Cyprus Rally 2011

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The Cyprus Rally 2011 was the eleventh and final run of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge 2011 . The rally was held in Cyprus from November 3rd to 5th .

background

The paddock of the Cyprus Rally was for the first time in 2011 in the port city of Paphos in the south-west of the island. The rally was held in the Troodos Mountains further north inland. Eleven special stages were carried out over a distance of 187.58 classified kilometers. The rally started on Thursday evening with a short special stage for spectators in Paphos. This was followed by four exams on Friday and six on Saturday.

A special feature of the rally was the varied road surface. Partly the route led over coarse and rough gravel, but partly also over broken asphalt with concrete sections. The proportion of gravel roads and asphalt roads was roughly balanced.

This required compromises in the chassis setup. The tire manufacturers use different strategies to deal with the different road conditions. Michelin equipped the teams with both slicks for asphalt and pure gravel tires. In contrast, Pirelli and Yokohama supplied mixed tires. These had an advantage on special stages with changeable road surfaces.

Of all the IRC races in the 2011 season, the Cyprus Rally had the highest priority, as twice the usual number of points was awarded for the result. In this way, the organizers of the IRC wanted to ensure that the decision about the title is not made until the last race of the season and that the number of participants does not decline.

Before the start of the rally, six drivers had a chance of overall victory in the IRC. Jan Kopecký led the drivers' standings with 131 points ahead of Juho Hänninen with 125 points and Thierry Neuville with 115 points. There were also still chances for Andreas Mikkelsen with 111.5 points, Bryan Bouffier with 110.5 points and Freddy Loix with 103 points. But Bouffier could no longer intervene in the fight for the title, as Peugeot only brought one vehicle to the start for the better placed Neuville. Since Kopecký had to expect the highest loss of points due to the cancellation result regulation, he was not considered the top favorite for the title despite his lead in the table. Instead, Hänninen and Neuville were expected.

In addition to the five title candidates, the regular IRC participants Patrik Sandell and Karl Kruuda , the two Škoda Germany drivers Matthias Kahle and Mark Wallenwein as well as Toshihiro Arai and Nasser Al-Attiyah started . Al-Attiyah as the most famous guest starter completed his first IRC outing of the 2011 season with a Ford Fiesta S2000 and was aiming for victory. Overall, however, the rally had a relatively weak field of drivers. 34 vehicles were registered for the rally. Kopecký's copilot Petr Starý had to cancel the start due to illness and was replaced by Pavel Dresler.

course

Andreas Mikkelsen won the audience test with a lead of around three seconds. The next day, on SS2, Juho Hänninen came off the road in the second bend and rolled over. He was then unable to continue and lost his chances of winning the title at this early stage of the rally. Mikkelsen, who is still in the lead, also made a driving error on SS3. During his spin, he only came to a halt in front of an abyss. Although he was able to continue with a loss of around 10 seconds, he lost the lead to Thierry Neuville. But a defective alternator cost Neuville almost three minutes on SS4, which also threw him out of the fight for the title. Then he decided not to continue to drive to save his engine. Mikkelsen took the lead again and now set the fastest times again. At the end of the day, after SS5, he had pulled out a lead of 20.7 seconds over Nasser Al-Attiyah. Jan Kopecký was 46.1 seconds behind and Freddy Loix was already 1: 41.2 minutes. Mark Wallenwein had lost eight minutes due to two punctures and as a result was far from scoring points.

On the second stage, Hänninen intervened again in the competition under SupeRally regulations , but with a long gap. Neuville, on the other hand, decided not to start and instead prepared for the Golden Stage Rally . After the interim result, Mikkelsen was on course for the title. His greatest rival, Kopecký, was dependent on van Al-Attiyah's help, as Mikkelsen would have become champion in any case with a win. In the morning, however, Mikkelsen managed to extend his lead to over half a minute. Al-Attiyah countered with a best time on SS8 despite a spin shortly before the finish and took Mikkelsen six seconds back. But on the next stage of the connection, Al-Attiyah suffered an engine failure. Since he didn't have a spare engine with him, he had to give up. Mikkelsen was now practically unassailable in the lead and only had to bring his car to the finish. On SS9 both Mikkelsen and Kopecký had a puncture, which cost Kopecký more time. Loix fell back to fifth behind Karl Kruuda due to engine problems on the last two stages. In the end, Mikkelsen won with 1: 40.5 minutes ahead of Kopecký and won the championship. Patrik Sandell got his first podium result in the IRC in third place. Numerous failures also played into the cards for the Škoda Germany driver. Matthias Kahle in sixth and Mark Wallenwein in eighth achieved their best results of the season. 26 vehicles were rated.

Toshihiro Arai secured the Production Cup and Jean-Michel Raoux the 2WD Cup with victories in their respective classes .

