Surprising outcome in the final of the Ypres Historic Regularity 28.11.2022: YPRES HISTORIC REGULARITY 25-27 November 2022 Yves Deflandre and Yves Noelanders take their second victory. The 4th edition of the Ypres Rally Regularity proved to be a very exciting weekend. After a first day of racing dominated by Yves D

YPRES HISTORIC REGULARITY
25-27 November 2022



Yves Deflandre and Yves Noelanders take their second victory.
 


The 4th edition of the Ypres Rally Regularity proved to be a very exciting weekend. After a first day of racing dominated by Yves Deflandre, Guino Kenis took advantage of a small mistake by the Porsche driver on Saturday to take the lead of the rally. However, last year's winner could not keep his lead.



After a crash of Kenis on Sunday morning, Christophe Baillet took the lead of the rally, but a final sprint of Yves Deflandre and Yves Noelanders allowed them to take the victory.



For Yves Deflandre it was a second victory in Ypres, after the one he won in the very first edition. "After a perfect Friday evening, we didn't ride well on Saturday morning. We missed a small side road after being distracted by a pedestrian. A small loss of concentration, which made us miss this road.


But I said straight away that it's only at the end of the dance that you pay the band. Anyone can make a mistake in this discipline. And this morning it was Guino Kenis who made the mistake", explained Yves Deflandre, very enthusiastic about the Closed Road Stages.




"On Saturday we drove the Zonnebeke stage twice and the Heuvelland stage once. Today we had the special stage in Ploegsteert. These special stages are run on closed roads and offer more variety in terms of the average speed imposed. This makes the event more sporting.



On Sunday morning Guino Kenis and Anton Dupan looked set for a second consecutive victory after a perfect day on Saturday. But in Zillebeke the BMW distributor from Turnhout was caught out by slippery braking due to the leaves.


The BMW 325i ended up in the ditch. Guino Kenis finally had to settle for 12th place at 6'43", two places behind his daughter Julie, who crowned her debut in regularity with a 10th place at 3'33": "I almost got caught out at the same place. But fortunately, I managed to keep my BMW on the road.



Until the 28th of the 30 RT, Christophe Baillet was leading the debates, but the Frenchman, seconded by Pierre Colliard, finally finished second at 9"1. The winners of the classification reserved for foreign crews were fully satisfied with their second podium in a row.



Third place went to the local duo Kurt Deklerck and Aswin Pyck, who drove a faultless race in their Porsche 914/6. "We are happy that we were able to reach the Grand Place, because the gearbox was showing signs of weakness at the end of the rally. Yesterday, when Deflandre took the lead, the podium seemed a bit out of reach. But today we were able to take advantage of the exit of Guino Kenis. We also enjoyed these beautiful Closed Road Stages. It gives the race a lot of rhythm and it's really fun!
 


Geert and Cédric De Jaeger (Porsche 911) were also satisfied with their 4th place finish, despite a few mistakes, on Friday and Saturday: "Today it went very well for us and we even managed to be the best twice on an RT."
 


Daniel Reuter and Robert Vandevorst were not so lucky this weekend and completed the Top 5 with their Porsche 914/6. Johnny Delhez and Eddy Gully (Ford Escort MKI) took 6th place. But Johnny won't have much time to rest as he will be at the start of the Spa Rally next weekend.
 


Vincent Vandeputte (Lancia Fulvia) finished in seventh place: "On Friday we made a stupid mistake. And today I drove a RT with a flat tyre. But for the rest, we gave it our all and this Top 10 is a very good result.
 

Vincent and Benoit Legenne finished 8th in their Opel Commodore GS, while Dirk Van Rompuy and Eddy Smeets finished 9th in their Porsche 914/6: "We had a good battle with Julie Kenis all weekend and we are happy with 9th place.

 



 VZW SUPERSTAGE transl. Deepl - also photos