Golden Stage Rally a hit with inaugural winner

The Love Cyprus Golden Stage Rally has been declared a huge success by the driver who claimed the top prize on the inaugural event last Sunday (7 November).

Andreas Mikkelsen defeated runner-up Nasser Al-Attiyah and third-placed Bryan Bouffier in a tense finish on the mixed-surface event, which featured a single 25-kilometre stage run twice. Both runs were shown live on Eurosport and Cypriot channel LumiereTV.

"It was a great idea and I heard back from my friends and family in Norway just how good the live television was," said the 21-year-old, who bagged 40,000 Euros in prize money of the 150,000 Euros that were available. "To have a rally like this is something new and the idea of going flat-out for two stages on full attack is great. I would love to do this again and I hope it happens again in the future."

The inaugural Golden Stage Rally was a joint initiative between IRC promoter Eurosport Events and the Cyprus Automobile Association.

Other significant award winners on the event were Roman Kresta and Karl Kruuda, who triumphed in Category B and C respectively and both earned 10,000 Euros in prize money for their efforts. They received their prizes at the annual IRC Awards Ceremony in Limassol last Sunday night.