The second and final day of racing at Rally Ypres represents the biggest challenge: 12 stages amounting to 212 kilometres of intense competition. Things started out this Saturday with the Hollebeke 1 run, a 14-kilometre stretch using narrow and mostly flat roads.

After dominanting the stages yesterday, with five wins for Freddy Loix and one for Nicolas Vouilloz, the Peugeot Belgium-Luxemburg Team again showed its strength on today's opening test: Vouilloz was fastest with a time of 8:15.9, only a half-second quicker than teammate Loix.

Three seconds away and working hard to recover from a puncture yesterday which saw him driving on a rim, current IRC leader Luca Rossetti set his Peugeot S2000 next in line, ahead of Bernd Casier's Volkswagen Polo and Giandomenico Basso's Abarth Grande Punto.

Sixth-placed Patrick Snijers led Brice Tirabassi, also aboard a Peugeot 207, while the eighth spot resulted in a tie between Luca Betti's Peugeot and Dani Sola's Grande Punto S2000. Anton Alen rounded off the top ten, also at the wheel of an Abarth car.

Freddy Loix maintains his overall hold on the event, 21.4 seconds ahead of Nicolas Vouilloz. Giandomenico Basso is under pressure form Bernd Casier, hovering only 2.9 seconds close, while Rally Ypres veteran Patrick Snijers stands in fifth position.

As the competitors head for the next stage, Mesen-Sauvegarde 1, rumours say that the Peugeot 207 Super 2000 of rally leader Freddy Loix might have developed a gearbox problem...