Betti: Ypres Rally exit was unavoidable

Luca Betti has said his retirement from last week’s GEKO Ypres Rally was unavoidable after he damaged his Peugeot 207 Super 2000’s powersteering in an earlier incident on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge counter.

Betti, from Italy, was chasing a top 10 finish when he went off the road on Saturday’s fourth stage and got stuck in a ditch. He managed to continue after a delay only to stop for good on the very next run.

“We just put two wheels off the road and got stuck,” said Betti, who was co-driven by Maurizio Barone. “After losing a lot of time we got back on again but we noticed then that the powersteering was not working. I carried on, but on the next stage the lack of powersteering caused me to make a mistake, and this time it was irrecoverable, as we went off and couldn’t get back on again.”

He continued: “It’s a pity as this morning I felt I was on the pace, but then I had a small brake problem and a couple of other small problems that distracted me.”