New management and new ideas will be featured at the Ypres Westbroek Rally (18-20 June), Belgium's biggest rally and round 5 of the IRC series. The new rally manager Alain Pernasse announced the new plans during the Sata Rally Acores. "Many things are different this year, a lot of them to make the event more attractive for spectators, the income from whom represents one third of the event's total budget. There will be more emphasis on using the town's market place for servicing and regrouping, to give a chance to see the cars as much as possible as well as moving the podium. The routes of the stages have been altered to provide for specific spectators areas, a total of eight in all, all fully signposted from the centre of town, and full commentary and results information will be available at those places. People there will immediately know what is happening in the rally.

"We are also going back a little into history. We have included a short stretch of pave, the traditional road surface in Belgium, in the Kemmel region. Pave is a well known traditional challenge in Belgian cycle racing, and of course we have a special competitor, Paolo Bettini, the former champion racing cyclist. Cycle racing is very strong is Belgium and Bettini has been a hero for a huge number of Belgian fans He will drive a Procar Abarth S2000. The IRC series is good for us. It brings a strong quality entry list. We expect to have around 20 Super 2000 cars a from a record number of six different S2000 manufacturers. And we have one very big change. For the first time the rally goes into France where we will hold special stages close to Lille. This mans that the last stage on the Friday will be run at night, at around 2300. Nowadays we are not allowed to run stages in Belgium after 2300, so we again go back to our rallying roots - special stages at night!"

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