Prime Yalta Rally: news in brief

Hänninen aims to make up Yalta penalty loss

Juho Hänninen insists the 10-second penalty handed to him for a jumped start on the second stage of the Prime Yalta Rally won’t affect his chances of landing his second Intercontinental Rally Challenge victory of 2011.

The defending IRC champion is returning to the series in Ukraine after missing the previous round in Corsica. Despite setting two top three stage times the penalty means the Škoda Motorsport driver is 11th following the opening day, 11.7s adrift of leader Thierry Neuville.

“It seems we went too soon and got a penalty, which I don’t think will be removed,” said the Finn. “I don’t remember anything special happening, maybe there was a problem somewhere. But I don’t think 10 seconds will decide this rally because there is still such a long way to go.”

Hänninen, who has won six IRC events during his career, is competing on the Yalta Rally with backing from Ukraine’s Škoda importer.

Wilks: there´s more to come on Yalta Rally

Guy Wilks insists he has more to offer when the Prime Yalta Rally resumes on Friday morning.

The Peugeot UK-backed driver completed Thursday’s opening brace of stages a mere one tenth of a second behind Kronos Racing team-mate and leader Thierry Neuville after winning the day’s second stage.

“It was very difficult because sometimes I was lifting when I should have been flat and other times thinking I should have lifted because the grip is changing so much,” said the 30-year-old. “I needed to keep a lot of margin and I definitely have a margin [for tomorrow]. The car wasn’t feeling super fantastic but felt good in a lot of places.”

Thirty-year-old Wilks, who is co-driven by fellow Briton Phil Pugh, is anxious to achieve a high score on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier in Ukraine after failing to finish the previous round in Corsica when he crashed into retirement on day two.

Sandell rediscovers lost form on Yalta Rally

Patrik Sandell believes his run to third overall at the completion of day one of the Prime Yalta is a sign that he’s back to his best in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

The 29-year-old struggled to make an impact on his IRC debut, last month’s Tour de Corse-E.Leclerc. However, the talented Swede, a former Junior world rally champion, has already demonstrated an upturn in form following the opening two stages in Ukraine at the wheel of his Škoda Sweden-backed Fabia Super 2000.

“I feel I am back in the game now,” said Sandell, who was second quickest through Thursday afternoon’s opening special stage alongside co-driver Staffan Parmander. “It was a bit difficult to make the right tyre choice in case it started to rain so maybe I did not have the best choice all of the time. But I’ve done two good stages and it feels really good to be back to where I want to be.”

Saliuk Sr hoping for more pace in Yalta

Ukrainian driver Oleksandr Saliuk Sr has described Thursday’s stages as just a “warm-up” and hopes to be able to show more pace on day two of the Prime Yalta Rally in his PROTON Motorsports Satria Neo Super 2000.

Saliuk Sr and co-driver Evgeny Chervonenko start Friday’s stages in 18th position after they were slowed slightly on Thursday by an engine misfire.

“I am very happy with this level of competition and to be among the stars of this level,” said the former USSR rally champion. “I hope the next time we will do our best to do it more interesting and more fascinating. The first leg was a warm-up for us.”

PROTON team chief Chris Mellors said: “It was a misfire but we’re on top of it.”

Oleksiy Tamrazov is the leading Ukrainian driver in 14th overall aboard his M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000. His countryman Valeriy Gorban tops the IRC Production Cup classification in 15th position at the wheel of his Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer.