Sordo will take on the classic rally in the brand-new Porsche 992 Rally GT. The 42-year-old former WRC star is currently spending his main season competing in the Portuguese rally championship.
The experienced Spaniard is excited about the opportunity to race in the Ypres Rally, which featured on the World Rally Championship calendar in 2021 and 2022. He’ll take on the tarmac stages in a Porsche run by Lionel Hansen and Yves Matton’s Motorsport Activities team.
“I was in Ypres in 2021 when the event was part of the World Championship for the first time, but then I only did the recce.This time it will be a nice challenge with the new Porsche 992 Rally GT that I have heard a lot about,” said Sordo.
“I’m very curious. We will test the car beforehand and in preparation we will also drive the two shakedowns in Boezinge and Nieuwkerke.”
Former Citroën team boss Yves Matton has led the Porsche project. The car has previously been tested by several drivers, including Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen.
“We want to show that the 992 Rally GT is suitable for every type of driver, with different levels of experience. The basic settings have been defined in this sense by different pilots. We are very pleased that four examples of the new 992 Rally GT will be at the start of the Ypres Rally, which has a lot of international appeal,” Matton enthused.
The Ypres Rally is shaping up to be a real spectacle, as it also forms a round of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship. This means that Sordo will once again compete in the same rally as his former WRC rival Jari-Matti Latvala, who will be chasing his third win of the EHRC season behind the wheel of a Toyota Celica.
A third former WRC driver is also on the entry list – New Zealander Hayden Paddon will compete in Belgium with a modern Hyundai i20 N Rally2 car.
A total of 85 crews have entered the Ypres Rally, with an additional 43 competing in the historic category. The rally takes place on 27–28 June.
