Story by Evan Rothman
Pictures by www.ircseries.com
Cheered on by thousands of enthusiastic spectators, Jan Kopcky and Petr Stary (Skoda Fabia S2000) topped the leaderboard at the end of what was a dramatic fourth round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge series, the Rally Isla Canarias, this past weekend.
In the second podium lock-out by Skoda in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) to date, with factory Skoda team-mates Juho Hanninen and Mikko Markkula claiming second place overall and Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh stepping onto the final position on the podium.
The Rally Isla Canarias was a tensely fought affair between the leading trio of Skodas and the Peugeot 207 S2000 of Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle. Reigning IRC champions Meeke and Nagle were dominant on Day One, and Kopecky and Hanninen were left to play catch-up.
Lady Luck deserted Meeke/Nagle on the penultimate stage of Day One when they suffered a puncture that dropped them off the leader’s pace. It was five kilometres into the 29,95km Ingenio stage, the longest of the event, that saw Meeke’s rally win disappear as the punctured tyre deflated. At the time of his puncture, Meeke had already posted five fastest stage times, and enjoyed a 17,9sec advantage over the chasing Skodas of Kopecky and Hanninen. Marc van Dalen, the boss of Meeke’s Kronos Racing team, explained the puncture was caused by a suspension bolt piercing a hole in the wheel, causing the tyre to deflate. “It’s a risk but we decided together to run quite an aggressive set-up for more speed,” said van Dalen. “Unfortunately just one stupid compression in a corner caused the middle of the wheel to break. It’s really a shame for Kris and the team, but this is rally and we have to accept it.”
Kopecky did not have a comfortable cruise to the finish of the rally, as his team-mate Hanninen was reeling him in with each stage on Day Two. Hanninen is a gravel-surface ace, but impressed in his fourth podium position this weekend. He stated that his driving was too aggressive on Day One, and he drove more smoothly on Day Two. The result of this was that he closed to 9,1sec of Kopecky at the end of the rally. Hanninen now leads the overall Drivers’ Championship by seven points ahead of Kopecky and Wilks tied on 25 pts.
Guy Wilks and Phil Pugh claimed another podium result in 2010. A near perfect drive saw the Briton gain more confidence in his Skoda UK Motorsport-run Fabia S2000, and by the end of the weekend’s rallying he was smiling with his performance.
Most impressive this weekend was the plucky drive from Portuguese rally champion Bruno Magalhaes and brother Carlos Magalhaes (Peugeot 207 S2000) to finish fifth overall. They were running in fourth place for the whole of Day Two, but opted to slow their pace at the end fo the rally so as to enable Meeke to overtake them to score more Championship points. Despite a left front driveshaft failure on Day One, the Magalhaes brothers showed their ever-improving speed in the highly competitive IRC series.
Alberto Hevia and Alberto Iglesias (Skoda Fabia S2000) powered their way to sixth place, after a near faultless drive from the hard-charging Spaniards.
Newcomer to the IRC for 2010 is the name Thierry Neuville. Teamed up with Nicolas Kinger, who is a former IRC Champion Co-Driver, Neuville pilots a Team Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg 207 S2000. This weekend proved to be challenging for the young driver, as he picked up the same puncture as befell Meeke. On the penultimate stage of the rally, Neuville was in seventh overall and heading for his first IRC points haul when he slid into a rock and broke his Car’s left front suspension.
Profiting from Neuville’s retirement was the Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X of Ruben Gracia and co-drviver Diego Sanjuan. Gracia was the leading driver of the conventional Group N entries.
Another impressive drive came from Sergio Vallejo/Diego Vallejo (Ford Fiesta S2000), and his performance was made all the more inspiring as he manhandled his Fiesta S2000 through much of Day Two’s stages with no powersteering. He did slipped from seventh overall to eighth behing Gracia, but he bravely finished over 20sec ahead of ninth-place finishers Jose Barrios/Eloy Rivero (Subaru Impreza WRX STi).
