Latest news 2009

Fontana just reached the finish going considerably faster than during the first pass. He did reach the finish with his brakes smoking heavily though...

Betti's brakes were on fire as he arrives.

Van den Heuvel is slightly disappointed as his times are not good whereas he does not understand where he is losing time.

Juho Hänninen: "It's going really fast here and I now focus on gaining experience."

Michal Solowow: "We got a puncture again. We're really not lucky this year."

Jasper Van den Heuvel: "I am really happy. We're only losing half a second per kilometer on Loix, compared to one second last year."

Loix is again faster, but a small 0"2 ahead of Meeke. Kopecky looses 4"0.

Wittmann punctured and was forced to retire with transmission problems.

Lhonnay punctured front right and lost 1'.

Kopecky sets the fastest time, 4 tenths of a second faster than Loix and 1"5 faster than Meeke.

Vouilloz is forced to retire on stage 8 as he disappeared into a ditch for the second time during this race.

Van den Heuvel pulled straight briefly on the first stage of the day.

Tsjoen seemed to be hesitant as he reached the finish. He struggled to find grip and was checking his tyres.

Meeke sets the fastest time, 2 seconds ahead of Kopecky and 3 ahead of Loix.

Day one of the Belgium Ypres Rally and the spectators came down in large numbers to the Ypres region and to Lille-Metropole to savour the show put up by the gladiators of the 21^st century. The great weather was perfect and allowed the drivers to get the best out of their machines.

Solowow: The problems of the earlier stages are solved. He thinks all will go well from now on.

Meeke and Van den Heuvel say the stage is way less slippery than during the first leg.

Loix goes 2"6 faster than Meeke. He seems happy with his stage.

Neuville spins on the stage and loses about 10".

The first stage unfortunately already claimed a few victims amongst the top runners. Francois Duval crashed out in one of the first corners and is forced to retire. Michal Solowow suffered a puncture after paying a visit to one of Flandres' many ditches. He loses 2'51". Patrick Snijers complained about the handling of his Volkswagen Polo and loses nearly one minute on the stage. Nicolas Vouilloz also hit something and lost 2'53" while reaching the finish without front bumper. The engine of Bengué's Corsa gave up on the stage while Melissa Debackere also had an 'off' and had to stop her car a bit further down the stage reportedly with engine problems.