GRN's 2011 round-up: Intercontinental Rally Challenge (Part 1)

Starting off Global Rally News' review of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge is the historic Rallye Monte Carlo, and this year was it's centenary.

Bryan Bouffier got his 2011 IRC campaign off to the best possible start after he took his first win of his IRC career. Piloting his Peugeot 207 S2000, he and co-driver Xavier Panseri took a 32.5 sec win over Freddy Loix after an inspired tyre choice launched him from seventh to first. A faultless drive for Guy Wilks on his début for Peugeot lead to a third placed finish.

SS7 turned the rally leaderboard on it's head. As ever in Monte Carlo, the right tyres became the deciding factor between flying up the order, and plummeting down it. Heading out to the stage, Bouffier and Francois Delecour, returning to the scene of his final World Rally win, went out on studded tyres. Most other drivers, including reigning Champion Juho Hanninen and former World Champion Petter Solberg, went out on intermediate tyres, virtually useless in the snowy and slushy conditions. The resulting shake-up lead to Bouffier taking the lead and Delecour taking sixth. Delecour won the next stage, taking full advantage of his studded tyre choice. Bouffier spun twice, but still took second. Hanninen dropped even further down, as did team-mate Kopecky.

Stéphane Sarrazin fought back to third after a stuck gearbox on SS11 and a poor tyre choice on SS7, but elected to drop time to let team-mate Guy Wilks into third, as this may be Sarrazin's only IRC appearance this year due to closed-circuit racing commitments, which includes the 24hrs of Le Mans. Francois Delecour took fifth, after admitting he wouldn't be able to hold on to the second place he gained after SS8. An older-spec car and a power problem in his car lead to him being passed. Nevertheless, he proved that age is but a number, beating a number of established IRC regulars.

Juho Hanninen took sixth after his poor tyre choice in the conditions of SS7 and SS8. Nicholas Vouilloz took seventh after a puncture dropped him right down the order. Fastest time over the first run over the Col de Turini showed what he might have been able to do on his first rally for almost a year. Jan Kopecky had a lacklustre rally, unable to find his usual pace, well down in eighth. Giandomenico Basso, the first IRC Champion, took ninth in a private 207 S2000. Tenth was Toni Gardemiester. The former WRC regular suffered at Day 1 puncture but fought back to tenth with an inspired performance.

Juho Hanninen made up for his Rallye Monte Carlo with a close win on the Rally Islas Canarias. The rally was close fought from start for finish, Day 1 ending with only 9 secs separating the Top 4 drivers. Team-mate Jan Kopecky made it a Skoda 1-2 with second, only 1.5 secs between himself and his rally-winning team-mate. Rising Belgian star Theirry Neuville took third after leading early on the final day, but worn tyres dropped him time.

Freddy Loix, on his début on the rally, took fourth after making some adjustments to his notes. Indeed, he fought for the top spot at one stage, but a misted up windscreen lost him time. Guy Wilks made it to fifth, after holding the lead at one point of Day 1, until a lack of confidence in his set up dropped him out of contention. Andreas Mikkelsen followed team orders, which were to finish the rally after crashing out of Monte Carlo, taking sixth spot.

Championship leader Bryan Bouffier ended the rally 7^th, a combination of poor set-up and lack of knowledge hurting him badly. Eighth went to Bruno Magalhaes, who was still recovering his confidence after his big Monte Carlo crash. Giandomenico Basso switched from a privateer Peugeot 207 S2000 to a works Proton Satria Neo S2000, taking ninth. Toni Gardemiester took the final point for 10^th after switching to a Skoda Fabia S2000 for the rally.

Theirry Neuville underlined his undoubted natural talent by taking his first IRC win on the very next round, the Tour de Corse-E.Leclerc. Neuville (23), who has only ever taken part in 9 IRC rallies prior to Corsica, became the youngest winner of an IRC event since Anton Alén (then 24), son of Markku, won in Russia in 2007. Jan Kopecky took second, 15.5 secs behind the Belgian, although the Czech driver kept Neuville honest throughout the rally, never being far away. Freddy Loix completed the Top 3 in his BFO Skoda Rally Team car, over 1 min off the lead.

