After three days and 23 special stages of high speed rallying action, which saw the lead change on several occasions, the outcome of the 2010 Rally Reykjavik was decided on the penultimate test when the leading cars ran into problems and allowed the Mitsubishi Evo 6 of Petur Sigurbjorn Petursson and Bjorn Ragnarsson to take the victory by almost 1 minute and 30 seconds.
Second overall went to former Icelandic champion Daniel Sigurdsson and his sister Asta in a Subaru Impreza N8. Daniel, a front runner in the British Rally Championship, was the class of the field. After opening up a healthy lead on Friday he was forced to super rally in order to replace a clutch and incurred over five minutes of penalties. After 11 special stages on the second day Daniel had reduced the deficit to a mere forty seconds! A fuel pump failure on the penultimate stage cost the Subaru pilot over a minute and a half and robbing him of almost certain victory.
That 30 kilometre test would also dash the hopes of Hilmar Brainsson and Stefan bor Jonsson. The pair, in a Mitsubishi Evo V, had led the rally at the end of the second day and were embroiled in a three way fight for the victory when the pair slid off the road and lost 15 minutes within sight of the finish of the gruelling event!
Sighvatur Siguardsson and Andreas Gislason took the 4×4 award in their Mitsubishi Pajero, ending the rally an impressive seventh overall. 37 seconds further back were the two wheel drive winners, Hlodver Baldursson and Baldur Arnar Hlodversson in a Toyota Corolla. Mick Jones and Isak Gudjonsson had been lying in a impressive second overall in their Ford Escort MkII before breaking a half shaft, forcing the pair to super rally.
In total 17 of the 18 starters completed the rally, with only the Mitsubishi Evo X of Adalsteinn Johannsson and Heimir Snaer Jonsson failing to restart after a rally ending crash on the second day.
A full list of results can be found at www.rallyreykjavik.net
– Credit: Geoff Mayes Media.