Ireland - after SS14: Mikkelsen concedes victory to Hanninen

Andreas Mikkelsen has won the penultimate stage of the Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland Rally but admits his hopes of winning the Intercontinental Rally Challenge event outright are over.

The ŠKODA UK Motorsport ace had been in a close fight for victory with factory ŠKODA pilot Juho Hänninen only to hit trouble on the first run of the Lisburn town centre test and lose more than 40 seconds to his rival.

Mikkelsen was 0.4s faster than Hänninen on the 7.54-kilometre Banbridge North stage but conceded his performance would be to no avail with Hänninen’s lead standing at 43.4s with one stage remaining.

“It’s second for me, Juho is too far away now,” said Mikkelsen. “He has done an amazing job – it’s not a win for me this time.”

Hänninen admitted he was extra cautious through the rain-hit stage. He said: “It was slippery all the time, not easy. Andreas is that much behind so I just tried to find a good rhythm without making any mistakes.”

Craig Breen was third fastest in a Peugeot 207 Super 2000 with Saintéloc Racing team-mate Mathieu Arzeno fourth quickest.

“It was very, very slippery because we have the tyres for the dry,” said Arzeno. “I made a little mistake but I don’t know how much time I lost.”

Breen added: “It was the first people stage in full wet and we’re getting a really good feeling now for the car.”