After an exciting return to the British Rally Championship, FIA World Rally Championship star Rhys Yates will return to the series to tackle the Renties Ypres Rally as he hopes to claim his first BRC win.
After a popular return in the forests of Kielder last time out on the Pirelli International Rally, Englishman Rhys Yates and Welsh co-driver James Morgan will step into the Skoda Fabia R5 once again in Britain’s premier rally series – this time for the legendary Ypres Rally.
Last season Yates won Rally van Wervik, the perfect warm-up for the European classic. After an impressive sixth overall and top Brit on the Shakedown leaderboard on the Thursday night, things didn’t quite pan out the way the Derbyshire-ace had hoped in the days that followed.
“Last year we were unlucky,” explained Yates. “There was a lot of hype around our Rally van Wervick win and that was actually a good thing for my confidence. However, even by winning that event, I didn’t fully have the confidence. Even after Shakedown and Qualifying and the decent times we set, there wasn’t enough in my mind to believe I could fight at the top as I didn’t know where that speed had come from. I doubted myself so I tried to win the rally on the first stage last year and that’s why it went wrong! Unfortunately, I made a few mistakes and poor Elliott wasn’t well so I had to draw a line under that event. This year I know what I need to do and I think we can push for a top five overall and the top BRC spot. I really want my first BRC win and to tick that off the list and to do it in Ypres would be mega!
