Subaru has confirmed they will once again register for manufacturer status in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, meaning select drivers of the Subaru Impreza R4 will be nominated for points throughout the season.

Fuji Heavy Industries has confirmed their long serving factory driver Toshi Arai will return for a full season, along with two new drivers to the Subaru fold.

“In addition to Arai, Subaru will be supporting Jarkko Nikara from Finland and Andreas Aigner from Austria in 2012,” a joint statment between Fuji Heavy Industries and Subaru Tecnica International confirmed.

Andreas Aigner, a former semi-works Skoda driver and 2008 PWRC champion, will be driving a Stohl Racing run Impreza, with a programme expected to include the French, Belgian, Romanian, Czech and Cypriot rounds of the championship. Nikara’s programme will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Juho Hänninen In IRC Action For Skoda

Two of the brightest stars in rallying have become the latest drivers to sign up for the end of season 2011 Race Of Champions event, with Intercontinental Rally Challenge stars Juho Hänninen and Jan Kopecký joining the list of drivers competing in Germany in December.

Skoda works drivers Hänninen and Kopecký have impressive records in recent years, Hänninen winning the IRC in 2010 before combining an IRC campaign with a championship winning season in the Super 2000 class of the World Rally Championship this year. Kopecký meanwhile continued his unlucky streak in the IRC, having finished runner up in the series for the last three years now.

Finnish racer Hänninen will line up alongside Le Mans racer Tom Kristensen for Team Nordic in the ROC Nations Cup, while Kopecký, from the Czech Republic, will line up alongside Rusian Formula 1 racer Vitaly Petrov for Team Slavic, ROC’s first ever Eastern European partnership. Both drivers will then battle it out in the individual event the next day.

Hänninen said: “It’s an honour to be competing at the Race Of Champions. Finland has an impressive ROC record dating all the way back to Juha Kankkunen who won the first event in 1988. I’ve taken three wins in each of the S-WRC and the IRC this year, but I’m the only Finn in the ROC line-up so far – so no pressure then! Hopefully Tom and I have a blend of racing and rally experience that will work well as we try to take the ROC Nations Cup back to our part of the world.”

Kopecký added: “It’s been a strong 2011 for me and this chance to race against the world’s best drivers is the perfect way to cap off the year. I actually used to race touring cars before I switched to rallies so hopefully that can help me with the quick car changes. I’m looking forward to joining up with Vitaly for Team Slavic and I hope we can perform well in the ROC Nations Cup on behalf of Eastern Europe.”

ROC race organiser Fredrik Johnsson said: “The Race Of Champions started as an event for rally drivers before we opened up to other racing series. So we are thrilled to be able to add two more rally experts to our line-up for Düsseldorf. Juho and Jan have both performed well in recent years and they’ll both be tough opponents for anyone who has to race them in December.”

Drivers confirmed for the 2011 Race Of Champions:

• Sebastian VETTEL, 2010 and 2011 Formula 1 World Champion
• Michael SCHUMACHER, seven-time Formula 1 World Champion
• Jenson BUTTON, 2009 Formula 1 World Champion
• Andy PRIAULX, three-time World Touring Car Champion
• Travis PASTRANA, four-time Rally America winner and X-Games legend
• Brian DEEGAN, 13 X-games medals including Rally Cross gold in 2011
• Tom KRISTENSEN, eight-time Le Mans 24-Hour race winner
• Mattias EKSTROM, DTM star and triple ROC Champion of Champions
• David COULTHARD, winner of 13 Formula 1 grands prix
• Sébastien OGIER, winner of five WRC rallies in 2011
• Romain GROSJEAN, 2011 GP2 Series Champion
• Martin TOMCZYK, 2011 DTM Champion
• Vitaly PETROV, Formula 1 driver for Lotus Renault GP
• Timo GLOCK, Formula 1 driver for Marussia Virgin Racing
• Timo SCHEIDER, 2008 and 2009 DTM Champion
• Jan KOPECKÝ, three-time Intercontinental Rally Challenge runner-up
• Juho HÄNNINEN, 2011 S-WRC champion and 2010 IRC champion
• Filipe ALBUQUERQUE, 2010 Race Of Champions Winner

Andreas Mikkelsen (right) celebrates his victory with co-driver Ola Floene - Photo Credit: ircseries.com

Andreas Mikkelsen has won the Intercontinental Rally Challenge title after a dominant victory on Rally Cyprus.

The Norwegian Skoda UK driver entered the rally fourth in the drivers’ standings, but used the double points awarded in Cyprus to overturn a 19.5 point deficit to Jan Kopecky, who finished the rally in second place in his factory-entered Skoda.

Mikkelsen was quickest through the rally-opening street stage in Pafos on Thursday evening, but briefly lost it to Thierry Neuville when he spun on SS3 on Friday morning.

He would regain the lead on the next stage when Neuville lost more than two minutes with a puncture and subsequent battery problems. The Belgian, winner of the prestigious rallies in Corsica and Sanremo this year, would be forced to retire all together due to alternator failure on the following test.

Neuville joined another title contender and 2010 champion Juho Hanninen on the sidelines, the Finn having crashed out on the rally’s first proper stage.

This left the championship a straight fight between Mikkelsen and Kopecky. Nasser Al-Attiyah was separating the pair on the rally in his Ford, ending Saturday 20 seconds behind Mikkelsen and 25 seconds ahead of Kopecky.

Mikkelsen extended his lead over the Qatari to 26.8s on Sunday morning, before an engine problem at midday service brought the Dakar winner’s rally to an end. Both Mikkelsen and Kopecky picked up punctures on the first stage of the afternoon loop, but it was the Czech driver who lost the greater amount of time. 1m40s separated the pair by the end of the rally, as Mikkelsen won the title by just 1.5 points from Kopecky.

Patrick Sandell scored his first IRC podium in third after a rally-long battle with Freddy Loix. The Belgian would fall back to fifth by the finish behind Karl Kruuda after developing engine troubles.

Matthias Kahle finished a strong sixth for Skoda Deutschland to complete a top six lockout for Skoda. Toshi Arai finished seventh in his Subaru to claim the Production Cup title, ahead of Mark Wallenwein in a second Skoda Deutschland entry. Jean-Michel Raoux clinched the 2WD title in ninth overall, with Doros Loucaides finishing as the top local driver in tenth.

2011 Cyprus Rally – Results after 11 stages:

Final drivers’ standings after 11 rounds:

Jason Pritchard - Photo Credit: rally-irc.com

Jason Pritchard finished a fine 12^th overall and first in Group N on Rally of Scotland, despite sustaining a broken damper on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier.

The 23-year-old Welshman said: “I’m delighted to finish and delighted with my performance, this was one of the most testing events I’ve done and I can’t thank my team enough, everyone delivered this weekend and I’m so pleased to finish first in my class and reward the hard work.”

His North Road Garage (NRG)-backed Subaru Impreza suffered a broken damper on one of Saturday’s stages, which threatened to bring an early end to his rally due to a lack of parts.

“We did consider pulling out of the event on Saturday night but I’m thrilled we didn’t, each stage on the Sunday could have been my last but it proved not to be the case and I’m just pleased that my form is continuing to gather pace before some big events towards the end of the year.”

An engine failure on the Tuesday evening prior to the event had almost prevented Pritchard from taking the start of the rally, but his NRG team worked hard to fit a new engine in time for the beginning of the event.

“They worked so hard, even before we’d driven a stage here in Scotland,” he added. “I can’t thank every member of my team, a real team effort and I’m so glad to have finished top.”

Pritchard will use the upcoming Tempest Rally in Aldershot as preparation for his participation on Wales Rally GB, where he will look for a strong result on home soil.

