Breen and Nagle seal overall honours in Belgium

Fresh off the back of the announcement that they will return to the World

Rally Championship, Craig Breen and co-driver Paul Nagle stole the headlines once again, this time as winners of the 55th Ypres Rally in their Volkswagen Polo GTI R5.

Breen hadn’t competed in Flanders for four years, but instantly signalled his intent with fastest time in qualifying on the opening evening. But into the event proper and Breen had to be content with sitting behind former Peugeot team-mate Kevin Abbring and co-driver Veronique Hostens in their Polo GTI.

Shaking off his sluggish start,

Breen (below right) made his move on stage four to snatch the lead of the rally – a lead he wouldn’t relinquish as he flew to a 45.7-second victory.

“I love the history of rallying and we have been able to win some big rallies, some at home, Sanremo, now Ypres is fantastic,” he said.

“Historic events are very close to my heart and is what gives me the passion for rallying. This weekend I don’t think I have felt so warm, hot and uncomfortable in all my life, it was a shame Kevin [Abbring] had all his problems, punctures and what have you.

“I would have liked things to be a little closer, it would have been a real amazing fight but because of the circumstances we were able to manage the gap and just enjoy the stages. I have missed the fights with Kevin, we had a lot of fun and great times and it was good to stir those up again.”

Abbring had to settle for second as the 2017 winner suffered a puncture, with the top three rounded out by Belgian ace Kris Princen and navigator Bram Eelbode who made it an all

Polo GTI top three.

Elsewhere the newly established Ypres Rally Masters was won by Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul who treated the Belgian fans to a sight of a World Rally Car with their Hyundai i20 R5.

Results

1 Craig Breen/ Paul Nagle (VW Polo GTI R5) 2h27m52.1s; 2 Kevin Abbring/veronique Hostens (Polo GTI R5) +45.7s; 3 Kris Princen/ Bram Eelbode (Polo GTI R5); 4 Freddy Loix/ Pieter Tsjoen (Skoda Fabia R5); 5 Davy Vanneste/kris D’alleine (Polo GTI R5); 6 Matt Edwards/ Patrick Walsh (Ford Fiesta R5).

Class winners: Breen/ Nagle; Princen/ Eelbode; Amaury Molle/ Guillaume Leclercq (Peugeot 208); Chris Algoedt/didier Bostoen (BMW M1 Coupe); John Morrison/peter Carstairs (Mitsubishi Lancer E9); Timothy van Parijs/ Kurt Heyndrickx (Porsche 997 GT3).