![]() ![]() However, the Puma Rally1 driver crashed out in the penultimate stage, ending any chance of grabbing what would have been his career-best WRC finish, too.įourmaux’s exit promoted Toyota development driver Takamoto Katsuta to fifth overall, a distant 2m37.6s behind Solberg. Solberg had started Sunday locked into a tight scrap with M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux. Lappi trailed Evans home by 1m36.6s, but held a massive 1m46.9s advantage over fourth-placed Hyundai youngster Oliver Solberg, who earned a career-best result to banish all memories of his early crash and retirement in Finland last time out. Without that, the outcome could have been different…Įsapekka Lappi made it two GR Yaris machines on the podium, the Finn securing a lonely third at the end of a trouble-free weekend where a poor tire choice on Friday was the only real bump in the road. He also landed a 10s time penalty for arriving late to Friday’s final stage. He gave away valuable seconds on Friday when a slow puncture forced him to run a spare wet-weather tire in dry conditions. “It’s great to see that some results are coming for us now, but there is so much we can improve and we could still be a lot stronger, so there is still some work to do.”įor Evans, it was a case of what could have been. “We didn’t expect it from anywhere basically, but somehow we were able to pull it together during the rally. “To win here is a big surprise for us - more or less the same as it was in Finland,” said Tanak. ![]() The WRC manufacturers’ championship situation remains unchanged, with Tanak’s Hyundai Motorsport squad still 88 points adrift of leaders Toyota Gazoo Racing. He did salvage five bonus points by winning the rally-closing Wolf Power Stage, and with only four rallies and a maximum of 120 points up for grabs, he remains on track to become the youngest WRC champion in history. Rovanpera’s Toyota Gazoo Racing mechanics rebuilt the car overnight and the 21-year-old Finn was able to rejoin the event for the final two legs, albeit out of contention for an overall result. ![]() Tanak’s success means he now trails championship leader Kalle Rovanpera - who rolled his Yaris out of contention on Friday morning - by 72 points in the WRC drivers’ championship. Despite outpacing his rival by 2.2s in the finale, Welshman Evans was unable to overhaul Tanak, who took the win by 5.0s. When the morning’s two tests were repeated in the afternoon, completing the three-day rally’s 20 special stages and 174.97 competitive miles over tricky, narrow and dusty asphalt roads, it was a similar story. Tanak, who won on the super-fast gravel of Rally Finland earlier this month, carried an 8.2s buffer over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans into Sunday’s final leg, which comprised four short, sharp stages in the Flanders region.Įvans, not one to give up without a fight, flew to fastest times on the two opening stages in his GR Yaris Rally1, but was still unable to make any major gains on his rival. The Estonian driver inherited the top spot late on Saturday afternoon when Hyundai i20 N Rally1 teammate and long-time leader Thierry Neuville understeered off the road and into a ditch, shattering the Belgium’s hopes of a repeat home win. Ott Tanak stormed to Ypres Rally Belgium victory on Sunday afternoon to seal back-to-back FIA World Rally Championship wins. ![]()
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