Tony Jardine overcame technical problems and a puncture to claim a class podium on the IRC qualifier.

Motorsports pundit Tony Jardine and co-driver Gordon Noble made it to the finish of RAC MSA Rally of Scotland in 21^st overall and third in their class.

The SkyBet/ProSpeed team suffered technical problems and a puncture on Saturday but made up places on Sunday despite sustaining broken suspension. After 14 stages, they ended up with a podium finish in their Ford Fiesta R2.

“The stages in Scotland are tough, so I’m pleased to have finished the rally in one piece and with a podium in our class,” said Sky Sports News F1 analyst Jardine.

“We’ve had lots of dramas today as the left front suspension was in danger of collapsing. It has been a case of nursing the car through arguably four of the fastest stages of the event, plus we have been struggling with some intercom problems. Probably on High Corrie 2 is where I have personally been at my best and Gordon has been absolutely brilliant, he really got into it. The car has taken so much punishment and there have been so many other cars off that it has mainly been about survival, with ProSpeed keeping the Fiesta running for us.”

Experienced Northern Irish co-driver Noble was navigating Jardine for the first time.

“We knew some of the stage conditions were going to be bad but we didn’t expect it to be as bad as it was on Drummond Hill and Errochty,” said Noble. “They were treacherous in terms of rocks and mud and our visibility was at a minimum through there, as half of our screen was steamed up. We have been trying to preserve the car, but it has been a truly demanding event.

“More than anything Tony has done really well to keep going, the car is not easy to drive and the stages have been in bad condition, mainly because there were 100 cars over these roads in similar weather conditions last Saturday on the Colin McRae Stages. Ultimately, we have achieved what we set out to do which was to make sure we reached the finish ramp. It has been challenging, but fun.”

Andreas Mikkelsen - Photo Credit: rally-irc.com

Andreas Mikkelsen has sealed his first Intercontinental Rally Challenge victory on the RAC MSA Rally of Scotland, handing Skoda UK a win on home soil.

The Norwegian driver took a lead of 50 seconds into the final day, and although Skoda Motorsport driver Juho Hanninen cut the gap to less than 30 seconds through the opening loop of three stages, Mikkelsen remained in control through the final four stages. His final winning margin over the defending series champion Hanninen was 26.4 seconds.

Mikkelsen’s win in Scotland comes after fighting for glory on both of the previous two events in Hungary and Sanremo.

“What a fantastic weekend,” he said at the end of the final stage. “We were so close to winning in Hungary and even closer in Sanremo, but we could not have found a better place to score our first IRC win on Skoda UK’s home event. The feeling is just amazing and this result gives us something to really build on for our next rally in Cyprus.”

Hanninen had started the day in third place, just one second behind Peugeot France-backed Bryan Bouffier. After being passed by the Finn on the opening stage of the day, Bouffier settled for third place, dropping time with a brake problem on SS12 and receiving a ten second penalty for being late into SS13 as he fixed the issue.

Thierry Neuville fell from fourth to eighth when he spun into a ditch on SS10. Patrik Sandell was quickest on that stage and would have leapfrogged Craig Breen into fourth place, only to break his suspension just before the stage end, preventing him from continuing.

This allowed Ireland’s Breen to take an impressive fourth place, resisting points leader Jan Kopecky despite an engine problem on SS11. Neuville won both of the rally-closing runs around the Scone Palace stage to steal sixth from Toni Gardemeister.

Jarkko Nikara had been running in a strong sixth in his Group N Mitsubishi, ahead of fellow Finn Gardemeister. He fell to eighth with a puncture on SS12 and then crashed out on the following test.

Alastair Fisher recovered from transmission problems on Saturday to finish eighth in his M-Sport-run Ford Fiesta. He benefited when British and Scottish champion David Bogie was forced to retire with suspension damage.

Guy Wilks had been fighting Mikkelsen for the victory when he went off the road on Saturday and lost six minutes. He had worked his way back up to ninth behind Fisher but broke a wheel on the very last stage. Toshi Arai moved up into ninth place in his R4-specification Subaru, with Skoda Deutschland’s Matthias Kahle taking tenth.

Jason Pritchard finished 12^th as the top Group N runner in his Subaru, while Estonia’s Martin Kangur won the 2WD category in 14^th overall.

Hanninen has moved to just six points behind teammate Kopecky in the points, but must wait to find out whether he will be entered at the season finale in Cyprus, where double points are on offer.

Top ten finishers after 15 stages:

Drivers’ standings after 10 of 11 rounds:

Andreas Mikkelsen - Photo Credit: rally-irc.com

Andreas Mikkelsen is currently poised for a maiden Intercontinental Rally Challenge victory and a home win for his entrant Skoda UK on RAC MSA Rally of Scotland. The Norwegian driver leads by 50 seconds heading into the final day.

Peugeot UK counterpart Guy Wilks won the two night stages that began the rally on Friday evening, but Mikkelsen had moved ahead after SS4 this morning when Wilks dropped a few seconds to an off-road excursion.

Things got far worse for Wilks on the following stage though when he went off the road again, this time losing more than six minutes to Mikkelsen and falling to 23^rd. He said that he thought that he had picked up a puncture and was pushing to limit the time loss, causing his off.

At this point Mikkelsen had a lead of nearly 30 seconds to second placed Thierry Neuville, but his margin grew when the Belgian spun twice on SS7 lost 50 seconds and dropped to fourth. The leg-closing SS8 was cancelled due to poor road conditions.

Fellow Peugeot driver Bryan Bouffier inherited second place, but is only one second ahead of Juho Hanninen.

Per-Gunnar Andersson was running a highly impressive fourth for Proton ahead of Hanninen during the morning, but picked up more than two minutes of time penalties for a late arrival at midday service and two jump starts, pushing him out of the top ten. Teammate Alister McRae was ninth until stopping on SS5 with a drop in oil pressure.

Ireland’s Craig Breen has climbed to fifth in his Fiesta, passing Skoda Sweden’s Patrik Sandell. Points leader Jan Kopecky has struggled on the slippery forest stages and lies seventh.

Jarkko Nikara leads the Production Cup in eighth overall, in a battle with fellow Evo IX driver and newly-crowned British and Scottish champion David Bogie. The pair are sandwiching Skoda driver Toni Gardemeister.

Thierry Neuville - Photo Credit: rally-irc.com

Thierry Neuville won Rallye Sanremo in a third consecutive close finish in an Intercontinental Rally Challenge event.

Freddy Loix began the second day in the lead, 2.7 seconds ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen after moving past the Norwegian on the final night stage of the opening leg. Peugeot Belux driver Neuville meanwhile was 16.6s behind the Skoda duo.

Mikkelsen regained the lead on Saturday’s first stage, before Loix went fastest two stages later to move back ahead. Loix however then crashed out on the following stage, and although he and co-driver Frederic Miclotte escaped unharmed their car was blocking the road and the stage had to be cancelled.

Neuville had been closing on Mikkelsen throughout the day and took the lead on the penultimate stage. This put him 0.3s ahead going into the final test, which he duly won to extend his final winning advantage to 1.5s. Mikkelsen is still waiting for his first IRC victory having crashed out of the lead in Hungary two weeks ago.

Bryan Bouffier completed the podium in third, 16s behind Neuville in his Peugeot France-backed 207. Points leader Jan Kopecky had a quiet rally after his narrow wins in the Czech Republic and Hungary and finished over a minute behind in fourth.

Bruno Magalhaes finished a solid fifth ahead of local drivers Alessandro Perico and Umberto Scandola. Pierre Campana was eighth with Toni Gardemeister and Giandomenico Basso completing the top ten.

