Young Norwegian rally ace Andreas Mikkelsen was overcome with emotion as he claimed the IRC title on the Cyprus Rally, the final event in the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) calendar, this week.

He drove steadily on the last leg of the rally. With two of the IRC title contenders sidelined on Friday, the remaining three had everything to play for on 188 km of special stages, and Mikkelsen knew he had to stay at the front of the field to claim the crown.

Jan Kopecky of the Czech Republic, who led the title race coming into the final round, was lying third when the cars set off from Paphos Harbour early yesterday morning, 31.5 seconds behind the leader, and 10.8 seconds adrift of second-placed Nasser Al Attiyah of Qatar, who still had his eyes on the win, though he wasn’t in contention for the IRC title.

Mikkelsen extended his lead over the first 2 stages and then Al Attiyah attacked on the Anadiou stage to trim the gap by 6.1 seconds. But his challenge was over almost as soon as it begun after his M-Sport Ford Fiesta was struck down by an engine problem. “There is damage in the engine,” he said. “We have no spare engine so we are out, and out for the Golden Stage Rally, too. It’s a big disappointment.”

Kopecky couldn’t quite catch the frontrunners over the morning stages, and still needed to claw back 48.2 seconds in the afternoon to catch Mikkelsen.

The drama continued after lunch, with both Mikkelsen and Kopecky getting punctures on stage 9, and leading Cypriot driver Nicos Thomas retiring, leaving Toshi Arai a clear run to victory in the Production Cup category. Top Cypriot finisher was Doros Loucaides in a Peugeot 207 S2000, and 2WD honours were claimed by Jean-Michel Raiux of France, who overhauled Albertini to snatch the title on the season’s closing event.

Cyprus Mail