After SS1:
Mikkelsen fastest on first stage Reigning Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Andreas Mikkelsen has taken an early lead on SATA Rallye Açores after going fastest on the event’s opening stage, the 8.25-kilometre Coroa da Mata test.
The ŠKODA UK Motorsport driver was 3.2s faster than factory ŠKODA driver Juho Hänninen despite picking up a front-left puncture nearing the end of the test.
“I got a puncture on the third last corner but it’s okay,” said Mikkelsen, who finished second in the Azores last season.
Hänninen, who is running first on the road in his Fabia S2000, suggested the slippery nature of the stage surface had cost him precious seconds.
Bryan Bouffier was third fastest in his Delta Rally Peugeot 207 S2000 with Bruno Magalhães the leading Portuguese driver in fourth overall in another Peugeot. The Lisbon-based driver was 15.8s adrift of Mikkelsen’s stage best.
Multiple Azorean rally champion Ricardo Moura, one of the favourites for IRC Production Cup glory, said he had not been “pushing at 100 per cent” in his efforts to win the Group N category for a third year in a row.
SS1 Live Times: ircseries.com/events/live/SS1
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After SS2:
Hänninen closes on Açores top spot Juho Hänninen has hit back on SATA Rallye Açores by winning the second stage of the event. It means he has narrowed fellow ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000 driver Andreas Mikkelsen’s overall lead to 1.2s with one stage of the opening day’s action remaining.
Finn Hänninen took 5m08.5s to complete the São Brás/Vila Franca stage, which was shortened by 10 kilometres due to road damage caused by recent rainfall. He was 2.0s quicker than Mikkelsen, the defending Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion.
Bryan Bouffier was third fastest in his Peugeot 207 S2000 after reporting being too cautious over rough sections of the stage. Portugal’s Bruno Magalhães was fourth in his similar car, despite losing ground when he had to reverse following a handbrake fault.
IRC Production Cup contender Ricardo Moura reported a throttle problem on his Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer but still managed to outpace ŠKODA Auto Deutschland’s Sepp Wiegand, who is competing in the Azores for the first time.
SS2 Live Times ircseries.com/events/live/SS2
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After SS3:
Mikkelsen edges superspecial Andreas Mikkelsen has gained a small psychological advantage over Juho Hänninen by edging his rival over the 2.20-kilometre Grupo Marques superspecial stage.
Crews tackled the test in pairs with ŠKODA UK Motorsport’s Mikkelsen going up against factory ŠKODA driver Hänninen in a dramatic head-to-head battle for supremacy. Cheered on by thousands of enthusiastic fans, the Norwegian beat the Finn by 0.2s over the purpose-built course.
It means Mikkelsen’s overall advantage now stands at 1.4s heading to the overnight halt in Ponta Delgada.
Peugeot drivers Bryan Bouffier and Bruno Magalhães were joint third quickest in their 207s with Ricardo Moura fifth and Oleksandr Saliuk sixth. Moura reported nudging a stage-side barrier with his Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer.
ŠKODA-mounted German duo Sepp Wiegand and Hermann Gassner Jr were seventh and eighth fastest respectively.
Crews are now heading back to Ponta Delgada for a 45-minute service halt.
SS3 Live Times ircseries.com/events/live/SS3
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IRC Açores day one review:
Mikkelsen tops close battle Season six of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge has got off to a thrilling start with Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen heading Finn Juho Hänninen by a tight margin of 1.4s following the opening three stages of SATA Rallye Açores today (Thursday).
Local hero Ricardo Moura tops the IRC Production Cup category with Harry Hunt, from the United Kingdom, holding the lead of the IRC 2WD Cup.
Mikkelsen, the reigning IRC champion, made the best possible start to his IRC title defence by winning the day’s first test despite picking up a front-left puncture nearing the end of the run.
Hänninen, who beat Mikkelsen to victory in the Azores last season, went quickest on the second stage to narrow the ŠKODA UK Motorsport driver’s advantage only for the former downhill skier to hit back by beating Hänninen, in his factory Fabia Super 2000, in their head-to-head battle through the Grupo Marques superspecial stage in front of thousands of enthusiastic fans.
“It’s been a good start and, as expected, we’re having a close battle with Juho,” said Mikkelsen. “We used today to find a good pace that we’re comfortable with, and we’ll continue with that pace tomorrow. With the top five running in reverse order, we’ll start fifth on the road tomorrow so we’ll try to make sure that plays to our advantage. Today was a bit of a warm-up; tomorrow’s a long day and that’s when the proper rally starts.”
Hanninen added: “It was okay, a little slippery in some places today and some fog, but I am happy. For sure, it is going to be a big fight between me and Andreas. He was really speeding today.”
Bryan Bouffier is the leading Peugeot driver in third overall, one place ahead of Portugal’s Bruno Magalhães, who is driving a similar 207 S2000 on the event he won in 2010. Frenchman Bouffier suggested he needed to find more speed in order to take the fight to the leading ŠKODA duo, while Magalhães lost precious seconds with a handbrake problem on stage two.
ŠKODA Auto Deutschland’s rising German star Sepp Wiegand is an impressive fifth overall on his IRC debut and his first appearance in the Azores. He is 1.7s ahead of Moura, who reported a throttle problem and a brush with a barrier in the superspecial. But with the top five overall positions reversed for day two, Wiegand now faces the prospect of sweeping the loose-surface gravel for his rivals running behind.
Wiegand’s countryman Hermann Gassner Jr is seventh overnight in his Red Bull-backed Fabia, one place ahead of Dream Team Ukraine’s Oleksandr Saliuk, who is driving an M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 on his maiden outing in the IRC.
Rashid Al-Ketbi is a strong ninth for the Skydive Dubai Rally Team with Saliuk’s team-mate Oleksiy Tamrazov completing the top 10, just ahead of Romania’s Marco Tempestini in a Subaru Impreza R4 STI.
Friday’s action consists of 82.85 kilometres of competitive action and gets underway with the first of six stages at 10:20hrs local time.
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