IRC Ypres preview : The competitors

Last season, Juho Hanninen, the dominant Intercontinental Rally Challenge leader, would have dreaded the prospect of competing on Tarmac, such was his lack of pace on sealed-surface events. However, the 28-year-old Finn has grown in stature on asphalt since then and was a genuine contender on the first pure asphalt rally of the season in Gran Canaria last month. A third win of the year in Ypres would put him equal first with Kris Meeke on the IRC’s all-time list of winners with five victories.

Hanninen lost out on first place on Rally Islas Canarias to factory Skoda Motorsport team-mate Jan Kopecky, currently 11 points adrift in the drivers’ classification. Kopecky showed well in Ypres last year and his co-driver, Petr Stary, believes the knowledge of the stages the pair gained in 2009 could enable them to run at the front this time around. Both Hanninen and Kopecky will use the Fabia S2000 Facelift, which features a wider track and some small suspension modifications.

With Guy Wilks pulling his entry after fracturing his first and second lumbar vertebrae when he crashed his Skoda UK Fabia at high speed on Rally d’Italia-Sardegna earlier this month, Bruno Magalhaes is well placed to close on third spot in the overall standings. The Peugeot Sport Portugal ace has scored on all five rounds this year but has never competed in Ypres before.

Kris Meeke can count on a more powerful engine and suspension upgrades when he bids to get the defence of his IRC title back on track in his Peugeot UK 207 S2000. The Northern Irishman claimed a sensational victory on his debut appearance in Ypres last season and would relish a repeat win as he tries to cut Hanninen’s margin at the top of the title standings.

Meeke’s Kronos Racing team-mate, Thierry Neuville, is Belgium’s big hope for the future and has the backing of the country’s Peugeot importer. He ran as high as fourth in Ypres last year only to crash out. But boosted by his first IRC points’ finish in Sardinia, the 21-year-old insists he is under no pressure in Ypres and has lowered his expectations to simply claiming a top 10 finish.

Two local legends will be in action in Ypres: Freddy Loix and Patrick Snijers. Loix is a five-time winner of the event and will have a factory Skoda Fabia S2000 at his disposal for his first IRC start of 2010. The 39-year-old, a winner of three IRC events in the past, still has the pace to run at the front of the field and his intimate knowledge of the stages could give him a vital edge.

Snijers, meanwhile, is now in the twilight of his career but the multiple Belgian champion and former European title-winner, 52, will be determined to put on a strong showing for his adoring fans in his privately-run Peugeot 207.

Ex-Grand Prix driver and current Le Mans racer Stephane Sarrazin will also have a 207 at his disposal, albeit prepared by the factory-assisted PH Sport squad. The rapid Frenchman finished fourth on Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo in January and will be an outside bet for honours.

Ypres marks the first appearance of the season for the factory Proton R3 Rally Team. The Malaysian manufacturer employs the British MEM squad to run its brace of Satria Neo S2000s for Australian Chris Atkinson and Scot Alister McRae, the younger brother of rally legend Colin, while Welsh youngster Tom Cave, 18, will drive a semi-works machine. Proton will use this weekend’s Rallye de la Haute Senne in Belgium to fine-tune the set-up of its cars for the asphalt stages.

As well as hosting round six of the IRC, Ypres is also the fourth round of the European Rally Championship. Some of the leading runners from the series, Luca Betti, Corrado Fontana and Michal Solowow, are in action and will be looking to make the most of runaway title leader Luca Rossetti’s absence as well as chasing IRC points. But although the Abarth Grande Punto pilot hasn’t entered the Tarmac event, Jan Kopecky is eligible for ERC points and will be the favourite to claim a maximum score in the FIA’s regional championship.

Another ERC registered driver is Katejan Kajetanowicz. The Pole is contesting selected IRC events in a Subaru Impreza. Three other drivers representing the Japanese marque in Belgium are the experienced Japanese Toshi Arai, young Scot Dave Weston Jr and local driver Vincent Verschueren, who won the recent 12 Hours of Wervik Rally, a non-championship practice event.

The Ralliart challenge is headed by Ypres regular, Dutchman Jasper van den Heuvel, who drives a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. Irish privateer Daniel Barry will use the older Evolution IX version for his third IRC start of 2010.

Like Poland’s Michal Solowow, Andreas Mikkelsen will also be at the wheel of an M-Sport Fiesta S2000. The Norwegian showed promise on his first of seven IRC starts in Sardinia as he recovered from his opening stage crash.

Burcu Cetinkaya also got her IRC campaign underway on the Mediterranean island in her Peugeot Sport Turkey 207 only for a mechanical fault to prevent her from going the distance. She is due to complete a test in Belgium on Monday when she tries out her Yokohama tyres on asphalt for the first time.

Brazilian IRC regular Daniel Oliveira is back in action for Stohl Racing after missing Rally d’Italia-Sardegna but there will be no start for fellow Peugeot 207 driver Franz Wittmann after the Austrian wrecked his Interwetten Racing machine when he crashed last time out.

A host of competitors from the Clio R3 European Trophy will bolster the IRC 2WD Cup entry. They include Monte Carlo winner, the experienced Belgian Kris Princen, promising Corsican driver Pierre Campana and talented Dutchman Kevin Abbring. They are eligible for drivers’ points on the three combined IRC 2WD Cup and Clio events but Renault is not able to score makes’ points.

Up against the Clio runners will be series regulars Kasper Koitla (Honda Civic), Harry Hunt (Ford Fiesta) and Colin R Smith (Civic). With five different winners in the division so far this season, the outcome of the title is still all to play for.