Hanninen conquers treacherous Scottish stages

Juho Hänninen claimed his third victory of the year in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge after beating Andreas Mikkelsen in arduous conditions on the RACMSA Rally of Scotland. The win earned him enough points to put him out of reach of any of his rivals for this year’s drivers’ title. He will be crowned officially after the next round, the FxPro Rally Cyprus.

Only nine drivers were classified at the finish as the fast pace of the rally took a brutal toll on the drivers and their machines. Guy Wilks returned to the fray after being forced out of Saturday’s last two stages by mechanical failure to record the fastest times in three of today’s four stages, a feat which was recognised when he was awarded the Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Trophy by Jimmy McRae.

Kris Meeke finished third for Peugeot although mechanical maladies had left him trailing by nearly two minutes as the day began. As Hänninen looked to consolidate his lead over Mikkelsen without taking too many risks, Meeke was determined to get on the podium by overhauling the third-placed 207 of Thierry Neuville. Mikkelsen, meanwhile, was torn between a desire to push for the win and a duty to claim his team’s first podium of the year.

Mikkelsen tested Hänninen’s resolve by remaining within striking distance throughout the morning, while Neuville dropped back with a puncture and then made a mistake on the first 29.04km loop around Loch Ard, rolling down a steep incline. Hänninen won the penultimate stage to put nearly 20 seconds of clear air between himself and Mikkelsen, persuading the young Norwegian to opt for duty over valour in the final test.

Local hero Alister McRae thrilled the home crowd with some impressive times in his Proton Satria Neo, but he was also ineligible for the final score having missed most of Saturday through an alternator failure. Team-mate Keith Cronin also restarted the event this morning but he slid wide, hit a stack of logs and broke a wishbone on the first stage. Tom Cave, the sole remaining Proton driver eligible for points, struggled with decreasing grip levels as the rain intensified and crashed nose-first in to a ditch on the last stage.

The three-way Group N battle between the Lancers of David Bogie, Euan Thornburn and Jonathan Greer that had raged throughout Saturday fizzled out as first Thorburn and then Greer ran off the road, both on the Loch Ard stages that were broadcast live on Eurosport. Their retirement enabled Daniel Barry to finish in the top 10, a well deserved achievement after the Irishman had struggled throughout the event with a litany of technical problems.

Burcu Çetinkaya became the first female driver to finish an IRC event in the points although her Peugeot Türkiye 207’s gearbox became recalcitrant in the final stage.

Both the remaining 2WD Cup entries finished in the overall points. Siim Plangi finished his second IRC outing of the year in fifth place, even though his Honda Civic Type R had dropped on to three cylinders briefly during the morning. Harry Hunt discovered that his Fiesta R2 had a cracked sump on the opening stage of the day but nursed it through to eighth overall. Hunt now shares the lead in the 2WD Cup drivers’ title with one round to go.

Juho Hänninen (Finland), Škoda Fabia S2000, first overall: “It was a fantastic finish to the season, a great weekend. It’s been almost a perfect year and I’d like to thank the team for everything they’ve done. Yesterday morning I was about 30 seconds behind the boys and not feeling like a champion, but it was like I started the rally again. I set some good times and the boys were a bit unlucky with the problems they had, but for us that made it much better.”

Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway), Ford Fiesta S2000, second overall: “This result means a lot for me. I came here hoping that we could make it to the podium; I’d never finished on the podium in the IRC before so that was the main target. We’re very pleased to finish second, and also happy with the progress we’re making with our tyres. We were trying out a new type of tyre and were very encouraged to see it perform so well.”

Kris Meeke (United Kingdom), Peugeot 207 S2000, third overall: “This rally has sort of summed up our year. We’ve been able to punch it when circumstances have allowed us to. Today obviously we had another puncture but there was enough of a gap behind us for it not to be a problem. Third place allows us third in the championship – it’s been an incredible two years with Peugeot UK and to finish with a bit of silverware is some consolation for not winning the championship again.”

Overall positions after SS12 - End of rally: