Corsica - IRC news before SS6

Setbacks in Corsica for IRC 2WD Cup stars

IRC 2WD Cup stars Harry Hunt and Menya Krózser have both suffered setbacks as they bid to claim their first points of the 2012 season on Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse.

Hunt, who was slowed on Thursday’s stages with a fuel pump issue, suffered a front-right puncture one kilometre into Friday’s opening run and then lost time behind Krózser on stage five when the Hungarian two-wheel-drive champion’s Honda Civic Type R developed an engine problem.

Krózser, who had impressed by running as high as sixth on his debut in the category, is now down in ninth place but unsure whether or not he will be able to continue. Hunt, meanwhile, holds seventh spot in his Citroën DS3 R3T.

Emmanuel Guigou now leads the IRC 2WD Cup in his Renault Mégane RS after overnight pacesetter Pierre-Antoine Guglielmi reported losing time with a power issue on his Renault Clio R3 on stage four. Guglielmi is second with Petru Antone Boschetti in third.

Jean Touissant Albertini, who was fifth in the category behind rallying legend François Delecour, is out after he crashed on stage five.

Co-driver Floene vows to fight back in Corsica

Andreas Mikkelsen’s co-driver Ola Fløene insists the Intercontinental Rally Challenge champions won’t be giving up, despite dropping out of the lead of Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse when they picked up a puncture on stage five.

The ŠKODA UK Motorsport aces were extending their lead on the island rally, which is being shown live on Eurosport, when disaster struck on Friday’s second stage. They head to the service park in Corte in eighth overall, 2m35.7s behind new leaders Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio.

“It was one corner in the pacenotes out of many, many corners that we were a tiny bit too fast,” said Fløene. “It’s very sad because we were steady, driving well with no mistakes but this is the IRC and things like this normally can happen. This rally is longer than normal IRC rallies so I think we can catch back some time, make some places and maybe get some good points. That’s one thing we can do now.”

Mikkelsen began the fourth round of the 2012 IRC season with an 18-point advantage in the title race. He remains optimistic that he can make some progress on the leaderboard. “I think we can finish sixth without anyone else having a problem, so we just need to try and do that.”

Nikara: Makinen’s guidance helping Tarmac pace

Jarkko Nikara, who holds fourth place in the IRC Production Cup on Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse, says accompanying his team boss Tommi Mäkinen during a pre-event test, has helped him to improve on asphalt.

Mäkinen, a four-time world champion, runs a successful rally preparation business in his native Finland and spent last week in France helping Nikara prepare for the island event.

“I did 100 kilometres in the test but Tommi was doing more of the driving because it’s the first time he has driven the Subaru Impreza R4 on Tarmac,” said Nikara. “It was great to be with him in the car and he proved he has all his old skills. I am trying to drive like he does but it’s not easy because I still don’t have the experience on asphalt.”

Andreas Aigner, in a Stohl Racing Impreza, currently tops the IRC Production Cup standings with Emmanuel Guigou second in a Renault Mégane RS. Nikara’s team-mate and defending IRC Production Cup champion Toshi Arai is third.

Sordo to continue pushing in Corsica

Dani Sordo says he has no intention of backing off as bids to mark his debut in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge with victory on Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse.

Sordo, in a MINI John Cooper Works S2000, has been handed an advantage of 20.8s with three stages of day two remaining following Andreas Mikkelsen’s time-consuming puncture.

“The lead is not enough, we need to be all the time really, really fast,” said the Spaniard. “You can see Bryan Bouffer does a bad time in one stage then a good time in the other and after we don’t know exactly what to do. We need to keep a good rhythm to keep the position. Everybody is really close here, it’s a really nice championship and the drivers are very strong.”

Of his own performance on stage five, Sordo said: “It was not bad I was pushing and doing my maximum. I tried to do well and had a good feeling.”