Emilia Romagna GP || May 19 || 15h00 (Local time)

After SS9: First stage win for Kopecký

Mikkelsen closes on Loix for 3rd overall

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14 May 2011 - 10:47

Jan Kopecký has claimed Škoda’s first fastest stage time on Tour de Corse-E.Leclerc with the quickest run through Saturday’s first stage.

Kopecký headed Corsican rising star Pierre Campana by 3.6s with French rally champion Bryan Bouffier third quickest in his Peugeot France 207 S2000.

Andreas Mikkelsen was fourth for Škoda UK Motorsport with Freddy Loix fifth in his BFO Fabia. The gap between the two drivers is now one-tenth of a second in Loix’s favour.

Thierry Neuville still leads the Intercontinental Rally Challenge event but his overall advantage has been trimmed from 23.4s to 14.5s after a troubled run through the test.

“We have two spares, the car was quite high, it was going left to right and was very difficult to drive, sometimes it felt almost impossible,” said the Team Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg ace. “I couldn’t find a good rhythm. The car was too soft.”

Standings after SS9:

Pos.	Driver	Car	Time
1	Neuville Thierry / Gilsoul Nicolas	Peugeot 207 S2000	2h10m01.3s
2	Kopecký Jan / Starý Petr	Škoda Fabia S2000	+14.5s
3	Loix Freddy / Miclotte Frédéric	Škoda Fabia S2000	+26.3s
4	Mikkelsen Andreas / Floene Ola	Škoda Fabia S2000	+26.4s
5	Campana Pierre / De Castelli Sabrina	Peugeot 207 S2000	+47.5s
6	Bouffier Bryan / Panseri Xavier	Peugeot 207 S2000	+1m05.5s
7	Maurin Julien / Ural Olivier	Ford Fiesta S2000	+3m09.3s
8	Magalhaes Bruno / Grave Paulo	Peugeot 207 S2000	+3m11.9s
9	Gardemeister Toni / Suominen Tapio	Škoda Fabia S2000	+3m22.1s
10	Leandri Jean-Mathieu / Leonardi Pierre-Marien	Peugeot 207 S2000	+4m32.5s
11	Sandell Patrick / Parmander Staffan	Škoda Fabia S2000	+5m21.9s
12	Succi Jean-François / Vitrani Olivier	Škoda Fabia S2000	+5m32.2s
13	Guglielmi Pierre-Antoine / Porcu Jean-François	Renault Clio R3	+6m30.6s
14	Gonon Florian / Arlettaz Sandra	Subaru Impreza Sti	+7m10.5s
15	Arai Toshihiro / Moscatt Dale	Subaru Impreza R4	+7m45.5s