Chinese GP || April 21 || 15h00 (Local time)

After SS15: Joy for Juho, despair for Magalhães

Hänninen has taken the lead of Sata Rallye Açores

By Franck Drui

17 July 2010 - 15:28

Juho Hänninen has taken the lead of Sata Rallye Açores after beating rival Bruno Magalhães on stage 15, the 21.94-kilometre Tronqueira run. But while the Škoda Motorsport driver celebrated there was despair for Peugeot Sport Portugal’s Magalhães (pictured) who completed the stage with fluid leaking from his car.

He is now 18 seconds behind Hänninen and only 2.6s in front of third-placed Jan Kopecký with one stage remaining, the two-kilometre Grupo Marques superspecial, before service.

Bernardo Sousa won the stage, his first in the IRC, by an impressive 4.4s in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta.

Overall positions after SS15:

Pos.	Team	Car	Time
01	Hänninen Juho / Markkula Mikko	Škoda Fabia S2000	1h53m16.2s
02	Magalhaes Bruno / Magalhaes Carlos	Peugeot 207 S2000	+18.0s
03	Kopecký Jan / Starý Petr	Škoda Fabia S2000	+20.6s
04	Meeke Kris / Nagle Paul	Peugeot 207 S2000	+1m10.9s
05	Mikkelsen Andreas / Floene Ola	Ford Fiesta S2000	+1m21.9s
06	Sousa Bernardo / Silva Nuno	Ford Fiesta S2000	+2m25.3s
07	Moura Ricardo / Eiró Sancho	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	+4m13.9s
08	Vale Pedro / Medeiros Rui	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII	+8m08.0s
09	Peres Pedro / Ferreira Tiago	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	+8m40.6s
10	Silva Sérgio / Leal Paulo	Subaru Impreza STI	+8m56.5s
11	Pascoal Vítor / Castro Mário	Peugeot 207 S2000	+10m53.2s
12	Carmo Ricardo / Reis Justino	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	+11m31.6s
13	Torres Rui / Martins Marco	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	+11m52.7s
14	Rego Paulo / Carreiro Abel	Subaru Impreza STI	+12m23.7s
15	Maciel Paulo / Gouveia Filipe	Citroën Saxo VTS	+13m31.7s