NORWEGIAN IRC CHAMPION DEMONSTRATES DRIVING SKILLS… A BIG HEART MIKKELSEN DONATES TO CYPRUS RED CROSS CHILDREN’S HOME Andreas Mikkelsen, the winner of last week’s thrilling Cyprus Rally and the new Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) Champion, has kindly donated €2000 to the Cyprus Red Cross Home for Sick Children. After winning the Cyprus Rally and taking [...]
Belgium’s Thierry Neuville gave a bravura display of driving in the eastern Mediterranean today, dominating the 2nd ever Cyprus Golden Stage Rally from the start and securing a well-earned victory. Steering a Peugeot 207 S2000 beside co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul, Neuville charged through the first stage of the event this morning to ensure a lunchtime lead [...]
Belgium’s Thierry Neuville has charged to a lunchtime lead on today’s thrilling Cyprus Golden Stage Rally, steering his Peugeot 207 S2000 to a 4.8 second lead over 2nd-placed Juho Hanninen in his Skoda Fabia S2000. Over the last three days, the world’s top rallying stars have been competing on the eastern Mediterranean island in the [...]
NORWEGIAN IRC
CHAMPION DEMONSTRATES DRIVING SKILLS… A BIG HEART
MIKKELSEN DONATES TO CYPRUS RED CROSS CHILDREN’S HOME
Andreas Mikkelsen, the winner of last week’s thrilling Cyprus Rally and the new Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) Champion, has kindly donated €2000 to the Cyprus Red Cross Home for Sick Children.
After winning the Cyprus Rally and taking the IRC title, Mikkelsen opted not to compete in Sunday’s Cyprus Golden Stage Rally – withdrawing from the event so that his crew could have a night of fun instead of working all night on his Skoda Fabia S2000, while the rest of the British Skoda team were out celebrating.
Mikkelsen was entitled to claim back his Golden Stage entry fee, but has chosen instead to donate it to the Red Cross in Lemesos, an act of considerable kindness.
‘The management and staff of the Children’s Home would like to express their gratitude to Andreas Mikkelsen for his generous offer’, said the head of the Children’s Home, Mrs Katerina Christodoulou. ‘The donation will go towards the purchase of necessary equipment for the various treatments that our children need.’
The Cyprus Red Cross Home for Sick Children offers physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, horse-riding therapy for children with mobility problems and will soon have a fully equipped multi-sensory room. MIkkelsen’s donation will be especially welcome as all of the therapies offered require expensive specialised equipment, which must be renewed on a regular basis.
Belgium’s Thierry Neuville gave a bravura display of driving in the eastern Mediterranean today, dominating the 2nd ever Cyprus Golden Stage Rally from the start and securing a well-earned victory.
Steering a Peugeot 207 S2000 beside co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul, Neuville charged through the first stage of the event this morning to ensure a lunchtime lead of 4.8 seconds over 2nd-placed Juho Hanninen in his Skoda Fabia S2000.
An innovative single-stage shootout concept that was launched on the island last year, the event consisted of a single stage – the Golden Stage – run twice, with crews battling it out for their share of a €150,000 prize fund. With cameras broadcasting his performance live across the globe via Eurosport, Neuville was clearly looking to make up for his disappointment on this week’s Cyprus Rally (which ended here yesterday) where his bid for the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) title was cut short by alternator problems on Day 1.
On the second run of the Golden Stage this afternoon, Neuville was obviously giving an all-out performance, one which gave at least one heart-stopping moment where it looked like he would exit the road – and the event – in dramatic style. He recovered impressively, however, and pressed on hard to take the stage 1.2 seconds faster than Hanninen – giving him an overall event lead of 6 seconds, and an overall winning time of 26m 2.8s.
Neuville’s fearless drive sees him take the €40,000 jackpot for winning both the overall event and his category.
With Hanninen 2nd overall, Skoda Fabia 2000 pilots Jan Kopecky of the Czech Republic, Patrik Sandell of Sweden, and Karl Kruuda of Estonia rounded off the final top 5 places in turn.
Acclaimed Cypriot driver Nicos Thomas came home first among the Category B entrants, securing himself a healthy €10,000 in prize money in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. Likewise France’s Jean-Michel Raoux (who also took the IRC 2WD crown on the Cyprus Rally here this weekend), who steered his Renault Clio to €10,000 as the winner of Category C.
