Thierry Neuville, king on his lands in Ypres

It's a victory he wanted more than any other this season. Thierry Neuville will have fulfilled the contract perfectly to secure their first victory of the season. The Belgian was able to take advantage of Ott Tanäk's setbacks during the day on Friday to take the lead of the event. If for a time there was an internal battle between Neuville and Breen, the Belgian quickly increased his advantage to secure a prestigious victory at home in Ypres. 
Behind, the pilots Toyota se sont joués la dernière place sur le podium. À ce petit jeu, c’est Kalle Rovanperä qui a pris le meilleur sur Elfyn Evans dans les dernières spéciales du dimanche. Le Finlandais signe un nouveau podium, son premier sur asphalte, et enchaine quelques semaines après sa première victoire en Estonie. Toujours un peu en retrait ce week-end, Sebastien Ogier must settle for fifth place. However, the championship leader managed to take the 4 points from the Power Stage, which gives some color to a fairly dull weekend.
Le Rally of Ypres will have been marked by the two big off-track excursions of Adrien fourmaux (Ford) and Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota). The crews escaped unscathed despite the violence of the two impacts. 

BREAKING: @thierryneuville and @MWydaeghe have done it ?? in front of their home fans, winning the inaugural #WRC @ypresrally ?? ace @HMSGOfficial claim a 1-2 finish#HMSGOfficial | #YpresRally

— WRC – FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) August 15

In the WRC2 category, it was a massacre. At the finish of the rally, there was only one driver left who had not retired due to a technical problem. In the end, it was Huttunen who won the WRC2 category. 

The worries of one person make the happiness of others. The WRC3 drivers put on a show in Belgium. It was Frenchman Yohan Rossel who won the WRC3 category ahead of Cracco and Verschueren. The real performance lies in the general classification in all categories combined. We thus find Rossel in 7th position, just behind Ott Tanäk (WRC). Cracco finished 8th overall and Verschueren 10th.

Au championnat, Sebastien Ogier (Toyota) est toujours confortablement installé en tête du classement des pilotes avec 162 points. Il a maintenant une avance de 38 points sur Elfyn Evans (Toyota) et Thierry Neuville (Hyundai). Les deux pilotes sont à égalité avec 124 points. Au classement par équipes, Toyota est en tête avec 348 points devant Hyundai (307 pts).

In the WR3 category, Yohan Rossel consolidates his leadership since he now has 124 points at the end of the Ypres Rally compared to 82 for his runner-up Kajetanowicz. 

Status quo in the WRC2 category since the first in the standings did not participate in the Ypres Rally.

The next round of the WRC championship will take place from September 09 to 12 in Greece for the Acropolis Rally.

Find the analysis of the Ypres Rally by our expert in AUTOhebdo No. 2325 available this Monday in digital version and Wednesday on newsstands.