The championship’s prime two are amongst a majority of WRC drivers tackling Ypres’ well-known asphalt roads for the primary time this weekend because the well-known Belgian occasion lastly joins the WRC calendar.
Ypres is understood for its quick and slender tarmac roads that includes a number of floor modifications punctuated by a number of junctions that present loads of alternatives for cuts.
These circumstances, coupled with the brand new Pirelli rubber, which proved vulnerable to punctures on tarmac in Croatia in April has each Ogier and Evans involved.
“There are lots of issues to find. They are very particular roads and actually slender more often than not and plenty of grip modifications, and plenty of cuts, even when there are lower than earlier than,” stated Ogier.
“It is an enormous problem and for the tyres we have now kinda weak tyres on tarmac and the puncture threat is fairly excessive this week.
“I hope this doesn’t determine the outcome, however we have now to maintain in my that may be a problem.
“We had a lot of punctures and a lot of slow punctures for many drivers [in Croatia] and it was very difficult to estimate how it happened. It is clear that the tyre is weak in this situation and with the amount of cuts we have this weekend that is the main concerns about the tyre.”
It is a view echoed by Ogier’s team-mate and title rival Evans, who can also be anticipating Ypres to supply a tricky problem to grasp.
“I think there are a lot of very fast sections and a lot of very tight junctions and with that a lot of cutting and quite a lot of surface changes,” stated Evans.
“It could be very troublesome coming right here the primary time to pick the bits that may give odd grip and dangerous grip. We can have two uncover that.
“The greatest problem is the unknown and the puncture threat is comparatively excessive all through the rally.
Given Ypres’ distinctive tarmac roads, even seven-time world champion Ogier has sought recommendation from a specialist in these circumstances previous to the occasion.
The 53-time WRC rally winner has been consulting with former manufacturing unit Citroen WRC driver Stéphane Lefebvre, who contested the Ypres occasion 5 occasions when it was a part of the European Rally Championship.
As beforehand reported, M-Sport Ford driver Gus Greensmith has enlisted the providers of four-time Ypres Rally winner Patrick Snijers for priceless recommendation.
“I had Stephane Lefebvre with me here during the recce and trying to give me some tips a little bit, he has quite some knowledge from these roads and that’s definitely a help for me and for Simon [Jean-Joseph] as well which is my usual gravel crew,” added Ogier, who leads Evans within the championship by 37 factors.
“But additionally, in fact they’ve been speaking collectively and attempting to get essentially the most expertise we are able to from the man who has the expertise right here as a result of clearly I haven’t.
“To have some experience for some local guys or a guy who did the rally before is good for the first pass I would say, to try to anticipate a little bit where are the tricky places, where are the very slippery corners because some, visually you [can] see that the grip is lower but on some sections it’s actually not that easy to see it when we drive very slow during recce.”
