Freddy Loix now leads the Ypres Rally by 1m41.3s with five stages to go after his nearest rival Guy Wilks suffered a double puncture on the first stage out of service this afternoon.
Though even Wilks had been unable to keep six-time Ypres winner Loix in sight, he was at least within a minute of the leader until his Peugeot UK entry lost over five minutes with two punctures on the Hollebeke stage.
Bryan Bouffier and Pieter Tsjoen's battle for third therefore became a fight for the runner-up spot, though this also ended when Tsjoen damaged his Kronos Peugeot's radiator in a bizarre road section incident that saw him hit a concrete post while pulling away after a brief stop.
With Tsjoen eventually forced to retire his car, Bouffier now has a very lonely second place – 1m41s behind Loix, and 1m24s ahead of the fight between local driver Bernd Casier and spectacular S2000 debutant Hans Weijs. Casier is currently 6.5sec ahead of the former Junior World Rally Championship frontrunner.
Wilks is back up to ninth as he recovers from his delay on SS10, where punctures also caused both Toni Gardemeister and Luca Rossetti to plunge out of the top 10.
Leading positions after SS13:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Freddy Loix Skoda 1h48m46.0s
2. Bryan Bouffier PH Peugeot + 1m41.3s
3. Bernd Casier Duindistel Skoda + 3m05.0s
4. Hans Weijs Wevers Skoda + 3m11.5s
5. Michal Solowow Cersanit Ford + 4m40.8s
6. Karl Kruuda ME3 Skoda + 5m10.6s
7. Mark van Eldik Skoda (private) + 6m00.7s
8. Bernhard Ten Brinke Skoda (private) + 6m06.2s
9. Guy Wilks Peugeot UK (Kronos) + 6m07.7s
10. Robert Barrable Skoda (private) + 6m41.0s