Praise for Hanninen from Ypres runner-up Loix

Freddy Loix says Juho Hänninen was the worthy winner of the Geko Ypres Rally, which finished in the historic Belgian town on Saturday night.

Local hero Loix had been chasing an eighth victory on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier but had to give best to the 2010 IRC champion, who swept to victory by almost 50 seconds after going fastest on 12 of the 18 special stages for his first Ypres win.

Afterwards Loix, who drove a 2C Competition Peugeot 207 Super 2000, praised his ŠKODA Motorsport rival: “This weekend Juho was the quickest one. Okay I know the ŠKODA is going well over here and the combination of Juho and the ŠKODA was just a little too quick for me. I have been trying very hard, I was on the limit but still Juho was taking three or four seconds out of me because the top speed of the Peugeot is a little bit lower than the ŠKODA. I still was trying but it wasn’t enough.”

Hänninen said: “Honestly it’s one of the greatest victories of my career. When I came over here as I said before the rally it hasn’t been so good for me in the past and winning against Freddy over here, honestly I was not optimistic before the rally but somehow I was able to do it and that’s why it feels very good now.”