REPORT / YPRES HISTORIC RALLY 2026

WORDS BY & PHOTOGRAPY DAN MORRIS

In true British fashion, the conversation going into the European Historic Rally Championship in Ypres was the weather. Heatwaves throughout the region had meant the weather spiked at nearly 40 degrees, and it was no doubt much higher in the cars for the drivers and co-drivers taking part in the event.

Two famous contemporary names would finally meet in Belgium, after managing to stay clear of each other thus far, with Jarri-Matti Latvala’s Celica ST185, and Francois Delecour’s IKE Motorsport’s prepared 306 Maxi seeded first and third respectively. Wedged right between them was the man with the ultimate target on his back – local driver and defending winner Jan-Paul Maeyaert in his MATs ran BMW E30 M3. Britain was well represented, with Seb Perez & Dale Bowen becoming very well acquainted in the tight confines of Perez’s screaming dino engined Stratos, and double British Rally champion Osian Pryce partnered by British championship rival Meirion Evans’ regular co-driver Dale Furness as they continue their full season assault in the Wales Motorsport MK2 Escort.

PRE-EVENT

With a shakedown on the Wednesday and Thursday, crews got a fair bit of stage mileage in before the event actually began. Boezinge and Nieuwkerke offered a short, sharp introduction to typical Ypres asphalt; blind, cut-heavy blasts flanked by endless crop fields that served as the perfect starter for what lay ahead. Although ideal roads for testing, the heat was already causing crews issues, and the first of many retirements would be Osian Pryce, whose Escort unfortunately didn’t even make the ceremonial start ramp. Despite the efforts of the Wales Motorsport crew, a blown head gasket sent the pair home disappointingly early.

LEG 1

The event began on Friday afternoon and eased crews into the rally, with a relatively short opening leg, running roughly half of Saturday’s distance across four single use stages, with the historics clearing the road ahead of the modern field. It came as a surprise to no one when Jari-Matti Latvala and Juho Koski-Lammi quickly checked out at the front, dropping the hammer and building a one minute advantage over Friday’s 40 kilometres of stages. Such was their pace, they would have comfortably placed inside the top ten of the modern field, some going in a 30 year old car!

It was much closer behind the flying Finn, with former tennis pro Maciej Lubiak’s Porsche 911 in second, just ahead of Jan-Peter Maeyaert and Seb Perez, the trio separated by just ten seconds. All three benefited from former Ypres winner Paul Lietaer retiring after just one stage with gearbox issues, having finished a promising second on the opening test in his Impreza WRC. The charismatic François Delecour was having a downright miserable start. A failing steering rack left him and Fabrice Gordon to nurse the 306 back to service at the end of day one. It was quickly becoming clear this would be a tough event, with around 20% of the field either retiring or restarting under Super Rally after the shorter opening day.

LEG 2

The punishing event only became more difficult on the final day, with 130 kilometres of stages ahead and, instead of intense heat, crews woke up to torrential rain and thunderstorms. The downpour was so violent that one crew admitted they were aquaplaning just trying to survive the public transit sections between stages. The one constant, though, was the attrition, and that only worsened as rally dominator Jari-Matti Latvala became one of the first front-runners to suffer. Differential issues forced the Celica into retirement, although the three-time World Rally Championship runner up returned with a zero car number for the afternoon loop, giving the rally mad Belgian their Celica fix.

This, in theory, meant we were set for a close battle for the lead between the three aforementioned crews of Maciej Lubiak, Jan-Paul Maeyaert and Seb Perez. Wrong. That multi-car battle evaporated almost instantly as the Ypres stages turned into a total graveyard for the favorites. Lubiak found one of Belgium’s infamous ditches, Maeyaert’s BMW was struck down by engine issues, leaving Perez as the lone survivor, but even then, the singing Stratos lost several minutes with a broken toe link, somersaulting the car down the order. Just like that, all four overnight leaders were completely wiped out in the space of five stages.

Next to inherit the lead were Welsh pair Thomas Davies and Eurig Davies, their BMW E30 M3 setting the pace as others continued to fall away. But, as you’ve probably guessed by now, there was yet more attrition, and In a twist of supreme cruelty on the very last stage, Davies’ gearbox cried enough, and sidelined the M3, handing the lead to fellow MATs runners Wouter Lievens and Bert Allemeersch, who had finally survived the rally… or so they thought. Lievens arrived at the final time control with the BMW’s head gasket beginning to fail and, in a blind panic, opened the bonnet and started pouring water into the engine to stop it overheating. Unfortunately, once you’ve passed the final control, you’re no longer allowed to work on the car. In the confusion, the Belgian crew also managed to check in five minutes early, earning a combined 15-minute penalty.

After all that, the eventual winners had ironically never led the actual rally. But as the old saying goes, “to finish first, first you must finish”, and it was never more fitting than for Stefan Stouf and Paul McCann, who crossed the finish ramp, unbeknownst to them at the time, as overall winners in Stouf’s first outing in the Porsche 911 for three years. It was BMW E30 M3s in second and third, with Guillermo Bruneel and Dempsey Desegher making it a Belgian one-two, while Renato Traglia and Mirco Gabrielli completed the podium. Perez recovered to finish sixth despite hinting at serious engine problems after the finish, while François Delecour’s miserable weekend ended in retirement. However, several stage wins when the Maxi was running properly suggested a promising future for this partnership.  

FINAL RESULTS