The classic Early Bird stage could have tripped up any competitor but Yves Deflandre did not put a foot wrong. The last day of the 7th Ypres Historic Regularity went the way of Deflandre and Yves Noelanders who conquered the Early Bird stage and the following stage through northern France.
For the two Yves, it was their fourth win in seven editions.
“It was very difficult on Saturday to make up for our deficit to Ruben Maes. I think we have never had to drive as precisely as we did this time. The level was very high, and the difference came down to small details. A passerby on an RT at the wrong moment could have cost the victory. Even on the last RT, we had a bit of luck when an oncoming car had to turn into the same street. This remains one of the hardest and highest-level regularity rallies of the season,” said Deflandre.
Ruben Maes started first this morning, after losing the lead to Deflandre on Saturday afternoon. When choosing the start position, he deliberately chose the front spot, but the Porsche 914 driver could not overhaul Deflandre, and finished second.
“Unfortunately, something went wrong with the measuring instruments yesterday, and things just didn’t go our way this weekend. In this sport, you need some luck with other road users on an RT. Unfortunately, today we were again held up by a runner who passed at exactly the wrong moment when we had to turn into a small street. That’s part of it, of course. We’ll come back next year to win,” laughed Maes, navigated by Anton Dupan.
Porsche took four places in the top five, with Michel Decremer’s Opel Ascona breaking the perfect result with third in his Opel Ascona.
“As we have the engine in the front, we have less traction than a Porsche, which has the weight in the back. That works against us when accelerating again after intersections. Furthermore, we lost some time because of a tractor on a stage, after which we fought hard to take back third place,” said Decremer, who teamed up with Jennifer Hugo.
Lieven Lannoye started second this morning but eventually ended just off the podium in fourth. A small disappointment, although he can be proud of a surprising fourth place, ahead of Mirko Savic, who steered his Porsche 911 to fifth, 10.5 seconds behind Lannoye.
Michael Demortier launched his chase this morning for sixth place, which he narrowly took by 5.7 seconds from Vincent Vandeputte.
“The loop in northern France suited us well,” laughed co-driver Valentin Charlet, Demortier’s navigator. “We drove near my home area, where I know the small roads well, so I could give Michael some extra hints.”
Vincent Vandeputte and his daughter Amy finished seventh, with just one-tenth of a second ahead of Johnny Delhez in his Ford Escort.
“What a race! After three intense days of competition, the difference between us is barely 0.1 seconds. That’s incredible! We had to stay very focused up to the final metres. Next year we’ll come back aiming for a Top 3 or podium,” laughed Vincent.
Johnny Delhez finds the driving a little more enjoyable than the precision regularity work, but nevertheless took eighth place, ahead of Dirk Van Rompuy, who perfectly fulfilled his goal of finishing in the Top 10.
Local driver Patrick Van Remoortel managed to slip into the Top 10 on the final day with his Apal Coupé. A fine performance for the Apal driver, who lost valuable time on Friday evening in the Closed Road Stage in Boezinge, which turned out to be too fast for his 1951 gem.
