Neuville wins thrilling Golden Stage Rally

Thierry Neuville has won the second Cyprus Golden Stage Rally following a scintillating performance over both runs of the mixed-surface stage shown live on Eurosport.

Neuville was fastest through the first run of the 19.43-kilometre test by 4.8s and headed the second run by 1.2s despite almost going off the road in his efforts to keep ahead of Juho Hänninen, who finished second, 6.0s adrift of the young Belgian on aggregate time.

The Team Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg driver’s success means he pockets 40,000 Euros in prize money. Hänninen, in a factory ŠKODA, collected 28,000 Euros with team-mate Jan Kopecký securing 16,000 Euros for finishing third.

“We go completely flat out and I really enjoyed this rally,” said Neuville. “It’s a shame we lost the Cyprus Rally but we are in front again but we showed we’ve got the pace on gravel. Thanks to Peugeot for their support.”

Patrik Sandell took with Karl Kruuda fifth and Category B winner Nicos Thomas sixth as the leading Cypriot driver in his Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. Jean-Michel Raoux secured Category C honours in his Renault Clio R3.

Cyprus Golden Stage Rally overall positions after run two:
1 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Peugeot 207 S2000) 26m02.8s
2 Juho Hänninen/Mikko Markkula (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) +6.0s
3 Jan Kopecký/Pavel Dresler (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) +32.3s
4 Patrik Sandell/Staffan Parmander (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) +48.0s
5 Karl Kruuda/Martin Järveoja (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) +1m01.2s
6 Nicos Thomas/Angelos Loizides (Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) +2m19.2s