Skoda fills podium at The Donnelly Group Circuit rally in Ireland
12 Apr 2012|2,369 views
Skoda UK Motorsport’s Andreas Mikkelsen, Co-driven by Ola Floene, finished 2nd on The Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland Rally in Armagh, Northern Ireland. The reigning champion finished 44.2 seconds behind Juho Hanninen of Skoda Motorsport yet still retains his lead in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). Jan Kopecky also from Skoda Motorsport completed the podium for a stunning 1-2-3 finish for Skoda.
With a compact route and 15 stages taking place in 24 hourautocars, the action was fierce over the fast, bumpy and narrow asphalt country lanes. The two-day event started on Good Friday where Skoda UK Motorsport team Principal Pierfrancesco Zanchi gave Northern Ireland First Minister Mr Peter Robinson a run around in a Fabia S2000 test car.
The event was filled with blunders firstly with Andreas hitting a wooden fence. On Saturday Andreas had to drive flat-out with the wrongly fitted soft Michelin tyres, when conditions weren’t as damp as the team anticipated. Pushing hard, Andreas hit a road-side rock when taking a flat-out in sixth gear sideways and overshot a slippery junction.
Andreas fought to control the high-speed tank-slapper, yet was 4.8 seconds faster over the stage, reducing a nine second gap to an impressive 2.3 seconds. Andreas has driven heroically on some demanding stages in the IRC, yet a 1.03km stage around the streets of Lisburn decided the outcome of the result. On a wet and slippery surface, Andreas slid sideways into a straw bale, damaging the right side of the car. With three stages remaining, the battle was over, as Andreas finished 42.7 seconds behind Hanninen.
Andreas commented on the event-saying Juho aced the rally and despite a large chance of winning, had to settle for second due to a mistake. He also mentioned the left hand corner in Lisburn was very slippery and lost the car. Due to this alot of time was lost besides keeping Andreas a bit dazed.
"To be honest I don’t remember so much about it. I was happy to be able to finish the last three stages, because I wasn’t feeling so good. The Circuit of Ireland is a rally I really wanted to win, as did the whole team, and we came so close after a good fight. It’s a shame not to win, but we scored a lot of points for finishing second and things continue to look good for the championship.”
Besides the top three Robert Barrable and Sepp Wiegand brought their Skoda Fabia S2000 to sixth and seventh places, thus allowing Skoda to dominate half the top 10 finishers list. The next round of the IRC will be held at the Tour de Corse in France from the 11th till the 12th of May.
Skoda UK Motorsport’s Andreas Mikkelsen, Co-driven by Ola Floene, finished 2nd on The Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland Rally in Armagh, Northern Ireland. The reigning champion finished 44.2 seconds behind Juho Hanninen of Skoda Motorsport yet still retains his lead in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). Jan Kopecky also from Skoda Motorsport completed the podium for a stunning 1-2-3 finish for Skoda.
With a compact route and 15 stages taking place in 24 hourautocars, the action was fierce over the fast, bumpy and narrow asphalt country lanes. The two-day event started on Good Friday where Skoda UK Motorsport team Principal Pierfrancesco Zanchi gave Northern Ireland First Minister Mr Peter Robinson a run around in a Fabia S2000 test car.
The event was filled with blunders firstly with Andreas hitting a wooden fence. On Saturday Andreas had to drive flat-out with the wrongly fitted soft Michelin tyres, when conditions weren’t as damp as the team anticipated. Pushing hard, Andreas hit a road-side rock when taking a flat-out in sixth gear sideways and overshot a slippery junction.
Andreas fought to control the high-speed tank-slapper, yet was 4.8 seconds faster over the stage, reducing a nine second gap to an impressive 2.3 seconds. Andreas has driven heroically on some demanding stages in the IRC, yet a 1.03km stage around the streets of Lisburn decided the outcome of the result. On a wet and slippery surface, Andreas slid sideways into a straw bale, damaging the right side of the car. With three stages remaining, the battle was over, as Andreas finished 42.7 seconds behind Hanninen.
Andreas commented on the event-saying Juho aced the rally and despite a large chance of winning, had to settle for second due to a mistake. He also mentioned the left hand corner in Lisburn was very slippery and lost the car. Due to this alot of time was lost besides keeping Andreas a bit dazed.
"To be honest I don’t remember so much about it. I was happy to be able to finish the last three stages, because I wasn’t feeling so good. The Circuit of Ireland is a rally I really wanted to win, as did the whole team, and we came so close after a good fight. It’s a shame not to win, but we scored a lot of points for finishing second and things continue to look good for the championship.”
Besides the top three Robert Barrable and Sepp Wiegand brought their Skoda Fabia S2000 to sixth and seventh places, thus allowing Skoda to dominate half the top 10 finishers list. The next round of the IRC will be held at the Tour de Corse in France from the 11th till the 12th of May.
Latest COE Prices
April 2025 | 1st BIDDING
NEXT TENDER: 23 Apr 2025
CAT A$97,724
CAT B$117,899
CAT C$68,782
CAT E$117,002
View Full Results 
Thank You For Your Subscription.
