As the Saturday action got underway at the Ardeca Ypres Rally, Hayden Paddon was holding his ground well in his Hyundai i20 N Rally2.
He was holding off Freddy Loix, his nearest challenger in Dikkebus, but on the Kemmelberg, the rally took a turn. With a lightning-fast time, Stéphane Lefebvre took command of the rally with his Toyota Yaris. The Frenchman set three fastest times in the morning loop. With three stage wins from four stages, he has taken the lead with a 4.2 second advantage over Paddon and 20.7 seconds from Loix.
“The Kemmelberg stage is the only stage where our lack of top speed is not a major handicap. We did not specifically attack harder on that stage,” Lefebvre said as the new leader.
Paddon, second, remains calm. “I didn’t look at the times this round. The stages were new to us, so we drove at our rhythm. I’m sure I’ll be faster in the second round, so I’m not giving up yet,” Paddon said.
Loix was too cautious on the opening stage in Dikkebus and then made a mistake in Kemmel, which put him 20.7 seconds behind. “I’m still very happy with the speed we have, but for those two big guns it just wasn’t good enough,” Freddy laughed. He is now in a battle with Jos Verstappen and holds a 1.3 second gap over the Dutchman. Verstappen was setting top times after improving the setup and feeling with the brakes overnight.
Dani Sordo took another stage win in the morning in his Porsche 992 Rally GT. The Spaniard lies in fifth at 31.9 seconds ahead of Davy Vanneste, who made a mistake in Dikkebus, costing him 17 seconds.
“I was really angry with myself, because it happened in a very slow corner,” Vanneste said. The Citroën driver from Wervik sits ahead of Bernd Casier who remains 7th, ahead of Cédric Cherain, Vincent Verschueren and the young Romet Jürgenson. Jürgenson is listening to English notes from Diederik Pattyn for the first is doubling his challenge on his first Ypres outing.
Unfortunately, the race is over for Niels Reynvoet. The Citroën pilot went off the road on the Kemmelberg test, just like Lander Depotter, the leader in the Stellantis Cup.
It goes without saying that the 992s were going to be outstanding in the RGT class. Dani Sordo leads the field, 56 seconds ahead of Cédric Cherain. Patrick Snijersis sitting in 3rd place, albeit over two minutes behind Sordo. Pieter Jan Michiel Cracco settles for 4th place, and is quite happy with his performance.
Things aren’t going well for Tim Van Parijs, but according to the East Fleming it’s not the car, but the pilot himself. “I’m just having a bad weekend, it can happen to anyone”.
Glenn Janssens was also not satisfied. “Yesterday was not going well, and the adjustments they made last night are even worse.”
Christophe Merlevede continues to rule in RC3. The Poperinge driver in the Renault Clio felt good from the start on Saturday morning and beat Benoit Verlinde (Renault Clio) by ten seconds. Verlinde started a bit too cautiously but felt more at ease towards the end of the first loop. Dominique Bruyneel (Ford Fiesta) is comfortably 3rd, while there is a battle going on for 4th place between Olivier Decoene, Jochen Claerhout and Xavier Dekeyser.
A tough retirement for Lander Depotter on Kemmel caused a turnaround in the RC4 rankings. Lander Dhaene now takes the lead in his home rally, but Maxim Decock is hot on his heels. This is despite some braking problems at SS Zillebeke. The difference between the two Corsa drivers lies at just 12 seconds. Manuel Merlevede is third, at 2 minutes 25 seconds behind. With 3 minutes lost due to a flat tyre on Friday, it gives the man from Woesten a bitter feeling.
Lény Cols seemed to be driving towards an unthreatened victory in RC5, but that was without counting on a deep ditch on Zillebeke. Popering’s Joachim Dequeker (Renault Clio RS Line) now unexpectedly takes over in first place.
