Organizers today announced that the winner of the Monteberg Rallysprint, taking place in the Ypres region in the weekend of 14-15 April, will earn a coveted free entry for the Geko Ypres Rally.

Less than 5 months before the Geko Ypres Rally, interest from teams and pilots is rather overwhelming. Many teams have already booked their hotels and reserved their spot for the service area. Rally Manager Alain Penasse explains: "The Geko Ypres rally has always been very popular amongst crews and it looks like we will have a full house on 22-23 june 2012. Hotel bookings are coming in steadily and therefore we advise participants to make their bookings as soon as possible."
On top of that, organizers also announced that a free registration for the Geko Ypres Rally can be earned at the Monteberg Rallysprint, organised every year in Dranouter, close to Ypres. This year the Monteberg rallysprint takes place in the weekend of 14-15 April. On Saturday 14 April the international RACB rallysprint will be organised, with the local VAS rallysprint to be held on Sunday 15 April.

Organizers of the Geko Ypres rally have finalized the itinerary and special stages for the 2012 event. Crews will tackle 18 special stages in total, covering almost 300 km of narrow, twisty and bumpy farm roads. Up to 60% of race distance has been revamped, including a completely new route for the classic Heuvelland special stage.

Run in the surroundings of Ypres, the 2012 edition of the Geko Ypres Rally will cover a total distance of 675 km, with 293 km of special stages. No less than 60% of the rally will consist of new special stages or revamped existing stages, making this demanding rally even more challenging for crews, and more attractive for spectators.

Safety and security have always been top of mind for Geko Ypres Rally organizers, trying to bring down the risk inherent in motorsports to an absolute minimum. In their efforts to further enhance driver and marshal safety, Geko Ypres Rally organizers have decided to expand the use of the electronic car tracking system to the Ypres Historic Rally as well. The system, which was used in last years for all IRC competitors, ensures all cars are equipped with a safety system that replaces yellow flags and sends crews electronic alerts in case of incidents.

The well known British Rally journalist Paul Stevenson has published a unique collector's book of modern rallying. His latest publication is a real insider's guide to the famous Geko Ypres Rally. 152 glossy pages of rallying action explaining how a rally happens - how organisers prepare, and the people involved.

This new book gives rally fans a unique insight into the background and organisation of one of the best rallies in the world. With comprehensive interviews with the organisers, teams and drivers, Rally Behind the Scenes informs readers exactly how it all happens. From choosing the route, making the itinerary, seeding the entry list, explaining scrutineering, through to the rally itself, this book is a must for fans as well as people involved in rallying.

While crews are competing in Cyprus for the closing event of the 2011 IRC championship, preparations for the 2012 Geko Ypres Rally have already started. The rally keeps its traditional spot on the calendar and will take place the last weekend of June. The Eurosport Group, which promotes the IRC through Eurosport Events, will once again be a privileged partner of the Geko Ypres Rally, and provide large-scale TV-coverage of the event taking place 21-23 June 2012.

Although taking place in the familiar landmarks of the Ypres region, the special stages of the 2012 edition of the Geko Ypres Rally will not be business as usual. Some of the legendary special stages will undergo in-depth changes and modifications to make this demanding rally even more challenging for pilots and more attractive for spectators. Both the special stages of "Kemmel" and "Heuvelland" will be completely revamped, resulting in two new extremely technical and thrilling special stages. Moreover, on Friday an all-new special stage in the Heuvelland-region will be introduced: unchartered territory but the narrow, bumpy roads perfectly match the unique character of the Geko Ypres Rally

The Geko Ypres rally 2012 will traditionally be organized during the last weekend of June, more specifically on 21-23th of June 2012.

Following the meeting held on 21 July by the FIA stewards concerned, it was decided to exclude car number 2 ? the Peugeot 207 S2000 of Bryan Bouffier and Xavier Panseri ? from the final results of the 2011 Geko Ypres Rally. The reason for this decision is an item of non-conformity in the steering system.

The entrant does not wish to appeal against the decision. With Bouffier and Panseri having originally been classified second on the event, all the competitors who were third or below now move up a place in the final results.

It was 22h30 when the first cars of this fascinating 47th Geko Ypres Rally came over the podium on the Marketplace of Ypres for one last time. En for the seventh time in de history of the race, the first car coming through was that of Freddy Loix.

Last year Freddy fought a serious battle with Kris Meeke until the latter made a mistake on the Saturday afternoon. From then on, he only had to fend off Jan Kopecky of Czech Republic who kept the pressure on Freddy until the end. The Belgian won his sixth crown in the City of Cats after an exhausting weekend.

This year, things were easier and then again, they were not. Easier as Jan Kopecký (Škoda Fabia S2000) forfeited and from the early beginnings, we lost the Peugeot 207 S2000 of Thierry Neuville (SS1) while the other "lion", Brian Bouffier, made few mistakes in SS2 and SS3. Freddy hence could open up a gap with his competitors. Guy Wilks (Peugeot 207 S2000) tried to still hang on but the Loix train was just going too fast. On Saturday afternoon, two punctures sealed his fate. But this victory was also a difficult one as the Škoda BFO-driver now had to focus on his own race and on not making mistakes. This is often very tricky, but Freddy is an experienced professional and he finished in style taking his 7th win hereby reinforcing his record.