Franz Wittmann/Klaus Wicha (Peugeot 207 S2000) were struggling this weekend to find the rhythm and balance in the car that has shot this young driver to stardom in recent months. His rally came to an abrupt end on Day Two’s SS11 when he hit a rock that tore the right rear wheel off his Interwetten Racing Peugeot 207 S2000.
Daniel Oliviera also retired from the IRC Rally Isla Canarias while in 11th position when his Peugeot 207 S2000’s engine cried enough early on Day Two.
Talented Irish privateer Daniel Barry and HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS columnist Martin Brady finished 14th overall after a disappointing weekend. Barry’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX was plagued by an overheating problem from the very first stage of the event, forcing them to run the car without the anti-lag system. Adding to their woes, Barry/Brady were forced to stop several times in the stages to let their Mitsubishi cool down enough to continue.
Yeray Lemes won the IRC 2WD Cup once more in 2010, this time by nearly two minutes in his Ford Fiesta Rs. He also finished tenth overall.
The next round of the IRC takes place on 04 – 06 June for the Rally d’Italia-Sardegna, a favourite gravel rally for many of the competitiors.
1 Jan Kopecky/Petr Stary Skoda Fabia S2000 +2h12m27.4s
2 Juho Hanninen/Mikko Markkula Skoda Fabia S2000 +9.1s
3 Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh Skoda Fabia S2000 +36.4s
4 Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle Peugeot 207 S2000 +1m05.5s
5 Bruno Magalhaes/Carlos Magalhaes Peugeot 207 S2000 +1m17.8s
6 Alberto Hevia/Alberto Iglesias Skoda Fabia S2000 +2m25.1s
7 Ruben Gracia/Diego Sanjuan Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X +10m06.5s
8 Sergio Vallejo/Diego Vallejo Ford Fiesta S2000 +12m49.7s
9 Jose Barrios/Eloy Rivero Subaru Impreza WRX +13m12.8s
10 Yeray Lemes/Rogelio Penate Ford Fiesta R2 +14m12.4s
Leading IRC 2WD Cup finishers: Lemes/Penate
Drivers after round four of 12
1 Juho Hanninen (Finland) 32pts
2 Jan Kopecky (Czech Republic) 25pts
= Guy Wilks (United Kingdom) 25pts
4 Kris Meeke (United Kingdom) 15pts
5 Bruno Magalhaes (Portugal) 13pts
6 Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) 10pts
7 Nicolas Vouilloz (France) 6pts
8 Gabriel Pozzo (Argentina) 5pts
= Stephane Sarrazin (France) 5pts
10 Federico Villagra (Argentina) 4pts etc
Manufacturers after round four of 12
1 Skoda 64pts
2 Peugeot 33pts
3 M-Sport 15pts
4 Ralliart 8pts
5 Subaru 5pts
IRC 2WD Drivers after round four of 12
1 Yeray Lemes 10pts
= Kris Princen 10pts
= Marcos Tokarski 10pts
= Rafael Tulio 10pts
5 Pierre Campana 8pts
= Enrique Cruz 8pts
= Luis Gius 8pts
= Pablo Pelaez 8pts
= Luis Tedesco 8pts
10 Thomas Barral 6pts
= Ulysses Bertholdo 6pts
= Alicia Reina 6pts
= Manuel Souto 6pts etc
IRC 2WD Manufacturers after round four of 12
1 M-Sport 40pts
2 Peugeot 36pts
3 Abarth 19pts
4 Honda 8pts
5 Skoda 5pts
1 Jan Kopecky/Petr Stary Skoda Fabia S2000 1h20m25.0s
2 Juho Hanninen/Mikko Markkula Skoda Fabia S2000 +14.4s
3 Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh Skoda Fabia S2000 +31.4s
4 Bruno Magalhaes/Carlos Magalhaes Peugeot 207 S2000 +49.3s
5 Alberto Hevia/Alberto Iglesias Skoda Fabia S2000 +1m17.4s
6 Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle Peugeot 207 S2000 +1m28.0s
7 Sergio Vallejo/Diego Vallejo Ford Fiesta S2000 +3m35.6s
8 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Klinger Peugeot 207 S2000 +3m40.9s