The 2010 GEKO Ypres Rally was the 45th running of the

Ypres Rally The Belgium Ypres Westhoek Rally (BYWR) founded by Frans Thévelin in 1965 is one of the most famous rallies in the European Rally Championship, the Belgian Rally Championship, the British Rally Championship, and the Intercontinental Rally Challen ...

and the sixth round of the

2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge The 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge was the fifth season of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The season consisted of twelve rounds and started on 19 January with the Monte Carlo Rally. The season ended on November 6, at the Cyprus Rally ...

(IRC). The event was held between 24–26 June 2010 and was based in the town of

Ypres Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality c ...

, Belgium.

Introduction

The rally was held over two days with a total of covered in nineteen asphalt special stages. Friday had six stages with Saturday having a total of thirteen stages. In addition to IRC frontrunners

Juho Hänninen Juho Ville Matias Hänninen (born 25 July 1981) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) champion and 2011 Super 2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC) champion with co-driver Mikko Markkula driving a works ...

Jan Kopecký Jan Kopecký (born January 28, 1982) is a professional rally driver from Czech Republic who drives for Škoda Motorsport. He is the 2013 ERC champion, 2018 WRC-2 champion as well as a multiple champion of the Czech Rally Championship Career ...

and

Kris Meeke Kris Meeke (born 2 July 1979) is a Northern Irish professional rally driver, best known for competing in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). He was the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion. His co-driver is Seb Marshall, also B ...

, other entries in S2000 cars included

Freddy Loix Freddy Loix (born 10 November 1970) is a Belgian rally driver. Career Loix's career in motor sport began in karting at the age of 15. In 1990, he bought his first rally car, a Lancia Delta group N, though he soon progressed to a Mitsubishi Gal ...

(

Škoda Fabia S2000 The Škoda Fabia S2000 is a Super 2000 rally car built by Škoda Motorsport. It is based upon the Škoda Fabia road car. History It made its début at Rallye Monte Carlo 2009, with factory team Škoda Motorsport and drivers Jan Kopecký and ...

) and factory Proton pair,

Chris Atkinson Chris Atkinson (born 30 November 1979 in Bega, New South Wales, Australia) is a professional rally driver. In the World Rally Championship (WRC), Atkinson drove for the Subaru World Rally Team between 2004 and 2008. His best finish on an indi ...

and

Alister McRae Alister McRae (born 20 December 1970) is a British rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship. He is the son of the five-time British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae and the younger brother of the late 1995 World Rally Champion, ...

Results

The event was dominated by local driver Freddy Loix after two of the main title contenders crashed out of the rally; Juho Hänninen on stage four and Kris Meeke on stage eight. In addition to these retirements both Proton's failed to finish due to engine problems related to valve spring failures. The win was the fifth different winner of an IRC round this season, the fourth for Škoda and its first with the facelift Fabia. The Ypres Historic Rally normally runs at the same time as the main event. In 2010, the winner was Robert Droogmans, a Belgian racing driver competing with

Marc Duez Marc Duez (born 18 April 1957 in Verviers) is a race and rally driver from Belgium. He won the 24 Hours Nürburgring several times, and also the 24 Hours Spa. Duez also has competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (fren ...

Introduction

Results

Overall standings

Special stages

References