Final results after 13 stages:

Drivers’ standings after 9 of 11 rounds:

Freddy Loix - Photo Credit: rally-irc.com

Freddy Loix leads fellow Skoda driver Andreas Mikkelsen by just 2.7 seconds after the first day of Rallye Sanremo.

Skoda UK driver Mikkelsen was lead through the opening six stages but lost out to BFO Skoda driver Loix when the Belgian won the final 44 kilometre Ronde night stage by 7.2s.

Thierry Neuville had been right behind his fellow Belgian Loix going into Ronde but suffered from overheating brakes and has fallen to 16.6s off the lead. He is just 1.2s ahead of fellow Peugeot driver Bryan Bouffier.

Points leader Jan Kopecky is fifth in his factory Skoda, ahead of Bruno Magalhaes and local Ford driver Umberto Scandola. Another Italian, Alessandro Perico is eighth, just 0.4s ahead of Pierre Campana after climbing up from 12^th on Ronde. Toni Gardemeister completes the top ten in his Skoda.

Guy Wilks continued his horrid run of form for Peugeot UK when he hit a bridge parapet on the opening stage and smashed his front-left wheel, forcing him into retirement.

Juho Hanninen returns to defend the Rally of Scotland title he won last year - Photo Credit: rally-irc.com

Organisers of the RAC MSA Rally of Scotland have revealed a strong 39-car entry list for this year’s running of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge event.

Traditionally the rally has suffered from weaker entries than many events on the calendar due to its end-of-season date. However, with points being offered on a 1.5 coefficient this year many of the championship’s regulars have committed to the rally, which will take place between 7-9 October and will be the penultimate round of the IRC season.

Monte Carlo winner Bryan Bouffier is the number 1 seed in his Peugeot France-backed, PH-Sport-run Peugeot 207 S2000. Points leader Jan Kopecky is next up for Skoda Motorsport, ahead of Belgian duo Freddy Loix (BFO Skoda) and Thierry Neuville (Peugeot Belux). Skoda will enter another factory-run Fabia for reigning IRC champion Juho Hanninen, who won in Scotland last year.

Skoda UK and Peugeot UK will both hope for a home victory with their respective drivers Andreas Mikkelsen and Guy Wilks. IRC regulars Toni Gardemeister, Karl Kruuda and Patrik Sandell will all be present, as will Per-Gunnar Andersson and Alister McRae in factory Proton Satria Neo S2000s. McRae recorded the Malaysian marque’s best ever IRC result with second on his home rally in 2009.

WRC Academy drivers Craig Breen and Alastair Fisher will both look to take on the big boys in their Ford Fiesta S2000s. They are joined by British Rally Championship drivers Robert Barrable and Jonny Greer in Skodas. Completing the Super 2000 entries also with Skodas are German Matthias Kahle and Turkish female driver Bercu Cetinkaya, who finished seventh in a Peugeot last year.

Local driver David Bogie, who is poised to complete a historic Scottish and British championship double this year, will drive his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. A similar car will be entered by former Pirelli Star Driver Jarkko Nikara. Japanese duo Toshi Arai and Fumio Nutahara will both be present in their R4-spec Subarus.

Click here to see the full entry list

Kopecky’s victory over Freddy Loix on Rally Zlin in the Czech Republic by 1.2 seconds two weeks ago had been the series’ closest ever finish, but his winning margin in the IRC’s first visit to Hungary bettered that.

Skoda UK’s Andreas Mikkelsen had looked poised for a maiden IRC win. He won three of the first four stages on Saturday to open up a 14.4s lead over Neuville. Kopecky won the three repeat stages in the afternoon (the final stage SS8 was cancelled due to crowd safety issues) to close to 8.7s behind the Norwegian overnight.

Mikkelsen fought back on Sunday morning’s three stages, increasing his advantage to 18.8s. He lost 8.4s on SS12 though and then slid wide on a patch of gravel on a fast right-hander on the penultimate stage, hitting a tree with the rear of his car and ending his rally.

Kopecky inherited the lead, but Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg driver Neuville had closed to within 8.1s of the Czech driver having taken three consecutive stage wins. Neuville added a fourth stage win on the final test, but could only beat Kopecky by 7.3s, meaning he fell short of adding a second win of the season to his Tour de Corse triumph.

Freddy Loix had been fighting over second with Kopecky and Neuville early on but couldn’t keep up with the duo and settled for third exactly a minute behind the winner. Monte Carlo winner Bryan Bouffier had a quiet rally after struggling for confidence on the unfamiliar stages on the first day, and finished fourth.

Frigyes Turan was the pre-event favourite amongst the local drivers, having finished in the points on WRC Rally Bulgaria last year and being a regular in the SWRC this year in his M-Sport Fiesta S2000. He ran third after the first couple of stages on Saturday before slipping back to fifth. His rally came to an abrupt end on SS5 when he clipped one of the logs placed on the inside of the corners and rolling off the road.

Turan had been fighting for position with Peugeot UK’s Guy Wilks, but the Brit’s rally ended on the very same stage when his engine overheated.

Hermann Gassner Jr held ninth place overnight in his Red Bull Skoda but set great times on the final day to come through to fifth at the finish. He passed the top local driver Gygory Aschenbrenner on the penultimate stage. Aschenbrenner impressed in his Mitsubishi, posting top seven stage times on nine of the 13 stages run.

Gassner finished a strong fifth on his IRC debut. Photo: rally-irc.com

He was half a minute ahead of former WRC star and IRC regular Toni Gardemeister, who struggled to find the pace needed to match his Super 2000 rivals in his privately-run Skoda and suffered brake problems early on. He finished just ahead of local Peugeot driver Robert Butor. Bruno Magalhaes miscalculated his gear ratios at the start and lost time on the flat out stages as he bounced off the rev limiter. Having solved that problem he came through to finish ninth. Austrian Beppo Harrach completed the top ten in his Mitsubishi, beating Karl Kruuda by just 2.1s.

The factory Protons of Giandomenico Basso and Per-Gunnar Andersson both retired early on with engine and technical issues respectively.

IRC 2WD Cup regular Stefano Albertini defeated local driver Menyhert Kroszer by just 1.9s in 20^th and 21^st overall.

Kopekcy has taken the points lead in the absence of Skoda teammate Juho Hanninen, with Loix second 17 points behind. Three rounds remain, with the first of those being Sanremo in Italy on 22-24 September.

Top ten results after 14 stages:

Drivers’ standings after 8 of 11 rounds:

1. Jan Kopecky, 120 pts
2. Freddy Loix, 103
3. Juho Hanninen, 98
4. Thierry Neuville, 78
5. Bryan Bouffier, 73

The rally began with a superspecial stage in Zlin on Friday evening, won by reigning champion Juho Hanninen. Skoda UK’s Andreas Mikkelsen moved into the lead on the first stage on Saturday morning, just 0.1s ahead of stage winner Guy Wilks of Peugeot UK.

Kopecky then won the next stage to move into the lead, extending his advantage over Mikkelsen to 10.4s by stage six. The Norwegian cut the lead down to 7.3s on the next, but then suffered a puncture on SS8 that lost him over a minute and a half. After SS9 the final stage of the day, Hanninen and Loix were tied for second place, 19.7s behind Kopecky.

Kopecky had his lead slashed to just 5.6s over Loix after his powersteering failed on Sunday’s first stage. Loix closed to just one second behind over the next two stages before midday service, as Kopecky continued having made makeshift repairs to his Fabia.

Kopecky was marginally quicker than Loix on the next two tests, meaning he went into the final stage with a lead of two seconds. Loix was 0.8s quicker through the final test, but Kopecky was able to hang to win.

