Local heroes Pieter-Jan Maeyaert and Yves Dewulf took a hugely popular home rally victory as they took the top of the finishing podium at Ardeca Ypres Historic Rally, the fourth round of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship.

In an eventful rally, the Belgian duo had been chasing down former WRC ace Jari-Matti Latvala with Janni Hussi alongside.  Latvala had built a comfortable lead in his TGR backed Toyota Celica GT4. Unfortunately, a head gasket issue worsened, ultimately leading to retirement on the final leg of day two.  That's two retirements in a row now for the vastly experienced Finn.

Chasing home Maeyaert were reigning champions Tibor Erdi Jr and Istvan Kerek. They had been in a close battle with Maeyaert until 2nd gear broke in their Ford Sierra Sapphire Cosworth.  With so many tight junctions on the rally, the Hungarian was finding it tough to drive around the problem, but persisted on to the end - racking up a strong points haul in the process.

FIA Wildcard entrant Dider Vanwijnberghe took the final podium spot.  The Belgian used his knowledge of the Flanders roads to good advantage.  In a near identical BMW M3 to the car of Maeyaert - it was an impressive result against tough opposition.

Also smiling at the finish were championship regulars Maciej Lubiak with Grzegorz Dachowski on the notes.  They used their Porsche 911 to good effect as they took the FIA Category 2 honours with a fine performance.  Lubiak finding it a tough battle to keep the big Porsche on the road at times.

Flexifly Rally Team driver Will Graham also put in a strong performance again in his BMW M3.  The Surrey driver with mum Karen on the notes took a fine 7th overall. 

FIA Wildcard entrant Mark Higgins was first of the Category 3 cars to the finish in his incredible TR7 V8.  Higgins reminding the older generation of rally fans what the powerful rear wheel drive Triumph is capable of.  First FIA EHRC points scorer in Category 3 was the Spanish crew of Jesus Ferreiro Perez and Javier Anido.  After 3 wins from 3 in Category 3, it's now 4 from 4 - with a healthy points lead already.  Will anyone be able to stop the Spanish crew from the championship title?  Chasing them down were series newcomers John Morgan and Llinos Jones-Edwards.  The all-Welsh crew making a solid start to life in the EHRC with a fine performance in their new Ford Escort RS1800.  After an eventful start to life in the EHRC with an accident at the Historic Vltava Rallye, Richard Jordan and Sam Collis finally got their season up and running in Ypres.  They were just over 14 seconds back from Morgan after a tough event.

Another driver finding the going tough was French ace Richard Kolle.  A long time Porsche driver, Richard has recently switched to a BMW M3.  New car, new event.  Kolle enjoyed the challenge but found the German machine a huge change from his Porsche 911 3.0.  Kolle will continue to enjoy the challenge of the new machine.

Ernie Graham and John Connor took the FIA EHRC 1600cc Trophy home.  Their 1600cc BDA powered Ford Escort never missed a beat until a broken shock absorber on the very last stage.  Graham nursed the Escort home to grab third in FIA Category 2, behind the Alpine A310 of Herve Guignard and Jean-Jacques Collinet.  The pair really enjoyed their experience of the Belgian roads.  Sadly, Herve's brother Eric was not so fortunate in his Renault 5 Turbo Cevennes.  Eric having to retire with mechanical problems, as did the crowd pleasing Lancia Stratos of Seb Perez and Dale Bowen.

2nd in the FIA 1600cc Trophy was James Calvert and James O'Brien.  The Anglo-Irish crew suffered a costly slide into a ditch on day one, losing over 10 minutes as a result.  Their iconic VW 1303s was more bruised than battered, and they soldered on secure some valuable championship points.  French pair Bertrand Metivier and Fabrice Garin have been pace setting in their Ford Escort Mk1 in Category 2 this year.  Unfortunately damaged steering on day one proved costly, and but the FSA Vintage team kept going and scored more points.  Metivier will be heading to both Austria and Finland for the next two rounds. 

Finally, after a large time loss on day one, Italian veterans Antonio Parisi and Giuseppe D'Angelo made it back to the finish in their Porsche 911 2.0.  Sadly, their longtime friends and team mates Carlo Fiorito and Nico Ventoso were not so fortunate.  After enjoying the challenge of the Belgian roads, their BMW 2002ti suffered a terminal gearbox problem, forcing retirement.  Also joining them on the sides were the Irish crew of Greg McCormack and Barney Mitchell who left the road.  Belgian WRC legend Bruno Thiry also failed to make it back to the podium as his Group A Subaru Impreza 555, the sole entrant in the class for 1993-2000 cars shattered a brake disc between stages, forcing him to stop early.