The Cyprus Golden Stage Rally took place near Polis, with a single Service Park in Latsi, and brought to a close four memorable days of motorsport under the Cyprus sun, much of which was broadcast live via Eurosport. The Cyprus Rally was the final round of this year’s IRC and proved a hugely unpredictable thrill-ride that saw Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen crowned the 2011 IRC Champion and Japan’s Toshi Arai claim the IRC Production Cup Champ.
Full details of the 2011 Cyprus Rally and today’s Cyprus Golden Stage rally are available at the official event website – www.cyprusrally.com.cy.
2011 CYPRUS GOLDEN STAGE RALLY FINAL POSITIONS / PRIZES:
Belgium’s Thierry Neuville has charged to a lunchtime lead on today’s thrilling Cyprus Golden Stage Rally, steering his Peugeot 207 S2000 to a 4.8 second lead over 2nd-placed Juho Hanninen in his Skoda Fabia S2000.
Over the last three days, the world’s top rallying stars have been competing on the eastern Mediterranean island in the Cyprus Rally. The final round of this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC), the event was a hugely unpredictable thrill-ride that saw Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen crowned the 2011 IRC Champion, Japan’s Toshi Arai claim the IRC Production Cup Champ, and France’s Jean-Michel Raoux secure the IRC 2WD Cup.
Today sees many of the crews who tackled this week’s Cyprus Rally go head to head on a single-day event, held in stunning countryside to the north of the resort town of Pafos, in their bid for a share in an impressive €150,000 prize fund.
An innovative single-stage shootout concept that was launched on the island last year, the event consists of a single stage – the Golden Stage – run twice. Broadcast live across the world via Eurosport, Neuville is looking favourite to take the big money from today’s event. Neuville is obviously hoping to make up for his misfortune in the Cyprus Rally, where his shot at the IRC title was cut brutally short by alternator problems on Day 1, and will be hoping that 4.8 seconds is enough of a lead to carry him through this afternoon. But this is rallying in Cyprus where… as this week has proved… anything can happen.
Fellow Fabia 2000 pilots Jan Kopecky of the Czech Republic, Patrik Sandell of Sweden, and Karl Kruuda of Estonia round out the fastest five drivers after SS1. Nicos Thomas leads the Category B entrants in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, while Raoux is the front-runner in Category C.
The event is taking place near Polis, with a single Service Park in Latsi. Live results and regular updates from the Cyprus Golden Stage rally are available at the official event website – www.cyprusrally.com.cy.
The prize money at today’s Cyprus Golden Stage Rally will be divided as follows:
Norway’s Mikkelsen secures IRC title on final event of season; Toshi Arai captures IRC Production Cup
The fight for the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) title came to a dramatic conclusion today with Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen securing the title on a riveting Cyprus Rally.
Going into the last event of the 2011 season, no fewer than five drivers had the chance to take the IRC title here this weekend – Mikkelsen, defending champ Juho Hanninen of Finland, championship leader Jan Kopecky of the Czech Republic, and Thierry Neuville and Freddy Loix of Belgium.
But it was Mikkelsen who proved the master, steering his Skoda Fabia 2000 to a worthy victory alongside co-driver Ola Floene.
Mikkelsen stamped his authority on the event early on, taking the first stage of the event – the 3.2km LTV Super Special Stage, held in downtown Pafos on Thursday night – in impressive style and giving himself an early event lead. In a rally packed full of high drama, with challenging stages and unexpected retirements, Mikkelsen kept his cool to take the event and the season with phenomenal pace and considerable style.
This year saw the Cyprus Rally move to the popular west coast resort town of Pafos, where the Service Park was located just metres from the Mediterranean with the town’s picturesque fort as a backdrop. The special stages saw crews head into the countryside north of Pafos to do battle in the Cyprus sun.
Having started today with a 20.7s lead over Qatari star Nasser Al-Attiyah, Mikkelsen showed impressive form in his Skoda Fabia S2000 throughout the morning, keeping up the pressure and, after Al-Attiyah exited the event with a broken valve spring on his Ford Fiesta S2000, the Norwegian saw his early afternoon event lead stretch to 48.2s over the 2nd placed Skoda of Jan Kopecky.
Knowing that Al-Attiyah was out of the event prior to the afternoon’s stages, Mikkelsen was obviously pleased with his lead and determined to deliver a clean and efficient drive through the afternoon’s stages. Mikkelsen was slowed by a puncture in the first stage of the afternoon (SS9 – Gialia), but then so was Kopecky so it had no negative impact on Mikkelsen’s title bid. Hanninen ended up fastest through the gravel stage, followed by the Fabias of Loix, Kruuda and Sandell. Toshihiro Arai’s IRC Production Cup was effectively secured in the stage when his closest rival Nicos Thomas exited the event.
