Dutch-Australian pairing achieve success at Ypres

Australian co-driver Rebecca Smart scored a strong result over the weekend at the famous Ypres Rally in Belgium.

Timo van der Marel and Rebecca Smart finished second in class in the Ypres Rally.Smart and husband, Timo van der Marel, finished second in class in their Opel Netherlands supported Adam R2, build by the Holtzer group in Germany.

In an event filled with R2 cars (30 to be exact), they won two stages on their way to 25th outright from 90 finishers.

The event, won by Dutch driver Kevin Abbring, caught out several stars, including Hyundai WRC star, Thierry Neuville, in a Hyundai i20 R5.

Timo and Rebecca, however, enjoyed a clean run despite the Ypres roads continuing to throw up challenges in what Smart thinks is an incredibly difficult event to co-drive on.

“From a co-driver’s perspective, it’s one of the toughest tarmac events to co-drive in the world,” she said.

“The speeds are so high and the cuts are very deep, so calling the notes accurately is imperative to maintain a competitive speed.”

Their next event, Rally Germany, is in August, followed by the ERC event in Rome in September.

Before then, they'll return to Australia for a month.

- Luke Whitten

Author