THE five-way battle for this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) crown became a four-way fight early yesterday when defending champion Juho Hanninen rolled his car on the first stage of the day in the Cyprus Rally.
The rally kicked off on Thursday evening with a thrilling race round the streets of Paphos which saw thousands of spectators crowding into the area around the Municipality to watch the cars tackle the LTV Super Special Stage.
Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen, who won the Golden Stage Rally here last year, took the honours, blasting round the 3.2km circuit in just 2 minutes, 48.9 seconds in his Skoda Fabia S2000, with Finland’s Juho Hanninen 3.1 seconds slower, and current IRC leader Jan Kopecky of the Czech Republic third fastest.
In bright autumn sunshine, with a stiff breeze ruffling the water in Paphos harbour, the crews set off yesterday morning for the stages in the mountains.
Defending champion Hanninen was the first casualty, rolling his Skoda on the very first stage of the day and leaving the way clear for the other four IRC title contenders.
A spin precariously close to the cliff edge on SS3 at Salamiou lost rally leader Andreas Mikkelsen precious seconds and Belgian Thierry Neuville pounced: he brought his Peugeot 207 S2000 back to the lunchtime service 8.8 seconds ahead of the Norwegian.
His lead was short-lived, however: a puncture on SS4 cost him almost 3 minutes and he dropped to 7th place, his hopes of the IRC title fading. They were dashed completely when an alternator problem then forced him to retire. Like Hanninen, however, he will race again today.
Mikkelsen clocked fastest over the two afternoon stages, returning to the overnight halt 20.7 seconds ahead of last year’s winner, Nasser Al Attiyah of Qatar, who drove steadily all day to climb to second, and 46.1 seconds ahead of his championship rival Jan Kopecky. Freddy Loix and Patrik Sandell rounded off the top 5, almost 2 minutes adrift of the leader.
Nicos Thomas heads the Cyprus challengers, in 9th place, 5 minutes 23.7 seconds behind the leader, but with a comfortable 2 minute cushion between his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX and 10th placed Doros Loucaides’ Peugeot 207 S2000.
The crews tackle six more special stages on today’s final Leg, arriving at the Finish at 6pm, when the 2011 IRC champion will be crowned.