Going into the final two stages of the Sata Rally Azores, it looked sure for either Juho Hanninen or Jan Kopecky would take the win. Or so everyone thought.
Leader for most of the rally, Bruno Magalhaes hit trouble on SS15, which seemed to put paid to his maiden IRC win. Juho Hanninen took the lead on the next stage, but on the penultimate stage, Hanninen lost first spot with a front puncture. Team-mate Jan Kopecky took the lead into the final stage, but crashed out of the event with 4 kms left.
This handed Bruno Magalhaes the win after all. Kris Meeke finished second after a whole collection of punctures and a scary high speed spin.
Meeke overtook Andreas Mikkelsen after the Norwegian came into contact with a herd of cows. He then put the Fiesta into a ditch.
“We were flat-out in sixth gear and 50 metres after a big crest there was eight or 10 cows in the middle of the road. We had to put the car into the ditch where we hit two of the cows. It was a scary moment.” he said.
Bernardo Sousa was heading for sixth until he damaged his car's rear suspension on SS18. Recovering to 10th wasn't much of a consolation for Sousa.
In the IRC 2WD standings, Rafael Tulio took his second win of his 2010 campain. Dominant from SS1, he headed a Peugeot 206 1-2-3 at the finish. He is now 4 points ahead of Pierre Campana, who didn't contest the event.
The locals put in some impressive performances along the way. Ricardo Moura put in a great drive in his Mitsubishi Lancer. Recovering from a puncture on SS1, Moura proved why he is Azores Champion. Sérgio Silva claimed eighth and was the highest finisher in the Imprezas.
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