Results

Bottom line

Item driver Co-driver vehicle total time Residue Points
1 NorwayNorway Andreas Mikkelsen NorwayNorway Ola Fløene Škoda Fabia S2000 2: 25: 18.5 50
2 Czech RepublicCzech Republic Jan Kopecký Czech RepublicCzech Republic Pavel Dresler Škoda Fabia S2000 2: 26: 59.0 1: 40.5 36
3 SwedenSweden Patrik Sandell SwedenSweden Staffan Parmander Škoda Fabia S2000 2: 28: 13.3 2: 54.8 30th
4th EstoniaEstonia Karl Kruuda EstoniaEstonia Martin Järveoja Škoda Fabia S2000 2: 29: 51.5 4: 33.0 24
5 BelgiumBelgium Freddy Loix BelgiumBelgium Frédéric Miclotte Škoda Fabia S2000 2: 30: 53.9 5: 35.4 20th
6th GermanyGermany Matthias Kahle GermanyGermany Peter Goebel Škoda Fabia S2000 2: 33: 07.4 7: 48.9 16
7th JapanJapan Toshihiro Arai AustraliaAustralia Dale Moscatt Subaru Impreza R4 2: 33: 34.7 8: 16.2 12
8th GermanyGermany Mark Wallenwein GermanyGermany Stefan Kopczyk Škoda Fabia S2000 2: 38: 25.2 13: 06.7 8th
9 FranceFrance Jean-Michel Raoux FranceFrance Laurent Magat Renault Clio R3 2: 39: 54.9 14: 36.4 -
10 Cyprus RepublicRepublic of Cyprus Doros Loucaides Cyprus RepublicRepublic of Cyprus Savvas Laos Peugeot 207 S2000 2: 40: 26.3 15: 07.8 4th
11 Cyprus RepublicRepublic of Cyprus Charalambos Timotheou Cyprus RepublicRepublic of Cyprus Pambos Laos Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2: 40: 44.2 15: 25.7 2
  1. ↑ In 9th place was a driver with a vehicle from a manufacturer who was not registered in the IRC. Doros Loucaides therefore moved up in the scoring and was 10th the number of points for the 9th place.
  2. ↑ In 9th place was a driver with a vehicle from a manufacturer who was not registered in the IRC. Charalambos Timotheou therefore moved up in the awarding of points and received the number of points for 10th place as 11th.

Special stages

stage WP Time Surname length winner time Ø pace Overall leader
Stage 1
(November 3-4) 		SS1 19:00 LTV Super Special Stage 3.20 km NorwayNorway Andreas Mikkelsen 2: 48.9 68.21 km / h NorwayNorway Andreas Mikkelsen
SS2 10:47 Koilinia 1 24.15 km NorwayNorway Andreas Mikkelsen 20: 23.8 71.04 km / h
SS3 12:10 Salamiou 1 18.16 km BelgiumBelgium Thierry Neuville 11: 51.4 91.90 km / h BelgiumBelgium Thierry Neuville
SS4 14:47 Koilinia 2 24.15 km NorwayNorway Andreas Mikkelsen 20: 05.6 72.11 km / h NorwayNorway Andreas Mikkelsen
SS5 16:10 Salamiou 2 18.16 km NorwayNorway Andreas Mikkelsen 11: 51.2 91.92 km / h
Stage 2
(November 5th) 		SS6 9:29 Gialia 1 14.82 km NorwayNorway Andreas Mikkelsen 13: 03.9 68.06 km / h
SS7 10:12 Stavros 1 15.91 km NorwayNorway Andreas Mikkelsen 11: 25.7 83.53 km / h
SS8 11:10 Anadiou 1 19.15 km QatarQatar Nasser Al-Attiyah 14: 19.9 80.17 km / h
SS9 14:29 Gialia 2 14.82 km FinlandFinland Juho Hänninen 12: 48.3 69.44 km / h
SS10 15:12 Stavros 2 15.91 km SwedenSweden Patrik Sandell 11: 40.6 81.75 km / h
SS11 16:10 Anadiou 2 19.15 km NorwayNorway Andreas Mikkelsen 14: 23.5 79.84 km / h

Golden Stage Rally

Following the Cyprus Rally, the Golden Stage Rally took place on November 6th . This was a separate event, the result of which had no influence on the rating of the IRC. Prize money totaling 150,000 euros was driven, 40,000 of which went to the winner. The rally consisted of two special stages: a 19.43-kilometer route with changeable road surfaces was driven twice.

However, only a small number of the IRC starters took part in the Golden Stage Rally. Al-Attiyah and Loix had to forego the start due to technical defects, while Mikkelsen celebrated with his team and did not want to risk failure. Arai and Škoda Germany also left earlier.

Two unlucky fellows from the previous IRC rally, Thierry Neuville and Juho Hänninen, fought a close duel for victory. Neuville in particular took a high risk and drove the entire distance at the limit. In the end he prevailed against Hänninen by six seconds. Jan Kopecký completed the podium, more than half a minute behind.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peugeot sends Neuville into the title race (Motorsport-Total.com on October 31, 2011)
  2. ↑ Al-Attiyah wants to return the favor in Cyprus (Motorsport-Total.com on November 2, 2011)
  3. ↑ a b Cyprus: opening test goes to Mikkelsen (Motorsport-Total.com on November 3, 2011)
  4. ↑ SS2-5: Pure drama in Cyprus (Motorsport-Total.com on November 4, 2011)
  5. ↑ Cyprus victory and IRC title for Mikkelsen! (Motorsport-Total.com on November 5, 2011)
  6. ↑ Neuville wins Golden Stage Rally (Motorsport-Total.com on November 6, 2011)