Juho
Hanninen stormed to a comprehensive win during the event, but he
didn't lead all the way. Fighting a close battle for most of the
event with fellow Skoda driver Andreas Mikkelsen, Hanninen started
the final day of the event just behind Mikkelsen, but an unbelievable
run through the fog-stricken SS14 saw him wipe out his deficit and
take the lead. Mikkelsen was, by his own admission, too cautions
through the stage, while Hanninen went hell for leather, taking big
risks that ultimately paid off. Mikkelsen hit back in the Super
Special, but orders from the Skoda hierarchy saw the two drivers stop
attacking. With Jan Kopecky in third, it rounded out a dominant rally
for the Skoda team.
Closest finisher to the Skodas was Bryan
Bouffier in fourth, over 3 and a half mins behind. Patrick Sandell
landed himself a minute penalty, but he still took fifth. Ricardo
Moura took sixth, as well as Production laurels, in his Lancer Evo
IX. Vitor Lopez was almost 4 mins behind Moura in the Production
class, but nevertheless he still took seventh. Vitor Pascoal, Sérgio
Silva and Paulo Maciel rounded out the Top 10. Maciel took a
commanding 18 min winning margin over Tiago Mota, his closest
challenger.
Jan Kopecky scored his first win in well over a
year at the next event in the Czech Republic. Being Czech, and
driving a Czech car, there was really no better place to launch
himself back into title contention. Skoda came away from their home
rally a happy bunch, taking a clean sweep of the podium places and
decimating the Peugeots in the process.
After a tight fight
throughout the rally, Freddy Loix has to settle for second, albeit
1.2 secs behind Kopecky. Juho Hanninen, in the other works Fabia,
took third. A mistake saw the Finn, mistakenly, believe he had a
puncture, and so dropped to third, afterwards electing to keep third
and preserve his Championship lead.
Thierry Neuville was best
of the rest, and indeed the Peugeots, in fourth, Sunday's stages
proving more to his liking. Andreas Mikkelsen nearly took fourth, but
mistakes towards the end of the rally denied him the position. An
extremely rare double clutch failure, plus a 10 sec jump-start
penalty, left Toni Gardemiester in sixth. Irishman Craig Breen,
making his European Tarmac début, drove a consistent and
mistake-free rally to take seventh. Breen was in awe of the fact he
was fighting for position with former WRC regular Gardemiester at the
end of the rally.
Another former WRC regular, this time Roman
Cresta, took eighth. His priorities being maximum points in the Czech
National Championship. PG Andersson took ninth in a good showing
onboard the Proton Satria Neo S2000. Karl Kruuda took tenth in his
Fabia S2000.
The IRC stars were launched into the unknown at
the next event, the Canon Mecsek Rallye. As the playing field was
level (ie. No-one knew the stages), it was a tight end to the
rally.
Andreas Mikkelsen lead most of the way, seemingly
heading towards his first IRC win. He backed off until Jan Kopecky
started to fight back, but a lapse in concentration lead to the
Norwegian sliding into a tree on SS13. Theirry Neuville stepped up to
the plate, taking the fight to Kopecky. 8.1secs dropped to 0.8 secs
in the 17km final stage, but it wasn't enough to deny Kopecky his
second straight win of the year. The ever consistent Freddy Loix took
third, exactly 1 min behind.
Bryan Bouffier took fourth, ruing
a lack of trust in his pacenotes. Hermann Gassner Jr. took fifth in a
very consistent rally, steadily moving up the order as others fell by
the wayside. Highly popular local driver Gyorgy Aschenbrenner used
his considerable local experience to take sixth in his Mitsubishi
Lancer Evo X R4. Toni Gardemiester suffered brake problems and a
misfire throughout Day 1, leaving him in seventh at the
end.
Hungarian National Championship points were the priority
for Robert Butor, but eighth would come as a welcome result for the
local driver. The local's pace caused problems for Bruno Magalhaes,
and combined with set-up and gear-ratio problems, left him in ninth.
Beppo Harrach rounded out the Top 10 in his Lancer Evo X.
