Neuville joins BRC contenders with Ypres R5 entry
World Rally Championship driver Thierry Neuville will compete on the Ypres Rally in his native Belgium in 2017.
Neuville, 28, will compete in the marque’s new i20 R5-specification car on the event, which is a round of the British and Belgian championships and Tour European Rally Series this year.
Ypres Rally manager Alain Penasse, who is also Neuville’s team manager of the Hyundai WRC team, said it was key for the event to boast the country’s “leading” WRC driver.
“This is final [Neuville entering the event], everyone in Belgium wants to see Thierry in action at Ypres,” said Penasse. “For us and to Ypres it’s very important to have him there, he’s the leading Belgian driver for the moment. It’s also another opportunity to show what the new R5 is capable of.”
Neuville last competed on the event in 2011 in a Peugeot 207 S2000 when broken suspension put him out of the event.