IRC winners honoured in Paris

The various Intercontinental Rally Challenge award winners were honoured in Paris last night
(Thursday) at the annual IRC Awards Ceremony.

IRC drivers’ champion Andreas Mikkelsen was among several star performers from IRC season
five in attendance in the French capital to collect their silverware in front of 200 guests gathered at
Salons de la Maison des Arts et Métiers.

Upon receiving his trophy from Laurent-Eric Le Lay, Chairman and CEO of Eurosport, ŠKODA UK
Motorsport driver Mikkelsen, a 22-year-old rising star from Norway, said: “The year didn’t start too
well but we built it up and got our first proper result in the Azores, with second place. From that
rally our season really begun, we started to improve our results and got our first win in Scotland,
ŠKODA UK’s home event. We had lots of big fights because the level of the IRC is so strong with
such big competition. We had some luck but sometimes you need some luck. We got it all and we
came out from Cyprus as the champions. But big thanks to ŠKODA UK. It was a real team effort.”

IRC runner-up Jan Kopecký and third-placed Juho Hänninen were also present to receive their
trophies. Kopecký won two rounds in 2011, while ŠKODA Motorsport team-mate Hänninen was a
winner on three occasions.

Representatives from Honda and SKODA were also in attendance to receive the IRC 2WD Cup
manufacturers’ and IRC overall manufacturers’ trophies respectively. William De Braekeleer
collected the Japanese make’s accolade, the first time it had landed the coveted the prize following
a run of success by Peugeot, while Michal Hrabánek picked up the award on behalf of ŠKODA for
a second year in succession.

Toshi Arai flew in from his native Japan to collect the inaugural IRC Production Cup following his
triumph behind the wheel of his Subaru Impreza R4 STI. Jean-Michel Raoux collected the IRC
2WD Cup prize on the back of his final-round victory over Stefano Albertini.

Event promoters from the 11 rounds that made up the 2011 IRC calendar, Rallye Monte-Carlo,
Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Inglés, Tour de Corse-E.Leclerc, Prime Yalta Rally, GEKO Ypres
Rally, Sata Rallye Açores, Barum Czech Rally Zlín, Canon Mecsek Rallye, Rallye Sanremo,
RACMSA Rally of Scotland and Cyprus Rally, were recognised for their efforts, while the IRC’s tyre
partners Michelin and Yokohama were also honoured.

The prestigious Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Trophy Driver of the Year was presented to emerging
talent Thierry Neuville.

The award, won for the first time in 2010 by Peugeot UK’s Kris Meeke, goes
to the driver whose performance during the course of the season embodied the spirit of the rallying
legend. Colin’s father Jimmy McRae, who formed part of the judging panel along with IRC
Motorsport Development Manager Jean-Pierre Nicolas and Gilbert Roy, Eurosport Events’ Director
of Editorial and Programme Development, was in attendance to hand over the coveted award to
Neuville, who won two IRC rounds in 2011 for Team Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg.
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Olivier Fisch, Managing Director of Eurosport Events, the promoter of the IRC, hosted the evening.

He said: “This has been another incredible season for the IRC. There was a relentless battle until
the final round but we also had four rounds where the difference between the first two drivers was
less than two seconds. Eurosport also had the honour to show 14 hours of live coverage of Rallye
Monte-Carlo and welcomed new events, Tour de Corse, Prime Yalta Rally and the Canon Mecsek
Rallye. We were very impressed by those events and we’re happy that they are on board for next
season. But the IRC wouldn’t be as successful without the participation of the manufacturers, who
we thank for their support.”

Next year’s 13-round Intercontinental Rally Challenge season gets underway on Sata Rallye
Açores from 23-25 February, the first time that the gravel event has opened the IRC schedule.

The full list of IRC award winners for 2011 follows:

IRC drivers’ champion: Andreas Mikkelsen (SKODA Fabia Super 2000)
IRC runner-up: Jan Kopecky (ŠKODA Fabia S2000)
IRC third overall: Juho Hanninen (ŠKODA Fabia S2000)

IRC manufacturers’ champion: ŠKODA (received by Michal Hrabánek)
IRC manufacturers’ runner-up: Peugeot (received by Frederic Bertrand)
IRC manufacturers’ third place: Subaru (received by George Donaldson)

IRC Production Cup champion: Toshi Arai (Subaru Impreza R4 STI)
IRC Production Cup runner-up: Florian Gonon (Subaru Impreza WRX STI)
IRC Production Cup third place: Marco Cavigioli (Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX)

IRC 2WD Cup champion: Jean-Michel Raoux (Renault Clio R3)
IRC 2WD Cup runner-up: Stefano Albertini (Renault Clio R3, received by Marco Cavigioli)
IRC 2WD Cup third place: János Puskádi (Honda Civic Type R)

IRC 2WD Cup manufacturers’ champion: Honda (received by William De Braekeleer)
IRC 2WD Cup manufacturers’ runner-up: M-Sport (received by John Steele)
IRC 2WD Cup manufacturers’ third place: Peugeot (received by Frédéric Bertrand)

Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Trophy Driver of the Year: Thierry Neuville