Hanninen had to settle for third place, ending up 37.4s behind Kopecky as he completed a 1-2-3 for Skoda on home soil. Thierry Neuville was the top Peugeot in fourth, taking the place when Bryan Bouffier crashed out on Sunday’s opening stage. Mikkelsen took four stage wins to close within 6.1s of Neuville after recovering from his puncture.

Craig Breen pushing the limit on his way to an impressive seventh overall. Photo: ircseries.com

Toni Gardemesiter was sixth in his Skoda Fabia, just 4.2s ahead of Craig Breen. The young Irishman made an impressive debut in the IRC in his Ford Fiesta. Local favourite Roman Kresta was eighth, ahead of Proton’s Per-Gunnar Andersson and Estonian youngster Karl Kruuda in his Skoda.

Wilks fell from fifth to 13^th on SS8 when he slid wide into bushes and picked up a puncture. He had worked his way up to 8^th by midday on Sunday before his alternator failed prior to SS13, giving him his second consecutive IRC retirement.

Jaroslav Orsak took the Production Cup honours in 16^th overall in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, while Stefano Albertini was top 2WD Cup driver in his Renault Clio R3 in 27^th overall.

Kopecky’s win moves him to just three points behind points leader Hanninen, with Loix ten points behind the Finn. Four rallies remain, with the first trip to Hungary for the Mecsek Rallye being on 9-11 September.

Top ten results after 15 stages:

Drivers’ standings after 7 out of 11 rallies:

1. Juho Hanninen, 98pts
2. Jan Kopecky, 95
3. Freddy Loix, 88
4. Bryan Bouffier, 61
5. Thierry Neuville, 60
6. Andreas Mikkelsen, 56

Mikkelsen had closed up to be just 1.3 seconds behind Hanninen going into the final day’s five stages. The Skoda UK driver was then four seconds quicker than the factory Skoda Motorsport driver through the opening test SS13 to take the lead of the rally.

Hanninen then regained the lead on SS14 after flying through the stage 13.9s quicker than Mikkelsen or anybody else. Mikkelsen then won the SS15 superspecial, but was only three tenths quicker than Hanninen. This gave the Finn a lead of 10.9s heading to the service break prior to the final two stages.

Mikkelsen dropped 17.6s to his rival through the penultimate stage SS16, conceding that he was now settling for second place. Hanninen extended his lead to 42.3s on the final stage to secure the victory.

Jan Kopecky finished third to complete a 1-2-3 result for Skoda, having taken the position from last year’s rally winner Bruno Magalhaes by winning the opening stage of the day. Magalhaes retired his Peugeot Sport Portugal 207 before the next stage after suffering transmission failure.

Bryan Bouffier moved up into fourth place after Magalhaes’ retirement and stayed there until the finish, some three and a half minutes off the lead. Patrik Sandell recorded his best IRC finish yet in fifth place for Skoda Sweden, after getting ahead of local star Ricardo Moura at the start of the day.

Moura finished sixth, taking the Production Cup honours in his Mitsubishi. He was three and a half minutes ahead of his nearest rival Vitor Lopes, who came home seventh overall. Vitor Pascoal was eighth ahead of Sergio Silva.

Paulo Maciel completed the top ten in his Citroen Saxo, claiming the 2WD Cup win. He finished just one tenth of a second ahead of Fumio Nutahara in his R4-spec Subaru.

Hanninen’s victory is enough for him to regain the standings lead in the absence of Freddy Loix. He is four points ahead of Bouffier, with Loix and Kopecky tied for third a further nine points adrift. The next round of the IRC is Rally Zlin in the Czech Republic on 26-28 August.

Final top ten positions after 17 stages:

Drivers’ standings after 6 of 11 rounds:

1. Juho Hanninen, 83
2. Bryan Bouffier, 79
3. Freddy Loix, 70
4. Jan Kopecky, 70
5. Thierry Neuville, 48
6. Andreas Mikkelsen, 46

Starting the day with an advantage of 4.3s after the opening three stages last evening, Hanninen stretched this to 9.7 over SS4 and SS6 (SS5 was cancelled due to the presence of livestock on the stage). Mikkelsen meanwhile recovered from his power steering failure on the opening evening to move back into second place past Bruno Magalhaes.

Mikkelsen won SS7, but Hanninen then took SS8 to stretch his lead to 10.1s. SS9 became the second stage of the day to be cancelled due to delays in recovering a number of stranded cars from the first pass through the stage.

Mikkelsen then won all of the stages on the final loop of three to close up to just 1.3s behind Hanninen.

Magalhaes remains in third place overall, 50 seconds off the lead and just 2.4 seconds ahead of Jan Kopekcy. Bryan Bouffier has moved up from eighth to fifth place during the course of the day. He moved past local driver Ricardo Moura on the opening stage of the day, and took another place when Guy Wilks slid off the road and into retirement on SS6.

Bouffier later benefited from a penalty handed out to Patrik Sandell. The Swede was given a one minute penalty for checking in early to the cancelled SS9, a penalty the Swede feels was handed out in error. It dropped him to seventh behind Bouffier and Moura.

The top ten is completed by Moura’s nearest rivals in the Production Cup. Vitor Lopes is eighth, with Vitor Pascoal ninth and Sergio Silva in tenth. Toshi Arai had held tenth overnight but stopped on the day’s opening stage with an electrical fault on his R4-spec Impreza.

Paulo Maciel continues to lead the 2WD category, nearest rival and defending champion Harry Hunt going off and losing five minutes on SS6.

Top ten positions after SS12:

It was Skoda UK’s Andreas Mikkelsen who won the opening stage, but the Norwegian driver suffered power steering failure on his Fabia towards the end of SS2, dropping him to second overall behind Skoda Motorsport driver Hanninen.

Mikkelsen then lost a further five seconds to Hanninen on SS3, a 2km superspecial, meaning he has slipped to third overall behind defending Azores champion Bruno Magalhaes. Magalhaes lies 4.3 seconds behind Hanninen in his Peugeot Sport Portugal 207.

Hanninen’s factory Skoda teammate Jan Kopecky is in fourth place, after jumping ahead of both Patrik Sandell and Guy Wilks on SS2. Skoda Sweden entry Sandell remains fifth, while Wilks dropped time to ensure a better road position for tomorrow. He is seventh, behind local Mitsubishi driver Ricardo Moura, who leads the Production Cup category.

Bryan Bouffier is down in eighth after struggling with running first on the road in his Peugeot France entered car. The Monte Carlo winner has switched from being run by PH Sport to the German ROMO operation for this rally.

Vitor Lopes is ninth in his Subaru, passing Toshi Arai in the superspecial after the Japanese driver spun his R4-spec Impreza. French driver Julien Maurin failed to make the end of SS2 in his Ford Fiesta S2000, after being eighth quickest through the opening test.

Portuguese driver Paulo Maciel leads the way in the 2WD Cup in his Citroen Saxo in 16^th overall, one place ahead of defending champion Harry Hunt.

Top ten standings after SS3:

The rally takes place on the volcanic mid-Atlantic island of Sao Miguel, and despite being the sixth event of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge season, it is the first gravel rally of the year.

With gravel being Mikkelsen’s preferred surface he is confident of a first podium finish of the season, and his first in the IRC with Skoda.

“I really enjoy rallying in the Azores because the stages are really nice, especially the volcano stage Sete Cidades, which is a beautiful stage with big drops,” he said. “The rest of the rally has beautiful landscape too, very green, nice and warm and really challenging for a driver, so I’m looking forward to it.

“It will be interesting to see the level of the drivers on gravel this year after five rallies on asphalt. I feel very comfortable on asphalt, but I always consider myself a little bit more of a gravel driver, so this rally certainly shouldn’t put me at a disadvantage. For sure we want to be on the podium at the finish – and that’s the aim in the Azores.”

