Sunset Shakedown at the Ypres Rally - 22/06/23
Words and Images by Mitcham Media
Rallying in Europe is a whole different level to the UK, and the Ypres rally was everything that’s great about making the trip onto the continent.
The centre of Ypres is totally shut down to become Rally HQ and the service park, filled with everything from Rally2 to Rally4, R-GT cars and National entries.
Fresh off the ferry we headed straight to the service park to have an ogle over the explicit content tucked away under awnings to protect them from the blazing sun.
The R-GT cars are something we don’t get in the UK which is a shame as who wouldn’t want to see Porsche GT3 cars airborne or taking deep cuts into ditches.
Thursday nights feature was qualifying to set the starting order for the rally, and shakedown where all the competitors had the opportunity to get a tease at the Belgian tarmac before crossing time control in anger.
Qualifying was a knockout, starting with the highest seeded 20 drivers for the first run, 10 for the second and five for the final run. Lefebvre took the fastest time in his Citreon C3 Rally2, 0.6 seconds ahead of M-Sport driver Adrien Fourmaux in second.
From the start, the stereotypical deep cuts of Ypres did not disappoint with all drivers getting all four wheels off the tarmac and in some cases getting kicked into the air as they rejoin the tarmac.
While UK rallying is becoming more popular and greater attended again, but it nowhere near prepared us for the number of spectators in Belgium, the stage was lined as far as you could see. The Shakedown stage featured a section running through a local village where there was full blown street parties, barbecues, and the beer was flowing non-stop.
Although the stage had an on paper end time, drivers kept lapping round from late afternoon, through sunset and into dusk. After a long and sunny day, we were left with a glorious golden hour glow bathing the Belgian countryside with the tranquilness broken by the noice of 9000rpm flat six’s, anti-lag and sump guards scraping the tarmac.
All the teams had to tread a fine line between seat time to set the car up and risking a long night repairing damage before the rally began the following morning. In the holding area there was a buzz with dampers and geometry being tweaked, and some of the Rally2 and Rally3 teams crowed round laptops trawling through telemetry from each run to see where more time could be gained.
As the last few cars were passing we were watching from the bar with a couple of Jupiler beers and the smell of bratwurst hot in out nostrils.
Shakedown certainly got our appetite suitably wetted ready for two full days of rallying, watch this space for more coverage from the Ardeca Ypres Rally 2023.