The
IRC circus travelled to Scotland for the penultimate round of the
2011 championship. Andreas Mikkelsen put his Mecsek Rallye
disappointment behind him to take his first IRC win. A pair of
punctures nearly put paid to that hope, but he kept his cool and took
a massively popular win. Hanninen took second, a slight contrast to
his win here 12 months ago. As has been on so many occasions this
year, Peugeot was quite a way back, with Bryan Bouffier in third, 1
and a half minutes of the lead.
Craig Breen put in a hugely
impressive run to fourth in his Fiesta S2000, but could have been
higher but for a cracked exhaust manifold. Jan Kopecky stays at the
top of the Driver's Championship with fifth. Theirry Neuville took
sixth after spinning on SS10. Seventh went to the very consistent
Toni Gardemiester, who scored on every event he entered.
Alastair
Fisher came home seventh in only his second event in the Fiesta
S2000. Toshi Arai took eighth in his Impreza R4, while Matthias Kahle
took tenth place in his Fabia S2000.
Heading into the final
round in Cyprus, 6 drivers could all claim the title of
Intercontinental Rally Challenge Driver's Champion. However, this
became 5 when Peugeot announced that Bryan Bouffier would not be
entered in the rally as he had completed his 10 event programme. The
5 drivers fighting for the title would be Juho Hanninen (the reigning
Champion), Jan Kopecky, Andreas Mikkelsen, Freddy Loix (having
finished second, third and twice fourth in the last 4 IRC Series')
and Theirry Neuville (the sole Peugeot). And, to spice things up a
bit, double points will be on offer.
Andreas Mikkelsen took
off like a rocket, until he was caught and passed by Theirry
Neuville. Neuville suffered a puncture SS4 and then, cruelly,
alternator failure robbed him of his chance to fight for the title.
With this Mikkelsen re-took the lead and held it to the end of the
day, the overnight halt in Pafos on the West coast of the
island.
The rest of the IRC title contenders had an up-down
day between themselves. Reigning title holder Juho Hanninen make a
shock and extremely rare mistake, rolling his Fabia S2000 on the
first proper gravel test. The Finn, understandably disappointed,
lamented it as a “stupid mistake”. Team-mate Jan Kopecky held
third overnight, but he is 25 secs behind the leader, title rival
Mikkelsen. The last title contender, Freddy Loix, had a lacklustre
Day 1, having not driven on gravel for 3 years and hasn't driven in
Cyprus since 2003. He sits fourth, well over 1 min behind
Mikkelsen.
Day 2 dawned bright and early for the IRC crews.
Mikkelsen kept his lead, but Nasser Al-Attiyah started to cut into
his lead, until terminal engine failure dropped him out of the rally.
This moved Kopecky into second and Loix into third, but it wasn't
enough for either driver to take the title.
Freddy Loix' title
hopes took a fatal blow after mechanical problems dropped him to
fifth. At the end of the rally, Mikkelsen stood atop the Cypriot
podium as rally winner and Intercontinental Rally Challenge Champion.
A year of ups and downs was duly rewarded with the 2011 title.
Jan
Kopecky took a disconsolate second place, losing the title by a
single point. Patrick Sandell took his best IRC result of third, with
Karl Kruuda impressing in fourth. The last surviving title contender
in Freddy Loix was fifth. Rounding out a great rally all round for
Skoda, who also claimed the Manufacturer's Title, taking an
unprecedented 1-2-3-4-5-6, simply dominating the rally.
Toshi
Arai took seventh in his Impreza R4, almost 5 mins ahead of the Skoda
Fabia S2000 of Mark Wallenwein in eighth. Jean-Michael Raoux took
ninth in his Renault Clio, winning the IRC 2WD title in the process.
Tenth went to the former circuit racer Doros Loucaides.
That
rounds out GRN's review of the 2011 IRC series, a closely fought
championship, leading up to a nail biting finish. Next up for GRN
will be the Rallye Monte Carlo, which kick off the 2012 World Rally
Championship on the 18th January.
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