WHY THE WRC BATTLERS WILL HAVE THEIR EYES OPENED THIS WEEKEND
News that Ypres would join the World Rally Championship trail in last year’s Covidrevised calendar was one of the high points of that wretched period, offering the biggest possible platform to one of Europe’s great closed-road rallies.
The 2020 fixture fell casualty to Europe’s post-summer explosion in coronavirus cases, but it has retained a slot on the calendar for 2021 and it should be a cause for jubilation like no other in the recent history of the WRC because this is going to be an experience to savour.
The event was founded in 1965, when Jean-Pierre Vandermeersch took victory in a Mini Cooper, the first of 11 successive home wins before Walter Rohrl beat the locals at the wheel of an Opel Kadett in 1976. It is a hugely popular event for British rally crews and fans alike but only three Brits have ever won outright: Tony Pond (twice),
