Mikkelsen started his 2012 IRC season perfectly by clinching a respectable win in the First round in Portugal. The Skoda UK driver led from the outset and was followed by Skoda driver Juho Haninen but Mikkelsen stayed strong to clinch the victory. Mikkelsen took a third straight win following his Scotland and Cyprus triumphs at the end of 2011 and is looking very strong to keep his well deserved crown.
Bryan Bouffier made to third place after a series of unfortunate rallies at the end of last year and was followed Sepp Wiegand and Hermann Gassner Jr.
Check out the IRC Championship standings on this link
Check out the Rally’s final Standings on this link
Enjoy the amazing Photos from the rally on this link
Leading finishers:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Andreas Mikkelsen Skoda UK 2h12m43.2s
2. Juho Hanninen Skoda + 25.1s
3. Bryan Bouffier Peugeot + 2m04.8s
4. Sepp Wiegand Skoda Deutschland + 5m20.3s
5. Hermann Gassner Jr Red Bull Skoda + 6m23.9s
6. Ricardo Moura Mitsubishi + 8m43.5s
7. Oleksandr Salyuk Iurii Chemezov Ford + 10m28.1s
8. Sergio Silva Subaru + 16m00.1s
9. Ruben Rodrigues Mitsubishi + 17m15.0s
10. Miguel Barbosa Mitsubishi + 18m01.6s