Cyprus - IRC news before SS8

Thirty crews to start final day in Cyprus

Thirty crews are set to restart on the final day of the Cyprus Rally, which will conclude the all-action Intercontinental Rally Challenge later today.

Event leader Nasser Al-Attiyah will head the field over the closing six stages in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta RRC run by the British Autotek Motorsport squad.

Andreas Mikkelsen, the defending IRC champion, is next up for ŠKODA UK Motorsport and will run two minutes behind the Qatari.

Toshi Arai is the leading IRC Production Cup contender and will run fourth on the road with leading Cypriot driver Savvas Savva next up.

Harry Hunt, the highest-placed IRC 2WD Cup contender, starts in 13th position, while Sepp Wiegand and Andreas Aigner restart in 10th and 12th following their exits on day one.

Sunday’s action covers 100.32 competitive kilometres and consists of three stages run twice: the mixed-surface Prodromi run, the all-gravel Gialia test and the Tarmac-only Stavros stage, either side of service in Pafos. The first Prodromi stage goes live at 09:28hrs local time. The finish outside Pafos Town Hall will take place at 17:31hrs.

All crews will run in two-minute intervals.

Wiegand vows to make up lost ground on Cyprus Sunday

Sepp Wiegand has vowed to hit back from the broken steering that robbed him of a potential podium finish on the Cyprus Rally, the 13th and final round of the 2012 Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

Wiegand was in third place in his ŠKODA Auto Deutschland Fabia Super 2000 when he hit trouble on Saturday’s closing stage. The delay has dropped him to 10th place starting Sunday’s final six stages around Pafos.

“On a 30-kilometre stage there are so many hits but honestly there was nothing special,” said Wiegand. “But when I was braking on some really smooth gravel the left rear turned right when I was wanting to turn left because the steering had broken. We were about six kilometres from the finish and this was really bad luck.”

Wiegand, who lost out on his maiden podium on the Sibiu Rally in Romania in July, continued: “It’s the second time we’ve been ready for a podium but this is rally and I have to learn about this point. I am happy I saw the podium but obviously we have been taken out. Today I will try to earn some points for the championship to take my fourth place again but it’s going to be really difficult because we have 10 minutes to make up and today is shorter than yesterday.”

Momentum with Hunt as Consani retirement confirmed

Harry Hunt’s bid to win the IRC 2WD Cup for the second time has been handed a huge boost after it emerged that Robert Consani will go no further on the Cyprus Rally.

The French ace, who holds an 11-point advantage over his British rival on the back of victories in Romania and Ukraine, had hoped to restart on day two following his exit due to clutch failure on stage four of the mixed-surface event.

However, an inspection of his Renault Clio R3 in service in Pafos this evening revealed the car’s gearbox had been damaged beyond immediate repair. With no funds available to pay for a replacement unit, Consani will go no further. Providing Hunt reaches the finish following Sunday’s six stages then he’ll deny his luckless rival the crown.

“The gearbox is finished and we do not have a spare,” said Consani’s co-driver Nicolas Klinger, the outright IRC co-driving champion in 2008.

Although the IRC 2WD Cup spoils could now be out of reach for Consani he and Klinger can still win the IRC Production Cup title, even though they’re not eligible for category points this weekend. That’s because their three title rivals – Andreas Aigner, Vitaliy Pushkar and Marco Tempestini – have all hit trouble.

Co-driver Moscatt feared Cyprus IRC exit

Dale Moscatt, who co-drives Toshi Arai’s Subaru Impreza R4 STI, has admitted he feared the pair wouldn’t be able to regain the road after they overshot a right-hand bend on stage three of the Cyprus Rally this morning.

The Tommi Mäkinen Racing pair lost two minutes following their moment but start day two leading the IRC Production Cup in third overall after several class rivals hit trouble.

“We were stuck in a big hole and, at that point, I didn’t expect we’d be coming out, let alone finishing the day in third place,” said Australian navigator Moscatt. “We tried for about 30s to get up this slope then when I realised this wouldn’t work I got out of the car to move these big rocks. They were huge and I was thinking this is not going to work but I was quite angry and I found the strength from somewhere.”

Arai and Moscatt hold an advantage of 3m02.1s over leading Cypriot crew Savvas Savva and Andreas Papandreou. Their team-mates Jarkko Nikara and Jarkko Kalliolepo, who had been leading the class, are third overall following their troubled seventh stage.
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