It took some time to close the deal but finally it succeeded. Freddy Loix ,7- times record winner of the Geko Ypres rally, will start with a works Skoda Fabia S2000 in order to chase his eight victory

Nauwelijks drie weken voor de start van de 49ste editie van Geko Ypres Rally zorgt het Cuckoomobile Team, van de Ieperse zakenman Stephen Vankemmel, voor een verrassing van formaat. Cuckoomobile loodst de Franse toppiloot Bryan Bouffier opnieuw naar het Ieperse startpodium om samen met Lara Vanneste een gooi te doen naar de eindzege in deze 6de manche van het Europees Rally Kampioenschap.

Stephen Vankemmel is geen onbekende voor rallyminnend Vlaanderen. Maar liefst 11 jaar lang was hij veiligheidsverantwoordelijke van de toenmalige Ypres Westhoek Rally. Nadien stapte hij zelf regelmatig in de rallywagen, maar sinds enkele jaren ondersteunt hij met zijn informaticabedrijf GSI beloftevol rallytalent.

“De 23-jarige Lara Vanneste uit Roeselare is het gezicht van Cuckoomobile, mijn webwinkel voor mobiele telefonie en Tablet PC’s. Ze is een rastalent en maakte op korte tijd enorme indruk als co-pilote in de rallywereld. We zijn dan ook supertrots, dat we haar aan de start van de Geko Ypres Rally kunnen brengen aan de zijde van een internationale toppiloot,” aldus Stephen Vankemmel.

Lara Vanneste mag straks plaatsnemen in de Peugeot 207 Super 2000 van de Franse toprijder Bryan Bouffier die momenteel derde staat in het vernieuwde Europese Rally Kampioenschap. In mei won hij de Tour de Corse en hij wil in Ieper, aan de zijde van Lara Vanneste, zijn reputatie alle eer aan doen.

Breaking news from Geko Ypres Rally organizers today when they announced qualifying for the all-asphalt rally. In line with the decision taken at the FIA Rally Commission on 24 May, the free practice will from now on be used as the qualification stage and will determine the starting order of the rally. The Geko Ypres Rally will be worldwide the first ever asphalt event to have qualification, making this one of several world premieres organizers have in store for spectators.

Under the existing rules of the FIA rally championships, the free practice is used a qualifier for snow and gravel events. After a short recce, drivers tackle the free practice in a timed run in championship order. Afterwards drivers can choose their starting order for the first day of the rally, the quickest being the first to choose and so on. But now the FIA Rally Commission has decided that the free practice will also be used as the qualifier on tarmac events, offering spectators a true battle during free practice.

Organizing a rally for the European Rally Championship is often a race agains the clock. To better support its team of volunteers, organizers of the Geko Ypres Rally, have signed a partnership with sheltered workshop Aarova. Their workers, people with a physical or social handicap on the labor market, will help setting up and tearing down the stages of the rally.

Every year more than 1200 volunteers help build the rally center on the Ypres market square, set up all signs and public zones on the special stages, and ensure the rally can be run in the safest possbile way. To better support its team of volunteers, and in line with its social engagement, Geko Ypres Rally organizers took the decision to partner with sheltered workshop Aarova.

After each rally, the BFO Award crowns a young pilot from the Junior Championship for an exceptional or remarkable achievement. The BFO Award is accompanied by a free registration for the next rally of the BFO BRC and a free participation in the BFO Academy, a training day for pilots and co-pilots.

Two pilots who won the BFO Award earlier this season, started particularly furious. Polle Geusens started fastest, but after a small mistake of the pilot from Lommel, Timo van der Marel took the rally in hands. The Dutchman seemed to have victory in hand, until Matthias Boon launched the attack with his Skoda Fabia R2. With a super time on the very last stage in Gerdingen, Matthias Boon won the fourth round of the Belgian Junior Rally Championship. After previous bad luck in Haspengouw (engine), Tielt (throttle) and the Rally of Wallonia (flat tire), Boon was finally rewarded for his persistence and attack lust.

Just like previous years, the Geko Ypres Rally can offer a number of free stays with local people in the Ypres region, the perfect opportunity for local residents and foreign teams to get closer to one another. This free lodging for amateurs is made possible thanks to the Rally Invitation Club.

Established in 1993, the Rally Invitation Club coordinates between drivers and residents and in this way greatly contributes to the magic of the rally. Within the organising committee, there is a group who deals with the enthusiastic local population who offer free lodging to the privateer rally drivers.

20 years after the initial start, the RIC is alive and kicking and what's even more: it's actually still growing. Today, more and more families step forward and offer to open their houses for the teams and drivers. This unique concept is based on the strong bonds between the Ypres population and the Ypres rally. Through the years, many long friendships came out from this initiative and that is what makes the Geko Ypres rally so popular !

During the annual Rally Safety seminar which was held on 22 – 23 February 2013 in Zagreb, the Geko Ypres Rally was awarded an award as the best organisation of the 2012 European Rally Championship. This prestigious award is handed to the rally that scores best on a number of fields like Safety, General Organisation, Itinerary – Infrastructure, Documents – Printed Matter, Media etc... The evaluation is made by the FIA observer, present at the event. The Geko Ypres rally scored particularly well in the field of safety and general organisation. Also the promotion and the popularity of the event were well awarded. No need to say that winning this much desired award is not only an honour for the organisation but also a motivation to continue organising the Geko Ypres Rally on a very high level.

Geko Ypres Rally and Eurosport Events, the new ERC promoter, are pleased to announce that they have entered into a new agreement to ensure that the Geko Ypres Rally will be part of the 2013 FIA European Rally Championship. The rally keeps its traditional spot on the calendar and will take place the last weekend of June. The Eurosport Group, which promotes the ERC through Eurosport Events, will once again be a privileged partner of the Geko Ypres Rally, and provide large-scale TV-coverage of the event taking place 27-29 June 2013.

The Geko Ypres rally 2013 will traditionally be organized during the last weekend of June, more specifically on 27-29th of June 2013.