Andreas and co-driver Ola Floene will be one of only eight crews in Super 2000 machinery on the rally. Some of his main competition will come from Skoda Motorsport factory drivers Juho Hanninen and Jan Kopecky, as well as Skoda Sweden entry Patrik Sandell, who, like Mikkelsen, is on his favoured surface.

Bruno Magalhaes will hope to retain the crown he won last year with Peugeot Sport Portugal, while Bryan Bouffier and Guy Wilks will also contend for honours in their Peugeots. Julien Maurin completes the S2000 pack in his Fiesta.

The first leg on Thursday afternoon/evening is made up of three stages, one of which is a superspecial. Friday’s second leg sees nine stages, with five during leg three on Saturday.

The Skoda driver won all six stages on Friday to enter the second and final day, which was made up of twelve stages, with a lead of 36 seconds. He was able to extend this lead to 1m41s over Saturday’s stages, of which he won just three.

His nearest rival at the start of Saturday’s action had been Peugeot UK’s Guy Wilks, but a double puncture on SS10 lost him five minutes and dropped him to 11^th overall. He was able to recover to finish fifth, despite another puncture in the evening.

This allowed Bryan Bouffier to finish in second place in his PH-run Peugeot. He had been fighting with local driver Pieter Tsjoen until the Belgian damaged his Kronos Peugeot’s radiator in a bizarre road section incident. He had stopped at the side of the road for a short break but managed to hit a metal post as he pulled away.

Hans Weijs finished an impressive third on his S2000 debut, albeit nearly four minutes down on Loix. The former Junior World Rally Championship contender had been fighting with the similar Skoda of Bernd Casier until the Belgian suffered power steering failure on SS14.

Michal Solowow made it home in fourth in his Ford Fiesta, overcoming a sticking throttle late on, with Wilks taking fifth place from Karl Kruuda on the final stage.

Toni Gardemeister finished seventh but would have been higher up on his Ypres debut had it not been for a puncture, with Luca Rossetti finishing eighth after a spin and two punctures on Saturday alone.

Bernhard ten Brinke was ninth, just ahead of fellow privateer Skoda driver Robert Barrable. The Irishman had been running seventh after SS2 until a spin dropped him to 17^th.

After scoring a podium on his Super 2000 debut, Hans Weijs was awarded the Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Trophy, given to the driver who best embodies the spirit of the rally legend.

Andreas Mikkelsen retired on SS1 after entering a ditch in his Skoda UK entry, but won four stages after restarting on Saturday morning. Thierry Neuville also retired on the opening stage after wheel damage, but retired again on Saturday with damaged suspension after hitting a rock.

Local drivers Jonas Langenakens and Kris Princen won the Production and 2WD categories in 13^th and 17^th overall respectively.

With Juho Hanninen not in attendance and Jan Kopecky crashing in shakedown, Loix now leads the standings by three points from Bouffier, with Hanninen a further nine behind. The next IRC round is Rally Azores on 14-16 July.

Final top ten positions after 18 stages:

Loix, chasing his seventh win on the event, won all of the six stages in his Skoda, to hold a 36.7 second lead over Guy Wilks of Peugeot UK. Wilks has held second place since the opening stage.

The rally had been billed as a battle between Belgian veteran Loix and young compatriot Thierry Neuville. However, the Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg man broke a wheel, and consequently his suspension, on the opening stage and was forced to retire. Joining him on the sidelines after SS1 was Skoda UK’s Andreas Mikkelsen, who found a ditch.

Local man Pieter Tsjoen is third in his Kronos-run Peugeot. He took the position from Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot France) on SS2, but is now fighting to keep hold of it from the Frenchman.

Former Junior World Rally Championship driver Hans Weijs is an impressive fifth on his S2000 debut in his Skoda Fabia. He has the similar machines of Bernd Casier and Toni Gardemeister behind him.

Luca Rossetti runs eighth in his Abarth Punto, having complained of engine problems on SS4. Pole Michal Solowow is ninth in his Fiesta, just ahead of Estonian Karl Krudda.

Giandomenico Basso is 11^th in the first of the Protons, with teammate PG Andersson 18^th.

Ireland’s Robert Barrable held an outstanding seventh after SS2 in his Skoda, but a spin on SS3 means he is now down in 17^th.

Top ten positions after SS6:

It will be the first event in 2011 that the Norwegian, who turned 22 yesterday (Wednesday), has contested before. 80% of the route for this year’s Ypres Rally is the same as it was last year, when Mikkelsen finished fifth.

Punctures on the previous two rounds of the season in Corsica and Ukraine have cost Mikkelsen the chance of a podium result. He knows that, with a bit more luck on his side, he can score a top result in Belgium, despite tough competition.

“The Ypres Rally will be very tough, especially against the local drivers like Freddy Loix and Thierry Neuville who know the roads so well, but we still have the possibility to do very well ourselves,” he said.

“Our pace has been getting better and better in the Fabia S2000 this year and now we are up with the fastest in the IRC. We made good progress in Corsica and then took another step up in Ukraine, and we can go even faster still. Ypres is the first rally in this year’s IRC that I have done before and eighty per cent of the stages are the same as last year.

“I think that with a good recce and very good pace notes we can really challenge for a top finish. We’ve had a little bit of bad luck this year, but I have a very good feeling about Ypres.”

The Skoda UK car will be one of 31 Super 2000 cars on the rally, and one of 13 Skoda Fabia S2000s taking part. Amongst those will also be Ulsterman Jonathan Greer and Ireland’s Robert Barrable, who currently lie third and seventh respectively in the British Rally Championship standings.

A ten second penalty for a jump start on the second of two opening stages on Thursday left the reigning champion 11th at the start of Friday’s action. Corsica winner Thierry Neuville (Peugeot Belgium Luxembourg) was the early pacesetter, winning the opening stage and remaining in the lead until a spin on SS5 left him beached for three minutes, dropping him to ninth.

Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot France) inherited the lead, but by this point Hanninen had already recovered to second place, just 5.7 seconds behind. Hanninen moved into the lead after winning SS7, and finished Friday with a lead of 8.2s over Bouffier.

Bouffier reduced the gap to 5.1s on Saturday morning, but Hanninen was quicker than his rival through the final loop of stages on Saturday afternoon to win by 11.7s.

Jan Kopecky moved into third place when Neuville spun and remained there to give the Skoda factory team a double podium finish. After suffering a puncture on Friday morning, Skoda UK driver Andreas Mikkelsen showed strong pace but was unable to overhaul Kopecky.

Mikkelsen’s counterpart Guy Wilks of Peugeot UK also suffered a puncture on Friday, restricting him to fifth place having run second to Neuville early on. Neuville himself recovered to finish sixth, despite being another to suffer a puncture. Toni Gardemeister finished seventh in his TGS Skoda, with Estonian youngster Karl Kruuda eighth on his IRC debut and Patrik Sandell ninth in two more Fabias. The top ten was rounded out by top 2WD Cup runner Jean-Michel Raoux in his Renault Clio.

Hanninen’s victory moves him back to the top of the standings, three points ahead of Kopecky. Bouffier and Neuville are nine and ten points off Hanninen in third and fourth respectively. Freddy Loix has dropped from the championship lead to fifth after not attending the rally. The next round is the Ypres Rally in Belgium on 23-25 June.