Pierre Campana, who is actually from Corsica, took fourth in his impressive début in an S2000 car. An intercom gremlin lead to him focusing on finishing, but a puncture dropped him a lot of time. Then fellow Frenchman Bryan Bouffier crashed out protecting fourth, thus elevating Campana up to his final position. Brake problems are not something you want in Corsica, but Bruno Magalhaes managed to overcome them and improve his confidence to take a strong fifth. Andreas Mikkelsen ended up sixth after a puncture robbed him of a podium spot.

Julien Maurin was another to survive brake problems, as well as tyre wear issues, to take seventh in his Fiesta S2000 to his first IRC points for seventh, over 2 mins clear of Toni Gardemiester who had to contend with a broken gearbox on the last stage. Ninth went to Patrick Sandell on his IRC début. The final point for tenth went to Frenchman Jean-Mathieu Leandri, on a charge after suffering a puncture.

Reigning Champion Juho Hanninen became an IRC record breaker with victory in the Prime Yalta Rally, the Ukrainian event making it's début in the IRC. Hanninen's seventh win lifted him above his fellow Skoda driver Freddy Loix, who has six. Bryan Bouffier took second, 11.7 secs behind Hanninen, making up for his last-minute rally-ending crash in Corsica 3 weeks prior. Jan Kopecky made it a Skoda 1-3 by sealing third, thus lifting Skoda to the IRC Manufacturer's Championship lead.

Andreas Mikkelsen took fourth, chasing Kopecky hard for third. The margin between the Skoda-driving pair was narrowed to less than 13 secs until Mikkelsen crashed backwards into a tree on SS12. The collision damaged the exhaust and the right-rear corner of his car. He and co-driver Ola Floene devised a fairly novel way of fixing the problem, attaching the part of bodywork that was blocking the exhaust to a ratchet strap, which was connected on the other end to a lamppost, pulling the offending part of bodywork off. This approach to fixing the problem earned him the Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Trophy, echoing McRae's various, and numerous, attempts at fixing cars on the road side (such as fixing his Subaru's suspension with a tree branch, in Wales 1995).

A puncture-filled weekend for Guy Wilks was rewarded with fifth, having suffered 2 punctures on Day 2. Another puncture greeted him after hitting a concrete block that held the stage flying finish board in place. Theirry Neuville took sixth after a high-speed crash and puncture on Day 2. Power problems in his Fabia left Toni Gardemiester in seventh. A puncture and pace-note issues gave Karl Kruuda eighth on his IRC début in a 4WD car. One of the few drivers managing to avoid punctures was Patrick Sandell, who took ninth. Tenth went to the IRC 2WD winner Jean-Michael Raoux in his Renault Clio, but with neither he nor Vlad Cosma eligible for IRC points, the point 10^th place gives went to Janos Puskadi.

'Fast' Freddy moved back to joint-top of the all-time IRC round winners with Juho Hanninen after taking his seventh win on home soil, the GEKO Ypres Rally. Bryan Bouffier originally took second, but he was excluded post-event. This promoted Hans Weijs Jr., on his IRC and Fabia S2000 début, up to second, albeit nearly 4 mins off Loix. Michal Solowow took third in his Fiesta S2000.

A lot of punctures and a spin held Guy Wilks back, leaving him fourth at the end. Karl Kruuda suffered many punctures too, and this time an intercom gremlin, but took fifth on his second event of the year. A puncture also held Toni Gardemiester back, but sixth was a strong finish for the Fabia-mounted Finn's first time at the Belgian classic.

European Champion and Ypres winner 4 years ago Luca Rossetti took seventh after punctures and spin cost him time. Bernard Ten Brinke took eighth, scoring his first IRC points. Irishman Robert Barrable, how was on his Ypres début, took ninth but suffered an overshoot on the last stage, but when PG Andersson, who he was trying to keep at bay, damaged his Proton Satria Neo S2000, Barrable kept the position. Julien Maurin was promoted up one place, along with the rest of the finishers, to 10^th and one point after Bouffier's exclusion.