Rally Sanremo 2011

The 2011 Rally Sanremo was the 53rd edition of the Sanremo Rally and the ninth round of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge . The rally was held from September 22nd to 24th, 2011.

background

The paddock was located directly on the Sanremo Riviera coast . The rally took place on narrow mountain roads in the steeply towering hinterland around Sanremo in the province of Imperia . After the shake down on the evening of September 22nd, the actual competition began on September 23rd. The program included 13 special stages over 225.77 kilometers. On the first day of the rally, the six stages in the afternoon were followed by a night stage as the highlight of the event: the 44-kilometer “Ronde” special stage. The other six stages were to follow on the second day of the rally, but one of them had to be abandoned. Therefore, a total of only 205.2 rated kilometers were completed.

The Sanremo Rally took place on asphalt roads and was the last pure asphalt rally on the IRC 2011 calendar. The classic rally was characterized by narrow mountain roads with inclines and declines. These were characterized by a wealth of curves and a technically demanding route. As a result, the route only allowed a relatively low average speed.

57 teams started the rally, 16 of them driving a Super 2000 vehicle. However, Škoda works driver Juho Hänninen was again missing from the top IRC pilots . Although he was already on the entry list, Škoda withdrew him at short notice and did not allow him to take part in the rally.

course

The rally for Peugeot UK driver Guy Wilks was already over during the first special stage after he slipped into a bridge railing and lost a wheel in his vehicle. Christopher Atkinson was left with a technical defect in his proton and was also forced to give up. The best time on SS1 was set by Andreas Mikkelsen , who was already the fastest in the shakedown. Then decided Freddy Loix two special stages in itself, but to be able to displace without Mikkelsen from the top. On the remaining three special stages in the afternoon, he again achieved all the best times and increased his lead over Loix to 4.5 seconds. On the long night stage "Ronde" that followed, the Belgian veteran distanced the young Norwegian by 7.2 seconds and took the lead in the overall standings. Loix took a 2.7 second lead into day two. The pursuers of the two Škoda drivers in the lead, Thierry Neuville and Bryan Bouffier , were around 17 seconds behind. Jan Kopecký , who was fifth up to now , could not follow the pace of the fastest and was already over 34 seconds behind.

At the beginning of the second day Loix lost several seconds of his lead and ultimately had to hand over the lead to Mikkelsen. On the other hand, Neuville got better and better in the Kronos- Peugeot, which secured both best times in the morning and gradually caught up with the leaders. The three winners were now within five seconds. Loix hit back on SS10 when he set the fastest time and took the lead again in the overall standings. But on the subsequent SS11 Loix had an accident in a fast downhill section. Since his Škoda blocked the road at a narrow point, the stage was not counted. The new leader was again Mikkelsen, who before the last two special stages was only 1.9 seconds ahead of Neuville. He took over the overall lead on SS12 with a time 2.2 seconds faster. On the final SS13 Neuville was faster again and secured victory. Mikkelsen finished second, 1.5 seconds back. Bouffier, who was 16 seconds behind, completed the podium. Fourth placed Kopecký was more than a minute short of the lead. 44 vehicles reached the destination.

Results

Overall rating

Item	driver	Co-driver	vehicle	total time	Residue	Points
1	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Peugeot 207 S2000	2: 19: 57.8		25th
2	Andreas Mikkelsen	Ola Fløene	Škoda Fabia S2000	2: 19: 59.3	1.5	18th
3	Bryan Bouffier	Xavier Panseri	Peugeot 207 S2000	2: 20: 13.8	16.0	15th
4th	Jan Kopecký	Petr Starý	Škoda Fabia S2000	2: 21: 06.9	1: 09.1	12
5	Bruno Magalhães	Paulo Grave	Peugeot 207 S2000	2: 21: 23.8	1: 26.0	10
6th	Alessandro Perico	Fabrizio Carrara	Peugeot 207 S2000	2: 23: 45.6	3: 47.8	8th
7th	Umberto Scandola	Guido D'Amore	Ford Fiesta S2000	2: 24: 03.7	4: 05.9	6th
8th	Pierre Campana	Sabrina De Castelli	Peugeot 207 S2000	2: 24: 25.8	4: 28.0	4th
9	Toni Gardemeister	Tapio Suominen	Škoda Fabia S2000	2: 25: 21.9	5: 24.1	2
10	Giandomenico Basso	Mitia Dotta	Proton Satria Neo S2000	2: 27: 24.7	7: 26.9	1

Special stages

Day	WP	Time	Surname	length	winner	time	Ø pace	Overall leader
Day 1 (September 23)	SS1	13:54	Coldirodi 1	13.06 km	Andreas Mikkelsen	8: 27.3	92.68 km / h	Andreas Mikkelsen
	SS2	14:33	Bajardo	7.36 km	Freddy Loix	5: 18.7	83.14 km / h
	SS3	14:51	Bignone 1	10.59 km	Freddy Loix	6: 51.5	92.65 km / h
	SS4	16:50	Coldirodi 2	13.06 km	Andreas Mikkelsen	8: 22.1	93.64 km / h
	SS5	17:12	Apricale	17.43 km	Andreas Mikkelsen	12: 19.4	84.86 km / h
	SS6	17:39	Bignone 2	10.59 km	Thierry Neuville Andreas Mikkelsen	6: 47.0	93.67 km / h
	SS7	22:33	Round blank	44.00 km	Freddy Loix	29: 35.7	89.20 km / h	Freddy Loix
Day 2 (September 24th)	SS8	10:16	Colle Langan 1	20.57 km	Thierry Neuville	13: 49.9	89.23 km / h	Andreas Mikkelsen
	SS9	10:53	Passo Teglia 1	18.80 km	Thierry Neuville	13: 38.6	82.68 km / h
	SS10	12:02	Colle d'Oggia 1	15.47 km	Freddy Loix	10: 27.8	88.71 km / h	Freddy Loix
	SS11	15:16	Colle Langan 2	20.57 km	Special test canceled			Andreas Mikkelsen
	SS12	16:00	Passo Teglia 2	18.80 km	Thierry Neuville	13: 33.1	83.24 km / h	Thierry Neuville
	SS13	17:09	Colle d'Oggia 2	15.47 km	Thierry Neuville	10: 21.3	89.64 km / h

Web links

• Official website
• Results on eWRC-results.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sanremo: A classic with many challenges (Motorsport-Total.com on September 22, 2011)
2. ↑ Sanremo: Hänninen will not start (Motorsport-Total.com on September 19, 2011)
3. ↑ Sanremo: Loix stays in first place (Motorsport-Total.com on September 24, 2011)
4. ↑ Neuville wins the Sanremo thriller (Motorsport-Total.com on September 24, 2011)