaux occupying seventh place. The French M-Sport driver was also the only one to make four passes of the stage among the premier class drivers in his Ford Fiesta WRC.
With the discreet times of Craig Breen at the controls of the third Hyundai i20 WRC Coupé, largely by the troubles that have haunted the Irishman During the shakedown, the last place in the ‘top 10’ was opened to the first of the drivers with a ‘Rally2’. A scenario in which it was only possible to have Hyundai again as the protagonist. Jari Huttunen was tenth with the new i20 N Rally2, thus signing the best possible debut for the new vehicle of the South Korean firm. Oliver Solberg, with four passes, was 12th, just behind Teemu Suninen.
56th Ypres Rally shakedown classification
The Ypres Rally starts this Friday (13: 36h) with the celebration of the first stage of the event. Drivers and co-drivers will compete 135.34 kilometers against the clock.