Top ten finishers after 14 stages:

1. Juho Hanninen Skoda Motorsport 2h54m14.0s
2. Bryan Bouffier Peugeot France + 11.7s
3. Jan Kopecky Skoda Motorsport + 38.7s
4. Andreas Mikkelsen Skoda UK + 57.3s
5. Guy Wilks Peugeot UK + 4m00.4s
6. Thierry Neuville Peugeot Belux + 5m01.5s
7. Toni Gardemeister TGS Skoda + 7m59.3s
8. Karl Kruuda ME3 Skoda + 10m01.3s
9. Patrik Sandell Skoda Sweden + 18m08.9s
10. Jean-Michel Raoux 100% Renault + 21m42.9s

The rally is a new event on the series’ calendar, and with none of the regular drivers having driven the stages before, Andreas believes that he and co-driver Ola Floene will have a great opportunity to score a good result.

“The Prime Yalta Rally is new to the IRC and none of the championship contenders have done the rally before, so I feel this could be really good for us,” said the Norwegian.

“Ola and I have a very good pace note system and I learn new stages quickly, so we are always comfortable driving very fast through new stages for the first time. A nice clean and fast start will be important, because we drive over the same roads many times, so drivers will soon get to know their way around.

“The only thing I’ve heard about the event is that the stages are really challenging and the grip level is low. There are a lot of tarmac experts in the IRC, so the less that is known about a rally and the more difficult the conditions the better it is for us. Let’s just say we are really looking forward to going to the Ukraine for the first time and hope it’s as big a challenge as everyone predicts it will be.”

“I’m still kicking myself for my ‘off’ in Corsica, because it was entirely my fault,” said Wilks. “I had just posted the fastest time on the previous stage, so why did I go and overdo it? My Peugeot 207 S2000 is competitive; I don’t need to take it beyond its limits.”

With the Prime Yalta Rally an unknown for the Intercontinental Rally Challenge crews, Wilks and co-driver Phil Pugh will hope to fight for the victory in their Peugeot 207 S2000, a car that has proven its competitiveness with two wins from the first three rounds of the season.

“We’ve got to get our head down, make good pace notes and do the job in the Ukraine. I’ve never rallied there before. It’s a new adventure and a level playing field for everyone. So it’s game on.”

The Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg driver and his co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul entered Saturday’s six stages with a lead of 23.4 seconds over Skoda Motorsport’s Jan Kopecky.

The Czech driver won the opening stage of the day, SS9 Sarrola – Plage du Liamone to close the gap to Neuville down to 14.5 seconds. However, Neuville hit back to win the next three stages, eventually winning the rally by 15.5 seconds. In doing so, the 22-year-old became the youngest winner of an IRC rally in its five year history.

Freddy Loix finished third in his BFO Skoda, taking the standings lead in the process. He had been demoted outside of the podium places by Skoda UK driver Andreas Mikkelsen on the second stage of the day, but the Norwegian lost more than three minutes on SS12 with a puncture.

Former rally leader Bryan Bouffier had recovered from his puncture on Friday to move up from sixth to fourth, only to crash out on the very last stage, with the live television pictures showing his Peugeot France 207 upside down amongst some trees.

This gave fourth to local star Pierre Campana, on his maiden IRC event in an S2000 car. The Corsican lost two minutes on the final stage with a puncture but was still able to hold onto fourth.

Bruno Magalhaes began the day eighth in the Peugeot Sport Portugal 207, and thanks to Mikkelsen’s puncture he was up to seventh going into the final stage. He benefited from Bouffier’s crash as well as passing the Fiesta of Julien Maurin to move up into fifth overall. Mikkelsen recovered to sixth after his puncture, finishing just 1.9 seconds behind Magalhaes, with Maurin still finishing an IRC-best seventh.

Toni Gardemeister brought his TGS Worldwide Skoda home in eighth despite limping through the final stage with a clutch problem. Patrik Sandell had languished outside of the top ten on his IRC debut with Skoda Sweden for much of the event but ended the rally in ninth. Local driver Jean-Mathieu Leandri completed the top ten in his 207.

Florian Gonon secured Production Cup honours in 11^th overall in his Subaru Impreza, one place ahead of 2WD Cup winner Pierre-Antoine Guglielmi in his Renault Clio.

Peugeot UK’s Guy Wilks went off the road on the Friday’s second stage when running in third position.

Loix now leads the standings, with Neuville and Kopecky tied for second, five points behind Loix. Reigning champion  Juho Hanninen‘s absence from Corsica drops the Finn to fourth, with Bouffier’s retirement leaving the Monte Carlo Rally winner down in fifth. The next round of the IRC season is the Prime Yalta Rally in Ukraine on 2-4 June.

Top ten finishers after SS14:

The Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg driver won the opening two stages on Thursday afternoon, giving himself an overnight lead of 8.9 seconds over Skoda Motorsport driver Jan Kopecky.

A spin on Friday’s opening stage, SS3 Erbajolo – Pont D Altiani saw his lead cut to 1.4 seconds, with Peugeot France driver Bryan Bouffier moving into second place. A stage win for Bouffier on SS4 Barchetta – La Porta saw the Monte Carlo winner move into a 4.2 second lead over Neuville.

However, Bouffier’s lead would not last long as he suffered a puncture on SS5 Taverna – Pont de Castirla, losing a minute and dropping to sixth. Neuville won the stage as he regained the lead, now with an advantage of 15.8 seconds over Kopecky.

SS6, a repeat of SS4, saw former world rally champion Ari Vatanen crash the course opening zero car that he was driving with his son Max. Ari was sent to hospital for precautionary checks after complaining of back pains. The stage was cancelled and run as a liaison section.

Neuville won the remaining two stages to extend his lead to 23.4 seconds. Kopecky remains in second place, while Freddy Loix moved up into third in the BFO Skoda on the final stage of the day, past the Skoda UK entry of Andreas Mikkelsen.

Local driver Pierre Campana is fifth in his Peugeot 207, 17 seconds ahead of Bouffier. Julien Maurin moved up from ninth to seventh on the final stage of the day in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta, passing Peugeot Sport Portugal driver Bruno Magalhaes and Toni Gardemeister in his own TGS Skoda. Another local driver Jean-Mathieu Leandri is tenth in his 207.

Guy Wilks began the day in sixth for Peugeot UK, winning the first stage of the day and moving up to third. However, he went off the road on the next stage, and although his car was undamaged he was stuck in a ditch and unable to return to the road, consigning the Briton to retirement.

Pierre-Antoine Guglielmi continues to lead the 2WD Cup in 13th overall, with Production Cup leader Florian Gonon just behind.

Top ten positions after SS8:

The Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg driver scored an impressive podium result on the previous round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in the Canary Islands and began the Corsican event in even better form by recording the fastest time on both runs through the 27.53 km Le Fangu-Notre Dame de la Serra stage.

Jan Kopecky was second fastest on the opening run and then third on the second run. The Skoda Motorsport driver is second overall, 8.9 seconds behind Neuville.

Monte Carlo Rally winner Bryan Bouffier is third for Peugeot France, taking the position from Skoda UK’s Andreas Mikkelsen on stage two. Bouffier had complained of a problem with his steering wheel at the end of the first stage, but this problem was solved in the service break between the two runs through the stage.

Freddy Loix is fifth in his BFO Skoda, moving ahead of Peugeot UK’s Guy Wilks by going second quickest to compatriot Neuville on the second stage after stiffening his car’s rear suspension between the two stages. Despite losing eight seconds with a spin on the opening stage, Wilks completed the first test just 9.7 seconds down on Neuville, but the deficit to his Kronos stablemate on the next stage was two tenths larger.

Local man Pierre Campana was seventh quickest on both runs through the stage and holds the same position on the overall leaderboard in his 207. Bruno Magalhaes is eighth for Peugeot Sport Portugal, with Toni Gardemeister ninth in his own TGS Worldwide entered-Skoda. Julien Maurin rounds out the top ten in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta.

