COI début victory for Hanninen

After his main competition threw his rally away crashing into a bale, and with the feared local challenge succumbing to problems, Juho Hanninen became only the second 'foreign' driver to win the Circuit of Ireland rally.

Rally winner Juho Hanninen

And Hanninen is the only driver ever to win the rally from outside of Ireland or the UK. Pentti Airikkala, born in Finland too, won the rally for Vauxhall in 1979, but he lived in England. Hanninen lives in his native Finland, making him the first properly 'foreign' driver to win the Easter classic.

It was by no means an easy ride, though, for the former IRC Champion and reigning S-WRC Champion. He was pushed all the way by Andreas Mikkelsen, team-mate in a Skoda UK run Fabia S2000. Both drivers pushed 110% throughout the rally, with small mistakes and tyre choice errors making things interesting.

Andreas Mikkelsen

2nd overall

Both drivers swapped tenths for 11 stages. The reigning IRC Champion had his nose ahead on sheer pace, but Hanninen was controlled, and very, very fast too. Mikkelsen was often reporting errors, slip-ups, brushes with the bushes etc. Hanninen rarely did. Both onboards from both cars showed massive risks being taken.

The largest gap between the two was only 9 secs, but the rally ended up on it's head. Mikkelsen went sideways at high-speed into the bales on the Lisburn 1 stage, dropping over 40 secs to Hanninen. Slightly dazed, Mikkelsen knew his bid for his second win on the island of Ireland (his first being the Fastnet Stages in 2007 driving a Ford Focus WRC) was over. Hanninen cruised to a 44.2 sec win after Mikkelsen's troubles.

Jan Kopecky

3rd Overall

Uncomfortable with Irish Tarmac, Jan Kopecky was never on the pace throughout the rally. He spent the whole rally in third place, aside from leading after the Titanic Super Special. He dropped 10 secs as soon as the rally hit proper roads, and finished the rally 1 min 39 secs off the lead. Nevertheless, he holds third in the Championship, and will be back onto smooth tarmac at the start of May for the Tour de Corse.

Mathieu Arzeno

4th overall

Mathieu Arzeno took fourth on his first visit to Ireland. Highest of the Peugeot's, the young Frenchman was over 4 mins off the lead at the end. His Sainteloc 

Craig Breen
5th Overall

Racing team-mate Craig Breen overcame fuel pump failure and a 90 sec penalty to take fifth. Robert Barrable took his Fabia S2000 to sixth. Barrable went gate crashing on SS6, blasting through into a field. He then belted into a ditch getting back out of the field and stalled the car.

Robert Barrable
6th Overall 

Sepp Wiegand took seventh in the fourth Fabia S2000 in the Top 10, over 6 mins off the lead but learning plenty on the way. Eighth went to Garry Jennings, Group N winner in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9. Jennings encountered an unusual problem when he burnt his gear-change hand when he mistakenly grabbed his Lancer's hot exhaust. Nevertheless he fought through the inevetible pain to win Group N and take maximum IRC Group N points.

Garry Jennings
8th Overall
Group N winner

Donagh Kelly and Sam Moffett took ninth and tenth overall, second and third in Group N respectively. Both were armed with Mitsubishi Lancer Evo's, but couldn't live with Jenning's pace, which, as ever, was rapid.

Marty McCormack
Colin McRae IRC Flat out Trophy winner

The ever rapid Marty McCormack won the 2WD class in his Citroen DS3 R3T, and the “Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Trophy”. Surviving a gearbox failure, alternator problems and not one but two punctures, he still finished 20 secs ahead of Tommy Doyle's Renault Clio, who also survived brake problems and a gear indicator glitch. Jonny Greer took his DS3 to third 2WD.

National review to follow.