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Overwinning van Hänninen afgelopen weekend, welke nu aan de leiding gaat van het klassement
First asphalt victory for Juho Hänninen in IRC
4/16/2011
The 2010 IRC champions Juho Hänninen & Mikko Markkula celebrated their first asphalt victory in IRC, Kopecký & Starý came just 1.5 seconds later to finish second.
A rally dramatic until the last kilometre and seasoned by a duel between two colleagues from Škoda Motorsport (factory team) – that was the second IRC event in the Canary Islands. Skoda now leads both the Manufactures and Drivers competitions.
The beginning of the event included a charity run for Japan supported (both by taking active part and contributing financially) by the entire Škoda Motorsport team. The Friday agenda offered seven stages (94 kilometres), Stage 8 was cancelled due to an excessive number of fans and their cars on the track. Taking place in the hilly terrain of Gran Canaria, the event tested the drivers' skills as it took them as high as 1,400 m above sea level and included a combination of difficult climbs and steep downhill stretches. Having won three stages, Jan Kopecký & Petr Starý were first at the end of Friday,
6 seconds ahead of Thierry Neuville in a Peugeot and 9 seconds ahead of Juho Hänninen.
Saturday saw the remaining four stages (74 kilometres). Hänninen won three of them, and even the final attack by his teammate Kopecký who was fastest in the last stage could not stop Hänninen from achieving his first asphalt victory in IRC. Supported by Škoda importers, the other drivers of Škoda Fabia Super 2000s did well, too – Freddy Loix of BFO Škoda Belgium fought for third place until the last kilometre but finished fourth in the end (8.5 seconds behind Neuville), Andreas Mikkelsen of Škoda UK Motorsport came sixth.
Head of Škoda Motorsport Michal Hrabánek did not attempt to hide his ecstasy seasoned
by a roaring applause in the team's tent after the vehicles' arrival at the finish: “We have defended our last year's positions here, and that is always difficult. I believe that we have laid a good foundation for the 2011 season. I wish to thank both our factory crews, because their duel made this event and especially its end very exciting. I also want to thank our importers for continuing to support the Fabia Super 2000 project. Now we are going to appear in a series of IRC events within a fairly short time and we have to prepare for them carefully. The nearest one is the Corsica Rally in mid-May. We are going to talk about the team line-up for this event in the upcoming days.”
The Rally Islas Canarias winner Juho Hänninen says: “It is a great feeling to be even better than last year and beat last year's winner and teammate in one. The car worked perfectly, today we were even faster than yesterday and we fought till the very end.”
Last year's winner Jan Kopecký adds: “Obviously, we are sorry to have lost by so little, but we had
a mistake in the pace notes in Stage 1 today and that cost us the overall victory, despite the best time in the last stage. Juho did a great job, and he certainly deserves the victory. The car was fantastic, there were many wonderful fans along the track – a great event!
First asphalt victory for Juho Hänninen in IRC
4/16/2011
The 2010 IRC champions Juho Hänninen & Mikko Markkula celebrated their first asphalt victory in IRC, Kopecký & Starý came just 1.5 seconds later to finish second.
A rally dramatic until the last kilometre and seasoned by a duel between two colleagues from Škoda Motorsport (factory team) – that was the second IRC event in the Canary Islands. Skoda now leads both the Manufactures and Drivers competitions.
The beginning of the event included a charity run for Japan supported (both by taking active part and contributing financially) by the entire Škoda Motorsport team. The Friday agenda offered seven stages (94 kilometres), Stage 8 was cancelled due to an excessive number of fans and their cars on the track. Taking place in the hilly terrain of Gran Canaria, the event tested the drivers' skills as it took them as high as 1,400 m above sea level and included a combination of difficult climbs and steep downhill stretches. Having won three stages, Jan Kopecký & Petr Starý were first at the end of Friday,
6 seconds ahead of Thierry Neuville in a Peugeot and 9 seconds ahead of Juho Hänninen.
Saturday saw the remaining four stages (74 kilometres). Hänninen won three of them, and even the final attack by his teammate Kopecký who was fastest in the last stage could not stop Hänninen from achieving his first asphalt victory in IRC. Supported by Škoda importers, the other drivers of Škoda Fabia Super 2000s did well, too – Freddy Loix of BFO Škoda Belgium fought for third place until the last kilometre but finished fourth in the end (8.5 seconds behind Neuville), Andreas Mikkelsen of Škoda UK Motorsport came sixth.
Head of Škoda Motorsport Michal Hrabánek did not attempt to hide his ecstasy seasoned
by a roaring applause in the team's tent after the vehicles' arrival at the finish: “We have defended our last year's positions here, and that is always difficult. I believe that we have laid a good foundation for the 2011 season. I wish to thank both our factory crews, because their duel made this event and especially its end very exciting. I also want to thank our importers for continuing to support the Fabia Super 2000 project. Now we are going to appear in a series of IRC events within a fairly short time and we have to prepare for them carefully. The nearest one is the Corsica Rally in mid-May. We are going to talk about the team line-up for this event in the upcoming days.”
The Rally Islas Canarias winner Juho Hänninen says: “It is a great feeling to be even better than last year and beat last year's winner and teammate in one. The car worked perfectly, today we were even faster than yesterday and we fought till the very end.”
Last year's winner Jan Kopecký adds: “Obviously, we are sorry to have lost by so little, but we had
a mistake in the pace notes in Stage 1 today and that cost us the overall victory, despite the best time in the last stage. Juho did a great job, and he certainly deserves the victory. The car was fantastic, there were many wonderful fans along the track – a great event!