Outside of the top ten, Patrik Sandell is 13^th on his IRC debut with Skoda Sweden, while Toshi Arai is 16^th on the debut of the R4-specification Subaru Impreza. Florian Gonon leads the Production Cup in 15^th overall, just behind 2WD Cup leader Pierre-Antoine Guglielmi.

Top ten positions after SS2:

Alternatively known as the Rally of 10,000 Corners, the 2011 edition will feature a selection of stages from across a wider area of the island than in recent years.

Thursday afternoon sees two runs over the Le Fangu-Notre Dame de la Serra stage, which at 27.53 km is the longest of the event. Friday’s action sees three stages, each repeated, around the area of Corte. The final day on Saturday consists of three more repeated stages around Ajaccio.

With Juho Hanninen, the winner of the previous round in the Canaries and the points leader after two rounds absent from Corsica, Skoda Motorsport teammate Jan Kopecky will hope to end a run of almost 13 months without an IRC victory to his name. A former points scorer when Corsica hosted the French round of the World Rally Championship, the Czech driver will hope to go one better than his runner-up spot in the Canaries.

Another Skoda driver hoping for victory will be BFO Skoda driver Fredy Loix, looking for his first win of 2011. Also in the Fabia ranks is Skoda UK pilot Andreas Mikkelsen. The Norwegian took part in a regional event on the island in March and will hope to put that experience to good use.

Fellow Scandinavian Patrik Sandell makes his IRC debut in a Skoda Sweden entered Fabia, Corsica being the start of a seven-event programme for the former junior world champion. Toni Gardemeister will hope to take advantage of his experience in Corsica in his second event with his own Skoda Fabia, after finishing 10^th in the Canaries.

Bryan Bouffier will hope to repeat his victory on Rally Monte Carlo with a win on another of the IRC’s classic events – one that would also see the Peugeot France driver return to the top of the standings. Despite his nationality though, the Frenchman has never competed in Corsica before.

Guy Wilks will be aiming for a top result for Peugeot UK, while fellow Kronos-prepared entrant Thierry Neuville will look to build upon the impressive podium finish he scored in the Canaries for Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg. Bruno Magalhaes will want a solid result for Peugeot Sport Portugal, while local driver Pierre Campana makes his Super 2000 debut in a 207 after winning the IRC 2WD Cup in Monte Carlo.

Another entry to look out for will be the debut of the new R4-specification Subaru Impreza, with Toshi Arai behind the wheel, which is expected to be much closer to its Super 2000 rivals than its N4 predecessor was.

Eurosport will again provide comprehensive television coverage of the rally, broadcasting six of the stages live.

Kopecky led at the end of the first day after taking the lead on the second stage. Thierry Neuville held an impressive second position in his Kronos-run Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg 207, ahead of Hanninen.

Neuville took the rally lead on the first stage of Saturday, but on the next test Hanninen surged past both Kopecky and Neuville and into the lead. Hanninen held onto the lead through the final two stages, beating Kopecky by just 1.5 seconds and taking his first IRC win on asphalt.

Neuville ended up in third, his performance enough to earn the Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Trophy. Freddy Loix finished fourth in the BFO Skoda, ahead of Guy Wilks. The Peugeot UK driver came out on top of a close battle during the final day with Skoda UK counterpart Andreas Mikkelsen and Peugeot France driver Bryan Bouffier. Bouffier was unable to repeat his heroics that saw him win the Monte Carlo Rally in January.

Bruno Magalhaes finished eighth for Peugeot Sport Portugal, ahead of Giandomenico Basso who finished ninth on his debut for Proton. Toni Gardemeister rounded out the top ten in his first rally driving for his own TGS Worldwide team in a Skoda.

Joan Vinyes finished 11^th and claimed 2WD Cup honours in his Suzuki, while local driver Jose Barrios won the Production Cup category in his Subaru.

Hanninen’s victory gives him the lead of the drivers’ championship, two points ahead of Bouffier with Loix just one point further behind. The next IRC round is the Tour de Corse on 12-14 May.

Top ten positions after SS12:

Sandell, 28, has competed in the World Rally Championship since 2006, when he won the Junior WRC title. For the past two years he has driven a Skoda Fabia S2000 for the Red Bull Rallye Team, supported by Skoda Sweden.

He will now take the opportunity to make the switch to the IRC. “When we started planning the season and added up all the factors, we realised pretty soon that the IRC was the ideal solution for us this year,” he explained. “Framförallt för att konkurrensen i Super 2000-klassen kommer att bli mycket hårdare där än i SWRCAbove all, the competition in the Super 2000 class will be much harder than in the SWRC in 2011.If we were to continue in the WRC there would only be a handful of drivers fighting for the title. Här känns det som att det är tio-femton som kan vinna varje tävling, säger Patrik Sandell. It feels like there’s ten to fifteen who can win every rally [in the IRC].”

In addition to increased competition, Sandell also stated that the chance to try out new events attracted him to the IRC. “I’ve done the Finnish World Rally five times. Det är visserligen ett fantastiskt roligt rally, men jag vet ärligt sagt inte hur utvecklande det är att köra det en sjätte gång. It is certainly a terrific rally, but I do not honestly see how stimulating it is to drive it for a sixth time. Då tror jag att den här utmaningen ger mig mycket mer i längden, säger Patrik. Then I think that this challenge gives me much more in the long run.”

Sandell will be co-driven by Staffan Parmander, former co-driver to Kenneth Eriksson. Parmander replaces Emil Axelsson, who has become P-G Andersson’s navigator. His Skoda Fabia S2000 will be run by Czech team JM Racing, with support from Skoda Motorsport. Although he will no longer drive for the Red Bull Rallye Team, the energy drinks company will continue to sponsor him.

Skoda Sweden’s support of Sandell’s programme is the largest investment from a Swedish importer for many years. “Skoda is celebrating 110 years in motorsport this year, so there is a long tradition and much experience behind this effort,” said Henrik Svensson, press officer for Skoda Sweden. “Det ska bli spännande att följa Patrik och Staffan, och om de lyckas under säsongen kan framtiden bli riktigt riktigt intressant, säger Henrik Svensson, pressansvarig för Skoda Sverige.It will be exciting to follow Patrick and Staffan, and if they succeed this season the future could be really interesting.”

Sandell’s seven-round programme will begin on the Tour de Corse, round three of the IRC season, on 13-15 May. In the meantime, he will start his home round of the WRC, Rally Sweden, on 10-13 February.

The team was eager for the rally to go well, due to the fact that previous driver Kris Meeke had crashed out on both of Peugeot UK’s previous starts at the Monte Carlo Rally. Wilks, along with co-driver Phil Pugh conducted two days of testing in the local area prior to the rally, in order to try and acquaint themselves with their new Peugeot 207 Super 2000 machine.

When the event got underway for real, the pairing were thrown in at the deep end for their Peugeot UK debut. The starting order for the opening day’s stages was determined by reversing the top ten seeds on the rally’s entry list. With Wilks and Pugh carrying the number 10 on the side of their car, they would have to open the rally.

Despite this pressure, Wilks set an impressive time on the opening 36.87 km stage – enough to put the British pairing third on the leaderboard. As he got more comfortable in the car, Wilks set solid times on the opening day’s remaining three stages to return to service in Valence fifth overall.

Wilks had dropped to sixth following the second day’s opening pair of stages. However, at midday service all of the crews had tough decisions to make regarding their choice of tyres for the two afternoon repeat stages. Snow had begun to fall on the stages, but with it not looking particularly heavy the majority of crews – including Peugeot UK – opted to not take studded tyres, instead fitting standard winter tyres.

However, the weather conditions were changing so rapidly that the stages were covered in heavy snow by the time the crews reached them. Wilks had not yet driven the Peugeot on snow – and now faced his first drive on snow on tyres that were not really suitable for the conditions.

