The second leg of the 2011 Geko Ypres Rally produced a similar scenario to the first day, with a raft of incidents affecting many of the front-runners. Bryan Bouffier steered clear of the many pitfalls to take the silver medal in Belgium and ease into second place in the provisional Drivers’ standings.
After experiencing something of a barren spell in the Canary Islands and in Corsica, the winner of January’s Rallye Monte-Carlo Bryan Bouffier and his co-driver Xavier Panseri have moved further up the IRC Drivers’ points table.
A second straight second place for the Frenchman after his similar finish three weeks ago in Ukraine has promoted him to second in the provisional championship standings, just three points short of the new leader Freddy Loix.
“Today’s result is honestly the best I could have wished for and perhaps even better than I had been hoping for. Freddy was unbeatable on his home event, so to finish just behind him is almost like a victory!”
“The country lanes in this part of Belgium are very difficult, especially when it rains,” added the Peugeot France driver. “The little grip there was kept changing all the time and it would have been very easy to be caught by surprise. There is always an element of luck here, so I just drive as fast as I could without taking any undue risks.”
Bryan Bouffier/Xavier Panseri posted two fastest stage times, on SS11 and SS13, the second of which saw Peugeot claim first and second places thanks to Guy Wilks.
Up until the event’s halfway point, it seemed that Guy Wilks and Phil Pugh had a firm grasp on second place.
“At the start of SS10, I felt an impact on the inside of a left-hand corner. It was a puncture and I stopped to change the front-left wheel,” reported the Peugeot UK driver who posted three fastest stage times over the two days. “About 10km further on, my front-right tyre lost air, although I don’t know why. I must have hit something without noticing. So I had to stop to change the wheel again.”
That dropped Guy to 10th place, but he refused to throw in the towel and he ultimately succeeded in fighting his way back up to fifth position, despite a third puncture shortly before the end.
“It’s not the sort of result I was hoping for,” he admitted. “To stay in the hunt for the title I absolutely need to have a trouble-free run on the next events.”
Pieter Tsjoen and Lara Vanneste completed Day 1 in third place. As expected, however, they were passed by Bryan Bouffier today, but they held on valiantly to fourth spot before retiring.
“I stopped between two stages to check my tyre pressures,” explained the multiple Belgian champion. “When it was time to fire up the engine again to check in at the next control, I forgot that I had parked my 207 just behind a short post. I couldn’t see it and, when I pulled away, I ran into it. Not very hard, but sufficiently to pierce a water hose. And that was that! I didn’t have sufficient knowledge of the car to make the necessary repairs, although it would have been a relatively straightforward job…”
Four of the eight 207 Super 2000s which started the 2011 Ypres rally reached the finish, including one driven by an all-lady crew: Mélissa Debackere and Cindy Cokelaere.
“It has to be said that we didn’t achieve our objective in the Manufacturers’ Challenge because we are now 24 points behind our rivals,” declared Peugeot Sport’s customer competition manager Frédéric Bertrand. “It was a gruelling event which brought us a splendid second place thanks to Bryan and Xavier. The runs of the other Peugeot representatives were affected by a high number of incidents which weighed heavily in the balance at the end of the day. A loose engine plug for Bruno Magalhaès, a broken rim for Thierry Neuville, several punctures for Guy Wilks and Pieter Tsjoen’s unfortunate retirement all prevented from the Peugeot 207 S2000s from showcasing the sort of potential of which they are clearly capable.”