Neuville, Wilks top Hungary shakedown

Thierry Neuville and Guy Wilks set identical fastest times in the shakedown for the Canon Mecsek Rallye, which gets underway with a 1.2km prologue stage today.

Driving a Peugeot Team Belux 207 S2000, Tour de Corse winner Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul set a fastest time of 2m9.3s in the last of their seven runs. Wilks matched that time in the last of the Peugeot UK car’s nine runs. Andreas Mikkelsen led the ŠKODA challenge with a quickest time of 2m09.9s in the ŠKODA UK Fabia S2000.

The twisty 3.7km shakedown stage near Rally HQ in Pécs, 2010 European Capital of Culture, was useful in confirming tyre and suspension settings but it is not entirely representative of what lies ahead. The Canon Mecsek Rallye, a newcomer to the IRC this year, features many flat-out asphalt stages.

Top 10 shakedown times
1 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Peugeot 207 S2000) 2m09.3s
2 Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Peugeot 207 S2000) +0.0s
3 Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) +0.6s
4 Jan Kopecký/Petr Starý (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) +0.8s
5 Bruno Magalhães/Paulo Grave Peugeot 207 S2000 +1.0s
6 Bryan Bouffier/Xavier Panseri Peugeot 207 S2000 +1.1s
7 Freddy Loix/Frédéric Miclotte (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) +1.2s
8 Toni Gardemeister/Tapio Suominen (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) +1.3s
9 Frigyes Turán/Gábor Zsiros (Ford Fiesta S2000) +1.4s
10 Hermann Gassner Jnr/Timo Gottschalk (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) +2.1s