2012 Cyprus Rally: Final event of 2012 Intercontinental Rally Challenge; Penultimate round of FIA Middle East Rally Championship
At the half way point on the final day of this year’s Cyprus Rally thriller, Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah is continuing to show blistering pace with a 49 second lead over his closest rival, Andreas Mikkelsen of Norway.
The final round of the 2012 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) and the penultimate round of this year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), this weekend’s Cyprus Rally has delivered the action and drama fans have come to expect from this ever-popular event.
Defending IRC champ Andreas Mikkelsen took the early event lead on Friday night in his Skoda Fabia S2000, winning the thrilling Super Special Stage in downtown Pafos to get the event underway in dramatic style. Things changed yesterday morning though, with puncture woes slowing Mikkelsen on the first stage of the day, allowing 2010 Cyprus Rally winner Al-Attiyah to charge to the head of the field in his Ford Fiesta RRC.
Mikkelsen continued to show blistering pace through the rest of the day, but it wasn’t enough to catch Al-Attiyah, who managed to clock up a 1m 30.2s overnight lead, with Mikkelsen 2nd and Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari 3rd in his MINI JCW. Al-Kuwari entered the Cyprus event as MERC leader with 52 points, trailed by Al-Attiyah and Roger Feghali who both have 43 points. Overnight, Al-Kuwari trailed Al-Attiyah by 6m 0.7 seconds.
Today sees crews tackle six special stages, amounting to 100.32km of competitive action, and cover a total of 350.77km.
This morning saw the crews exit service at 08:30 under the heat of the Cyprus sun and enter Special Stage 8 (Prodromi) at 09:28. Mikkelsen showed he was in no mood for dawdling, powering through the predominantly gravel stage a whopping 21.3 seconds faster than 2nd fastest Al-Attiyah. The Qatari driver’s route to the MERC title was given a significant boost on the stage, when Al-Kuwari crashed out in his MINI. Sepp Wiegand, who went out yesterday with steering problems and restarted here this morning, was third fastest in his Skoda Fabia S2000. Andreas Aigner, who also went out yesterday in his Subaru Impreza and restarted in Pafos today, managed 4th fastest.
On the all-gravel Gialia stage (SS9), Mikkelsen continued his assault on Al-Attiyah’s lead, taking another 11.1 seconds off the Qatari’s overall lead with four stages to go. Sepp Wiegand came through the stage 2nd fastest, with Al-Attiyah 3rd. Jarkko Nikara of Finland, pushing hard in his Subaru Impreza, came through the stage fifth fastest, behind Aigner. Toshi Arai’s sixth-fastest time was enough to keep him at the head of the IRC Production Cup entrants and 3rd overall.
The last stage of the morning, SS10 (Stavros), was all-tarmac and once again MIkkelsen provided a bravura display of driving to take the stage 8.8 seconds faster than Al-Attiyah. Marco Temepstini came through 3rd fastest in his Subaru, with Laszlo Vizin 4th in his Skoda.
After showing flying form through the morning, Mikkelsen goes into lunchtime service having cut Al-Attiyah’s overall lead to 49 seconds. A significant gap, but on an event as unpredictable as the Cyprus Rally, history has proved that anything can happen. Al-Attiyah will be keen to at least preserve that gap through the afternoon stages, and hopefully extend it further.
In the IRC Production Cup battle, Toshi Arai currently heads the pack, sitting 3rd overall on the event leaderboard, followed by Nikara and Cypriot Savvas Savva.
In the battle for the IRC 2WD Cup, France’s Robert Consani (Renault Clio R3) and Britain’s Harry Hunt (Citroen DS3) were locked in battle yesterday until Consani’s event ended in SS4, leaving the route to the 2WD Cup clear for Hunt, provided he finishes here today… never a given on an event as unpredictable as Cyprus.
Drivers return to Pafos for service this lunchtime before heading out again to tackle the repeat loop of stages. The finish will take place outside Pafos Town Hall at 17:30. Rally fans are encouraged to take note of the change in itinerary announced by the Cyprus Rally organizers this week, which essentially saw the Saturday and Sunday programmes swapped.
The 2012 Cyprus Rally sees crews cover a total of 694.76km, of which 237.14km will be special stages. 30.97% (73.45km) of the stages will be tarmac, and 69.03% (163.69km) gravel.
For up-to-the-minute results and updates, visit the official event website at www.cyprusrally.com.cy