Giving the opportunity to young drivers to gain experience in a large ERC – rally, that was the aim of Stephen Vankemmel in the anniversary edition of the Geko Ypres Rally in Belgium. After last year’s second place, with Bouffier-Vanneste, the expectations were of course different. Stephen Vankemmel: ”We are happy that we can offer a talented young driver like Max Vatanen the asphalt-feeling. Because that’s important if he would like to walk his father’s footsteps later on.” Former World Rally Champion Ari Vatanen was guest of honour at the Cuckoomobile-team and he followed his son almost all weekend. Mr. Vatanen Sr turned out to be very popular in Ypres.

It is clear that Vatanen junior has ’the gift of talent’. For the second time on asphalt, for the second time with Mikael Korhonen as co-pilot in the car, … they had to acclimatize, for sure. Vatanen – Korhonen left the starting grid in Ieper in safety mode, but grew in the contest. Max Vatanen: ”The asphalt in Ypres seemed more dangerous than last year. I felt immediately it would be a treacherous rally. A lot of drivers quickly went off the track. Mikael and myself wanted to gain confidence. ”
This was resulting in improving chrono’s during the first day, as darkness fell. The good feeling was right there and Max ended up the first day with a third best time of all Ford Fiesta R2 on the SS Mesen. ”It was actually my objective of achieving the top-3 in the Fiesta-ranking of this rally.”, reveals Vatanen.

And so he wanted to take off the second day in the same rhythm as he finished day one. In Reninge and Vleteren that turned out well, but on SS 10 in Watou Max Vatanen got new doubts. ”First it was scary when we got on two wheels in a long, deeply cut curve, but a few moments later we really had bad luck. A flat tire made us lose five minutes and so we were beaten back in the GC. ” The Finn had a lack of mental strength for a second, seemed not really happy, but in the second half of the rally the fun came back.

”That made us going fast again, with the third chrono among the Ford Fiesta’s on SS 16 and then we still had to go to Kemmel and Hollebeke, where we already had a good feeling.” And also on these last stages Vatanen and Korhonen confirmed with a fourth best Fiesta-chrono.

Finally, the Finnish duo returned to the main stage in Ypres on place 36 over-all. A better result than last year for Max Vatanen. He received a warm and strong hug from teamboss Vankemmel. Vatanen is very grateful for the support during the rally-weekend. ”They can’t take away this experience. Wonder where we could have ended without those 5 minutes of bad luck! The more we come back to these roads, the better things will turn out. This as a unique experience for a young driver.”
With this experience Max Vatanen is travelling to the WRC-rally of Poland, where he will be competing next weekend in the Dmack Ford Fiesta Trophy. ”We wish him all the best over there,” says Stephen Vankemmel, ”We keep on following this talented boy and we hope that we can work together again. So maybe, one day, Max can return to Ypres to win this race.”