ONo more stopping Ott Tänak! Hot on the heels of his victory eight days earlier in Finland, the Estonian scored his third success of the season on Sunday at the Ypres rally, where he was one of the only favorites to avoid the pitfalls of the narrow roads of the Westhoek flanders.
Finland’s Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota), who finished far in the standings but pocketed the 5 points for victory in the last “Power Stage”, retained the lead in the provisional World Championship standings after 9 rounds out of 13.
“It was already a surprise to win in Finland, it’s just as much here, because there are still a lot of things to improve to go even faster”, welcomed the 34-year-old driver, champion of the WRC world in 2019, who signed in Belgium on 17e career title.
Where the Rovanperä, Neuville, Breen, Greensmith and Fourmaux all went off the road, Tänak remained glued to the Belgian asphalt to finally win with a five-second advantage over the Briton Elfyn Evans (Toyota). Finland’s Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) completed the podium at more than 1 min and 41 s.
The spectacular battle for fourth place was won by Swede Oliver Solberg (Hyundai) after a nice duel against Adrien Fourmaux (M-Sport Ford) who crashed out in a corner of the penultimate special. A bad habit for the French already seriously injured a year ago on these same roads.
In WRC2, victory went to his compatriot Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën), a success in this category that he had been waiting for since Monte-Carlo 2015.
Five out of ten WRCs in the background
This Ypres rally was one of all the traps for the leaders of the event: five of the ten WRC1s went off the road! Among them, Kalle Rovanperä and the Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), victorious in Belgium a year ago in front of his supporters. Despite his knowledge of the terrain, the Belgian driver slipped in a dust-covered left corner on SS15 on Saturday, although until this fault he was managing “his” rally perfectly.
“It’s probably one of the biggest disappointments of my career. Here, in front of my fans whom I wanted to thank with a victory and while I was leading, ”plashed Neuville, still looking for success in 2022.
The Belgian, however, wanted to retain the “positive” by evoking an “increasingly fast Hyundai”, even if the manufacturer ranking remains largely dominated by Toyota. For his part, Rovanperä made his first mistake this season by performing an impressive series of barrel rolls from the 2e special on Friday, when he too was in the lead at the time of his error.
Toyota’s boss, former driver Jari-Matti Latvala, while pointing out “an error” by his driver, did not hold it against him.
“To live a season without committing a fault is simply not possible. Kalle is also very young [21 ans, NDLR] and what he achieves at his age is just extraordinary,” Latvala said.
Rovanperä is indeed on track to become the youngest crowned driver in the WRC. With already five successes and a second place this season, he leads the championship with a good margin: 203 points for 131 for Tänak, his runner-up.
The Finnish prodigy will have the opportunity to resume his forward march from September 8 to 11 at the Acropolis rally in Greece. The rally of the gods that Frenchman Sébastien Loeb, nine-time world champion, will enhance with his presence at the wheel of a Ford.
