Freddy Loix and his Kronos Racing-prepared Peugeot 207 S2000 dominated the Belgium Ypres Westhoek Rally from beginning to end. Already on Friday evening, Fast Freddy made the difference by setting five fastest times. Only the last stage escaped him as he was slowed down by the scene around Jan Kopecky's crash.

On Saturday Loix continued his push until he lost his last direct rival, teammate Nicolas Vouilloz when the Frenchman spun in Westouter and lost about a minute. From that moment, Freddy loix and his co-driver Robin Buysmans were counting down.

They finished with a 58.7-second lead at the conclusion of the event. Loix now holds the new record for the number of victories in the Belgium Ypres Westhoek Rally after also wiining in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999.

"We were perfectly prepared. From the start, we went flat out as I knew Vouilloz and Rossetti would lose time in the first legs due to a lack of experience here. We managed to control our lead throughout the weekend. Especially in the long and fast corners, I could make the difference," Loix reported.

"On Saturday morning, we lost some time as I did not have fifth gear but otherwise, this was the perfect race," the Belgian happily continued. "For once we did not encounter bad luck in the IRC!"

The fight for second place was very close but Loix's teammate Nicolas Vouilloz managed to come out on top. Third place went to Luca Rossetti who had nearly lost all hope after starting in 11th position Saturday morning. It is the first time the Italian misses out on an IRC victory since he began, but the Peugeot driver was still very happy - he maintained the lead in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

Bernd Casier took the fourth spot, bringing his VW Polo Super 2000 home just behind the three Peugeots. Casier drove an excellent race but was hampered by the lower top speed of the Polo.

Patrick Snijers did not dissappoint the jury of the BF Goodrich Drivers Team when they selected him as their driver for Rally Ypres. He finished fifth in his first-ever race aboard a Super 2000. It was his 30th race in the Westhoek.

Giandomenico Basso came home sixth, but first amongst the Abarth drivers. At the last minute, Basso lost out on the fifth spot by clocking in one minute too early. His teammates could not play major roles however: Alen finished in 12th position after suffering a puncture that cost him four minutes, while Travaglia rolled his car and Sola broke his suspension after an accident with Van den Heuvel.

Peugeot also had some unlucky drivers: Tirabassi and Toth both broke their suspensions and Kopecky rolled his car.

The first 'conventional' group N was the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX of Dutchman Jasper Van den Heuvel who drove a faultless race and finished 7th. Dominique Bruyneel followed at 1:35 with his Subaru Impreza WRX N14. In Heuvelland he pulled all the stops for a last time and caught Paul Lietaer on his own birthday...

Raphaël Auquier was able to slot the second Polo Super 2000 just within the Top 10, and 11th-placed Melissa Debackere was the first woman driver of the final standings.

Kris Princen had been dominating the two-wheel drive category but unfortunately broke his engine, so Aaron Burkart and his Citroën C2 Super 1600 won the category on a first outing in Ypres, just in front of Gilles Schammel and the Renault Clio R3.

The IRC's two-wheel drive cup was won by Dieter Verbeke (Peugeot 106) ahead of Patrick Vandeputte (Honda).