Mikkelsen was back up to speed in SS9 (Gialia) but was still 0.2s off the pace of stage winner Sandell. Hanninen, Kruuda and Kopecky rounded of the fastest five through the stage.
The last stage of the day – and the event – SS11 (Anadiou) was one of the stages selected for live coverage via Eurosport and the combination of stunning sunshine, striking Cyprus scenery and expert, high-speed driving made for great coverage, which was enjoyed by rally fans across the globe.
Rallying… especially in Cyprus… is an unpredictable sport and this event certainly proved it. Hanninen’s shock exit on the first of yesterday’s special stages set the tone and while Hanninen chose to Superally here this morning, Thierry Neuville – who held the lunchtime lead yesterday before exiting with alternator problems on his Peugeot 207 S2000 – opted to sit out the day’s action to focus on tomorrow’s Cyprus Golden Stage Rally – a one-day, single stage shoot-out that will see drivers battle for their share of a €150,000 prize fund.
Despite being first on the road, 22-year-old Andreas Mikkelsen flew through today’s first stage – (SS6 – Gialia) – justifying the confidence he showed at Service this morning. Al-Attiyah struggled to find pace in his Ford and could only manage 6th fastest through the stage, opening up a further 6.9 second gap between him and the event leader. Hanninen fared slightly better, coming through the stage ahead of the Qatari driver. Estonia’s Karl Kruuda, in a Fabia S2000, was closest to Mikkelsen, followed by Kopecky and Sweden’s Patrick Sandell (also in a Skoda).
Mikkelsen kept the hammer down in SS7 (Stavros), widening the gap over 2nd-fastest Al-Attiyah by a further 5.3 seconds. With Kopecky third fastest, Hanninen managed 4th and Loix fifth.
Al-Attiyah threw everything he had at the mixed surface Anadiou stage (SS8) and finished a full 6.1s faster than 2nd-placed Mikkelsen –. Kopecky, Hanninen and Sandell rounded off the fast five finishers. Al-Attiyah’s storming drive on the last stage of the morning was enough to cut Mikkelsen’s lead, but it was all to no avail as a broken valve spring in service ended the Qatari’s event prematurely.
Among the Cypriot entries, a consistent drive from former Cyprus Rally winner Nicos Thomas saw him build a healthy lead over his rivals, but his luck didn’t hold today and Doros Loucaides ended the event the highest positioned Cypriot driver, followed by Charalambos Timotheou and Savvas Savva. Michalis Posidias leaves the event as the new leader of the local championship.
Jean-Michel Raoux secured the IRC 2WD Cup here in Cyprus.
The rallying action will continue tomorrow with the second ever Cyprus Golden Stage Rally, where many of the same drivers that tackled the Cyprus Rally will head for the stunning countryside north of Pafos to compete for their share in a huge €150,000 prize fund on the Cyprus Golden Stage Rally.
An innovative single-stage shootout concept that was launched on the island last year, the event consists of a single stage – the Golden Stage – run twice. Set to be broadcast live across the world via Eurosport, the event promises to be a terrific finale to a wonderful week’s competitive motorsport on the island.
The event will be held near Polis with a single Service Park in Latsi. Run 1 of the Golden Stage will take place tomorrow morning at 11:07hrs. Run 2 will take place at 14:07 in the afternoon.
Final results for 2011 Cyprus Rally (Provisional)
1 A. MIKKELSEN (GB) O. FLOENE (N) Skoda Fabia S2000 2:25’18.5
2 J. KOPECKY (CZ) P. DRESLER (CZ) Skoda Fabia S2000 2:26’59.0
3 P. SANDELL (SWE) S. PARMANDER (SWE) Skoda Fabia S2000 2:28’13.3
4 K. KRUUDA (EST) M. JÄRVEOJA (EST) Skoda Fabia S2000 2:29’51.5
5 F. LOIX (B) F. MICLOTTE (B) Skoda Fabia S2000 2:30’43.9
6 M. KAHLE (DEU) P. GÖBEL (DEU) Skoda Fabia S2000 2:33’07.4
7 T. ARAI (JPN) D. MOSCATT (AUS) Subaru Impreza 2:33’34.7
8 M. WALLENWEIN (DEU) S. KOPCZYK (DEU) Skoda Fabia S2000 2:38’25.2
9 J. RAOUX (FRA) L. MAGAT (FRA) Renault Clio 2:39’54.9
10 D. LOUCAIDES (CY) S. LAOS (CY) Peugeot 207 S2000 2:40’26.3
