SS8: Loix fastest as Hanninen makes rare error

Juho Hänninen continues to lead the Geko Ypres Rally despite being beaten through Saturday’s second stage by local hero Freddy Loix, a seven-time winner of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge event.

Finn Hänninen lost precious time when he made a small mistake at a junction. However, his advantage out front stands at a relatively comfortable 33.4s. “There are 75 million junctions on this stage and I turned in too early for one of the them,” said the factory ŠKODA Motorsport pilot.

Loix said: “I’m pushing, what can I say. I can’t go quicker. I know the way how ŠKODA is working and how Juho is driving. I knew it would be a tough rally.”

Pieter Tsjoen was second fastest through the stage, 3.4s down on Loix. He holds third in the overall classification.

Swede Patrik Flodin is nursing a broken left-rear driveshaft in his Petter Solberg Engineering M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000. As a result he has slipped behind Poland’s Michal Sołowow and Ukrainian Oleksandr Saliuk into sixth overall.

Mathias Viaene lost almost three minutes with a front-right puncture, which delayed the chasing Robert Barrable, who reported struggling to overtake the stricken Peugeot due to the narrow nature of the Belgian roads.