F1: WRC: - Realview

5 MINUTES
5 MINUTES WITH
FREDDY LOIX
The 41 year-old Belgian rally star went to the Ypres Rally looking for one more victory on top of his seven previous
wins on this event. At rally’s end he spoke to MARTIN HOLMES
The former WRC team driver for
Opel, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and
Peugeot this year ended up in second
place in Ypres, after suffering a lot of
pre-event troubles with a privately-run
Peugeot 207 S2000.
His almost historic six year-old car,
originally built as a pre-production
test car in 2006, had suffered an
engine failure in pre-event testing. This
caused delay so that the pre-event
engine and suspension set-up work
was never completed, and meant
he was still using the pre-event
shakedown test to finish off preparing
the car. Freddy was also competing
with a different co-driver (Lara
Vanneste) on this event this time, yet
he still finished within a minute of
the winner Juho Hanninen in a works
team Skoda, a car which was faster
on the long fast stretches on the rally.
This year Freddy is competing in the
French rally championship, a series
which he is enjoying immensely, as
each event is held in a completely
differently part of the country, with
quite a different character. But coming
back each year to Ypres is an essential
part of his life of the sport. The event
runs in the same area each year and
is believed to be the single biggest
sporting event in Belgium.
GPWEEK: What is so special about
the Ypres rally
FREDDY LOIX: Because it is very
quick and to make good times you
have to cut a lot of corners. You have
to know exactly how and where to cut
the corners so as avoid places where
you might get a puncture and so
lose all the time you have otherwise
gained. The surfaces are slippery
though not anywhere near like they
were 10-15 years ago.
Compared with other special
asphalt events like Sanremo or
Corsica, it is a lot more slippery.
There is a trick that helps the corner
cutting. You must not start recce too
early in the morning. You want to let
the early drivers check out the corner
cutting so when you come along a
little bit later on, you can see exactly
where they have been cutting.
You mustn’t be scared during
the recce to drive on the grass. You
must test the cuts to see for yourself
what it is like. And of course at Ypres,
you always need at least two spare
wheels in your recce car if you want
to avoid any interruptions during the
day because of inevitable punctures
when you are checking how to cut
the corners. You will always have
punctures during the rally if you do not
know exactly where it is safe to cut.
It sounds like the challenge of Ypres
is not unlike the challenge of the
old WRC 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland.
Drivers used to say they spent
more time off the road than on the
road in recce …
Yes, that is also a little bit like here.
When you can see it will be safe to
cut a corner, you have to do it because
that will make the difference whether
you go flat or you have to lift off a bit.
There must be more to Ypres
than just the technique of cutting
corners. You've rallied all round
the world but have you ever met
a rally in another country with the
atmosphere like here
To be honest, no. Earlier in my
career I was always very impressed by
Australia (Perth), because it was a very
nice area where we did the rally, but
really the fun was more outside the
rally, doing things for the spectators
in the city and in the service area and
so on.
No, Ypres has one of the best rally
atmospheres in the world. There is a
lot of pressure on the organisation on
account of the spectators, because
each year they have more than
100,000 of them. The organisers have
to be very careful where spectators
can stand, make sure they are in a
safe place. It is clear what he have to
do and they handle it all well.
And there is a lot of commercial
support, and a lot of this comes not
only from the motor industry but
from outside.
Definitely. As you can see, my own
sponsor (BFO) is someone completely
outside of the motor business – it is a
business consultancy company. The
event sponsor Geko makes furniture,
and is a big company in Ypres.
The nice thing about companies in
Belgium is that they understand there
is a lot of positive publicity coming
from motor sport, not just from other
popular sports here like cycling and
football”.
Is this event a sinecure for Belgian
drivers Do foreigners really have a
chance of success here
In fact, yes. The Italian Luca
Rossetti and the Ulster driver Kris
Meeke both won Ypres the first times
they came here. Then of course in
earlier times many famous foreign
drivers like Jimmy McRae, Jean
Ragnotti, the late Henri Toivonen
and Walter Rohrl have won so it is
possible.
Do you believe the event could
progress from the ERC and IRC into
the world championship itself
No, not in the same style of event,
because first of all Belgium is a small
country. If the Ypres Rally were ever
to be in the WRC you will have to go
round other areas in Belgium, finding
new stages.
One year they did it. We went to
new areas elsewhere in Belgium on
the Ypres Rally, but the event did not
have the same feeling. Ypres Rally is
an event which runs close to Ypres
itself, and concentrates on doing
things 100% perfectly. That is the way
they do things.
If they tried to expand, it would lose
its character! Definitely, the event
must stay in this area like it is.
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