Despite this, he made it through the stage setting the third quickest time, losing just 24.8 seconds to the stage winner. All five of the drivers who had been ahead of Wilks on the overall stage prior to the stage lost even more time than Wilks did. This turned the leaderboard on its head, promoting Bryan Bouffier from seventh to first by virtue of winning the stage. Wilks and Pugh climbed one position to fifth, just behind previous rally leader Juho Hanninen.

With the snow continuing to fall, the day’s closing stage would be another treacherous stage for those on the wrong tyres. With Francois Delecour having been the only one of the leading crews to have selected fully-studded tyres, the Frenchman set the fastest time on the stage and finished the day second overall. Wilks was impressive again, setting the fourth fastest time, moving him up to fourth overall at the end of the second day.

He successfully negotiated the opening stage of the final day, setting the third fastest time. The rally would conclude with four stages to be run in the evening near Monte Carlo, featuring the legendary Col de Turini.

Following the service break in Monte Carlo in between the two pairs of evening stages, Wilks had closed the gap to third-placed Delecour to just over five seconds. Although he closed this gap to 2.7 seconds on the penultimate test, he had slipped to fifth overall after Stephane Sarrazin had jumped the pair of them by setting the fastest stage time.

On the final stage Wilks was once again faster than Delecour – enough to lift him ahead of the veteran and into fourth.

One further change on the leaderboard lay in wait for Wilks at final service in Monte Carlo, as Sarrazin checked into service late – giving him a 30 second time penalty and promoting fellow Peugeot driver Wilks to third overall. This gave Wilks and Pugh a podium on their debut rally for Peugeot UK and a great start to their Intercontinental Rally Challenge campaign.

Bryan Bouffier has clinched victory on the centenary running of the Monte Carlo Rally. The French Peugeot driver, who had vaulted himself into the lead of the rally during changing weather conditions on the afternoon of Day 2, successfully navigated the final day’s stages without drama to record a win on the opening round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge season.

SS9: Montauban Sur l’Ouveze-Eygalayes (29.89 km)

The final day began with a single stage in the morning before the journey to the evening stages above Monte Carlo. Although Bouffier was only eighth fastest on the stage, he extended his lead at the top of the overall standings to 39.7 seconds over Francois Delecour.

It was Stephane Sarrazin who was quickest, by 2.4 seconds over Juho Hanninen. Sarrazin was unable to make much inroads in Guy Wilks’s fourth place overall though, as the Briton finished third quickest, despite saying that he lost time with intercom problems.

SS10: Moulinet-La Bollene Vesubie 1 (23.41 km)

The final four stages would be run in the dark of the evening, with two different stages, both repeated. The first of these featured the legendary Col de Turini, where the fans had gathered, throwing snow onto the road to try and trick the crews into an error.

Nicolas Vouilloz, the former IRC champion who lives locally, set the pace on the first run through, winning the stage by one second from Freddy Loix. Loix’s time allowed him to jump ahead of Delacour into second in the overall standings – the French former winner setting only the tenth fastest time.

Local man Vouilloz led the times on the first Col de Turini run

Wilks struggled with his tyres, finishing 22.9 seconds down on Vouilloz and losing fourth on the leaderboard to Sarrazin.

SS11: Lantosque-Luceram (18.81 km)

Former IRC champion Giandomenico Basso was looking impressive during the evening stages. After going fourth on SS10, the Italian won SS11, beginning to close in on Toni Gardemeister’s tenth overall position.

Sarrazin was looking good for the stage win through the splits, but his gearbox got stuck in fourth gear towards the end of the stage, resulting in him losing 28.3 seconds. This allowed Wilks to retake the fourth position that he had lost on the stage before, the Briton closing to within five seconds of Delecour in the process.

As the team’s headed to a short service break, Bouffier held a 47.7 second lead over second placed Loix.

SS12: Moulinet-La Bollene Vesubie 2 (23.41 km)

After having his broken gearbox replaced at service, Sarrazin set the fastest time on the repeat stage through the Col de Turini. This not only got him back past Wilks, but also past Delacour and into third overall.

Wilks had attempted to try and change the setup on his car at service, but said after SS12 that he could still not get it right. He finished the stage 26.1 seconds down on Sarrazin, but trimmed the gap to Delacour to 2.7 seconds.

Both Bouffier and Loix appeared to take it easy on the stage, the pair finishing over twenty seconds down on Sarrazin – the overall gap between the pair 44.9 seconds going into the final stage.

Basso was fourth quickest on the stage – enough to take him past Gardemeister and into tenth place overall.

SS13: Lantosque-Luceram (18.81 km)

Bouffier eased his car through the final stage to record the victory – the final gap to Loix standing at 32.5 seconds. At the end of the stage a delighted Bouffier said: “It’s fantastic, really fantastic! I’m so happy, for Peugeot, for the team. Lots of emotions. It’s really amazing. It was a really tricky rally, but Peugeot gave me perfect car, I’m happy for them.”

Stephane Sarrazin won the final two stages, but then gave up third pace to Guy Wilks

Sarrazin took another stage win, cementing his place on the podium. Guy Wilks was sixth quickest on the stage, which allowed him to take fourth from Delecour. This later became third when Sarrazin checked into the final control three minutes late to hand Peugeot teammate Wilks third overall. With Wilks doing a full campaign compared to Sarrazin’s one-off for the Monte, Peugeot asked the Frenchman to hand over his third place. This gave Wilks a podium finish on his debut for the French manufacturer.

Despite losing three places during the final day’s running, Delecour was happy with his fifth place finish on his return to rallying. He finished ahead of Juho Hanninen, who had looked so comfortably in the lead before the heavy snow on Thursday afternoon.

Petter Solberg had been the nearest guy to Hanninen before also getting into trouble in the changing conditions. He had looked set to finish seventh though in his guest outing for Peugeot France. However, his car developed alternator problems towards the end of the final stage. Although he made it to the end of the stage without losing much time, he could not make it back to final service. His car stopped on the road section, forcing him to retire.

This gave seventh to Vouilloz, who recovered from an early puncture on Day 1. Eighth went to Jan Kopecky, who took it easy towards the end with nothing left to play for after losing so much time on the wrong tyres in Thursday afternoon’s snow. Basso was elevated to ninth, with Gardemeister scoring the final point after all despite losing tenth earlier on to Basso. The privateer Peugeot pair both lost time to punctures on the opening day.

Former Grand Prix driver Alex Caffi finished an impressive 11^th overall, despite an attempt at some showboating for the fans on the first run through the Col de Turini not quite going to plan.

Florian Gonon took Production Cup honours in his Subaru in 13^th overall, just ahead of 2WD category winner Pierre Campana, who denied Michael Burri late on. Single-seater racer Adrien Tambay finished fifth in the 2WD category, 18^th overall.

Daniel Elena, usually co-driver to Sebastien Loeb, made it to the finish in 52^nd of 54 finishers behind the wheel of a Citroen DS3.

It will be nearly three months until the next IRC action, with the Rally Islas Canarias on April 14-16.

Final overall standings:

1. Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot) 3h32m55.7s

2. Freddy Loix (Skoda) + 32.5s

3. Guy Wilks (Peugeot) + 1m19.7s

4. Stephane Sarrazin (Peugeot) + 1m21.9s

5. Francois Delecour (Peugeot) + 1m22.4s

6. Juho Hanninen (Skoda) + 1m29.3s

7. Nicolas Vouilloz (Skoda) + 4m47.8s

8. Jan Kopecky (Skoda) + 7m45.9s

9. Giandomenico Basso (Peugeot) + 8m46.0s

10. Toni Gardemeister (Peugeot) + 9m09.0s